[ilbegone]

That's A great story, enjoyed it.

It's a mixed bag for me.

Off the top of my head I've been to places in Fontana, Riverside/Rubidoux, San Diego, and down town LA where it was like the music stopped and everyone looked up when I/we walked in the door. And the usual clientele of those places weren't just "minority", they were mostly Latin American foreign nationals and the help generally didn't speak much English, not even "restaurant" English.

On the other hand, there's other places where I've been welcome.

Two places come to mind as extreme examples:

A co worker (who's grandparents were from El Salvador) and I went into a pupuseria at Sherman Way and Mason in the SF Valley. The Mexican national who waited on us couldn't really speak English, but she was extremely friendly and really helpful, even chatted with us. I tipped her extra.

We came back next week. There were three women looking at us through the access hole between the dining room and kitchen with a "what the hell are they doing here" look. It was like we brought a stench in with us.

One of them came out to wait on us, she was rude and obviously unhappy with our presence. She slammed our drinks down along with a squeeze bottle of central American condiment (which she slammed harder). She didn't speak English, or at least was pretending not to - I'm more inclined to believe she wasn't pretending.

Someone who appeared to be the owner arrived and began tinkering with some fixtures. I approached and informed him I didn't appreciate the attitude the young woman was flinging on us. I described the woman who served us the week before, we came back because she was so friendly and besides, we had money to spend as well as the fact that we were the only customers present. The man said he'd have a talk with the waitress, then went back to tinkering.

That pissed me off. I returned to the man and informed him I wasn't going to be treated in the manner I had been and we walked out, just as the food came out. It was the last I went there, and the only time I have walked out like that.

On the other hand, there is a place in the SF Valley (owners aren't Latin American but most of the help is) where one of the waitresses was an unusual young Mexican national (she had some life experiences most Mexicans don't) who came here as a non English speaking adult. She is fluent in English and was in her last year at Cal State Northridge at the time.

I had quite a few very interesting conversations with her (some of them difficult due to the subject matter), and I had not been going there very long before the various Mexican women with the blank, not seeing you look on their face who bussed and washed became friendly and began greeting me with a smile whenever I came in and good by-ing me when I left. I consider the waitress as a friend, and she I as well.

As for the "white devil's money", it's been my observation that Mexican Nationals generally don't tip.

Something I have noticed concerning the good food: Those places which have mostly a white American clientele will serve crap on a plate with various "Mexican" names attached to the dishes, and the Mexican cooks don't eat the slop they sling. I've known of Male Mexican cooks in one of those places who will bring in a Mexican woman to cook for them, probably one of their wives. The best food generally comes from places where English is not spoken, the tortillas hand patted, same food is a little different every day, and women do all the cooking. And if they're out of a menu item today, they don't know if they'll have it tomorrow or next week - a benign "it's not my concern" attitude.

All and all it's a mixed bag. I have more stories, but will save them for another time.