Texas restaurateurs are getting along swimmingly despite one of the wettest years on record.
Most areas of the state, because of some freakish weather system, are waterlogged. In early July, for the first time since 1957, all of the state’s major river basins were at flood stage from the nearly daily rains that began May 23. The rain cup runneth over.
In the central Texas Hill Country community of Marble Falls, chef Mark Schmidt, owner of the distinguished Café 909, found himself cooking and washing dishes with bottled water supplied by the government because the municipal water was deemed unsafe and the area had been declared a federal disaster area.
“All the rain has really done a number on that area of Texas,” said Café 909 representative Millie Lott in Dallas. “Even after the rain stopped, they had no drinking water for days.… When the flooding first began everything was closed because the streets were so bad. During the ‘shut-in,’ as Mark called it, he developed his new summer menu. I told him he probably should have been building an ark.”
Schmidt closed the restaurant for two days, but then its water was not potable for several more. He brought in a 300-gallon tank filled with bottled water so he could reopen.
For Café 909 and other businesses in the resort community of Marble Falls, July is usually the one of their busiest months. Schmidt says that because of the flooding bookings have fallen off to nearly nothing.
In North Texas, workers at the Tanglewood Resort, Hotel and Conference Center near Pottsboro were watching their view of Lake Texoma, which borders Oklahoma, expand with the volume of the lake. The lake level was at 639 feet—20 feet above its normal elevation.
Tanglewood provided accommodations and meals to displaced neighbors during the height of the downpours. Jim Mullins, director of sales and marketing at the resort, said that once the lake cleanup begins, “Tanglewood employees will work side by side with local businesses to ensure that recreational facilities are restored. We are all part of the Texoma family. We’re used to working together.”
The resort was offering value pricing for guests Sunday through Thursday during July.
Rains during the Fourth of July week didn’t pose as many problems for coastal hospitality businesses. Many guests had advance reservations and used them despite the soggy weather.
George Vratis, owner of the Stingaree Restaurant in Crystal Beach, Texas, said the rains actually forced people inside on the Fourth of July and helped increase his business, resulting in record sales for the holiday.
Some restaurateurs are still perplexed, however, over the bottled water that’s being provided by the federal government as part of disaster aid: It’s Evian, the mineral water from the French Alps.
So much for those “freedom fries” of yore.