Remember this delightful restaurant? It was probably Searcy's first Mexican food restaurant and I remember it fondly. However, I'd forgotten how it looked. I vaguely remembered driving out East Race Street and pulling into the parking lot. The whole thing is gone now. I can't remember exactly where it was located.
It had 150 seating capacity and did business in the same location for 17 years. This picture and history was in a 1981 real estate brochure offering it for sale. No price was listed and the address was not listed. In fact, the entire brochure had great pictures but no addresses. The office wanted that phone to ring!
This restaurant was operated by Buell Max and Foncine Gillham. They cooked both on the premises and at their home on a lake and served excellent food always.
And don't tell this to everyone but things were different way back then. They sorta had a BYOB policy. That means "Bring your own bottle." sssshhhhh! In a dry county like ours you can't order a drink with your dinner. The owners of some restaurants were permissive and would bring you a glass of ice and politely not notice if a bottle of spirits came out from under the table and filled the glass.
Everyone in Searcy loved El Charro and the Gillhams. This memory of old Searcy is a good one.
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