Iconic Austin Eatery El Patio Does Brisk Business In Waning Days

AUSTIN, TX — The line for lunch outside El Patio was long on Thursday — customers not already inside the place told it would be an hour-long wait to be seated. With temperatures typical of a sweltering Texas summer well into the 90s, a tent doubling as waiting area had been set up outside as shelter from an unforgiving sun.

For 65 years, El Patio at 2938 Guadalupe St. has done a brisk business in a city that loves its Mexican food. But the reason for the brisk business of late is bittersweet: Next Friday, Aug. 9, the popular eatery will close its doors forever. The children of the original founders are throwing in the figurative towel — and their collective apron along with it — in deciding to retire from the business they lovingly ran after the family patriarch who started it died a quarter-century ago.

It's not much to look at from both the outside and inside — the former nothing more than a small stone-walled structure devoid of artifice, the latter a cramped enclosure with outdated dining sets and fixtures. The outside of the joint is reminiscent of an old jail facility from the Wild West as depicted in old spaghetti Westerns where the bad guy menacing the town was put behind bars by to cool his heels and assuage public concerns.

The lunch line at El Patio on Aug. 2 — exactly one week before the tiny restaurant closes for good — was long as patrons driven by equal parts measure and nostalgia descended for a final meal there. Video by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

What's truly arresting, though, are the meals that keep customers coming back for more — a stick-to-your-ribs comfort food short on presentation but compensating in portion size and reasonable price. And it's the memories invoked by stepping into the time capsule of its environs evoking a time when life was simpler than that of today's world awash in overrated pleasures.

Related story: 'El Patio,' Iconic Austin Eatery, Closing After 65 Years

Founder Paul Joseph's daughter, Renee Joseph Downer, previously told Patch the imminent closure was rooted solely by dreams of retirement she shares with two siblings who help run the place. In a city that is gentrifying at an alarming rate, the landscape is dotted with the architectural skeletons of shuttered businesses no longer able to operate amid soaring property values that increase taxes and rent for all who live here.

Among the toll: Eastside Cafe recently closed after more than 30 years in business. Hut's Hamburgers is set to close this October after operating on West 6th Street since 1969 after having originally opened along South Congress in 1939. The Riverside-area Threadgill's closed this past December after 22 years in business. And the list goes on.

Not El Patio, an old contender in the cutthroat Austin restaurant scene retiring on its own terms as culinary champ. Market forces didn't pay a role in its imminent closure, Downer told Patch assertively. It was just time for her and her siblings to retire.

In its waning days, the restaurant has seen a business even brisker than usual as patrons — many of whom first at at El Patio as children — arrive from far and wide to enjoy a last meal at the popular little restaurant. It's been dine-in only at the place since the upcoming closure was announced, sparking a customer influx that forced suspension of to-go orders as wait staff scramble to fill patrons' orders.

Sign taped to door at El Patio appears to have been written in frantic fashion as the restaurant deals with a disproportionate influx of customers in its last days. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Such was the Friday lunch rush a week before closure, that the eatery's owners posted this sign on the front door by Saturday adjacent to one alerting to the lack of to-go service:

Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Shelly and Gus Gustafson traveled nearly 25 miles from Dripping Springs on their 49th wedding anniversary to have a meal there on Thursday. Mrs. Gustafson stayed under the makeshift, tented waiting area to avoid the sun, having just recovered from being treated for a bit of skin cancer near her nose that was thankfully detected early.

Shelly Gustafson hasn't altered her order since first coming to El Patio around 1965, she told Patch. She and husband Gus drove in from Dripping Springs for a final meal at their beloved spot set to close on Aug. 9 after 65 years in business. Video recorded by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

She told Patch of coming to El Patio starting in 1965-66, recalling how the founder (Mr. Joseph, as everyone refers to him reverentially when uttering his name) would prepare a to-go box for her back then on Sundays when the place shuts down for Sabbath. She said she's never wavered from her order all these years, and wanted to have one more meal at the beloved restaurant before it shut down. Even amid the sweltering heat, her husband became animated when asked what he would have once inside: Enchiladas topped with plenty of onions and an iced tea.

Gus Gustafson keeps simultaneous watch on his wife, Shelly, and the queue at El Patio comprising fellow patrons waiting to get inside. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

As luck would have it, the Gustafsons' hour-long wait to get in mercifully ended shortly after Patch approached them. Gus led the way in, eager to get to those onion-topped enchiladas. "As we say in Texas, buh-bye," he said, removing his cap respectfully in bidding Patch adieu.

Come nightfall, the parking lot was filled with cars as dinner was being served. Motorists traveling on adjacent 30th Street waiting to get onto the main Guadalupe Street artery faced a bit of a logjam as diners exited the parking lot from that exit after their meals. Some drivers took to honking their horns in frustration as they waited for a traffic light across the street already infamous in the neighborhood for the brevity of its green status.

Ideally located off one of the city's most-traveled arteries at 2938 Guadalupe Street, El Patio has beckoned passing motorists with its familiar, if anachronistic, lighted sombrero for 65 years. Video recorded by by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Those spontaneous little traffic jams will soon be a thing of the past after the last plate is served at the old restaurant tucked in a corner of 30th and Guadalupe in a week's time.

The thriving Austin restaurant scene abounds with eateries catering to every conceivable taste — from diners to haute cuisine and everything in between. But to many people, nothing compares to their beloved Mexican food spot, El Patio, as they stream in with equal parts appetite and melancholy to say Adiós.