Ode to Mi Tenapa

Long ago, we learned that Borrego Springs adheres to Baja time: An early restaurant , a tiny place on the south east side of the Circle, which was called, "Mi Tenapa", had the best home cooked Mexican food you have ever tasted. The thing about the place, though, was you never knew when it was open. The owner of the Fudge Shop also remembers the place fondly and told me he always looked for cars in the parking lot before he stopped to eat there. We also had a signal we looked for...his two dogs. Even if there were no cars around, if the dogs were outside, you could then be sure he or his wife were inside cooking. Usually, his wife would get there early. She was the cook. He was the server and would arrive later. Ray served each table himself. One beer at a time! He slowly and carefully set the tables...spoons, then forks, then knives...making many shuffling trips back and forth and often stopping to talk. We saw an out-of-town customer ask him to hurry up. His reply..." I haven't hurried in sixty years and I'm not about to start now!" We have so many memories of that unique place...it only had a few tables but it had a larger "waiting room" with four old car seats, firmly attached to the floor with heavy chains. NO ONE who knew the place would wait in the waiting room, which was stifling in summer. The entertainment at Tenapa was watching tourists run outside to wait after a few minutes in that waiting room! One time, our family was having dinner and we did have live entertainment. Friends of his dropped in, part of a mariachi band who entertained us in that small space...a harp and two guitars . You just never know what will happen during a Borrego summer!

You often didn't get what you ordered, because Ray was "out of it" but whatever you did get was always delicious! When the food ran out, the doors closed. He worked until he was well into his eighties and, though the name of the place has changed more than once, it will always remain Ray's Mi Tenapa to us.