Arkansas-side eateries await May 11 green light
While Texas-side dining rooms reopen Friday, Arkansas-side establishments will have to wait until May 11 and some restaurateurs believe this will leave them at a disadvantage for some time.
“I’m frankly disappointed,” said Paul Kennedy, owner of Reggie’s Burgers, Dogs and Fries on State Line Avenue. “This is going to leave us 10-11 days behind. From a business perspective, given that Arkansas-side businesses already have some challenges in competing with the Texas-side, this is frustrating. But it is about time.”
Kennedy is nonetheless grateful for coming through the COVID crisis with Reggie’s doing well during the shutdown.
“We have been very blessed,” he said. “Our customers stayed with us the whole time, using our drive-thru and delivery services. Our customers are loyal and they stuck with us the whole time. They even generously tipped our servers coming through the drive-thru, even though they weren’t being served in the dining room. They were generous, loyal and our business didn’t hurt significantly during the shutdown.”
Despite the challenges before them and the delay, Kennedy looks forward to welcoming the customers back to Reggie’s.
“We are very excited,” he said. “We look forward to serving them once again. Our facilities have always had very high cleanliness standards and that of course continues. But given the current situation, we will be spacing out our customers in the dining room.”
In her 32 years at Golden Lady as manager as well as many other hats, Monica Alexander somewhat tearfully contemplates welcoming back her customers. Golden Lady is a family-owned and operated establishment that has served Texarkana soul food for decades. The staff comes to regard their customers as family as well.
“Our customers like to come in and sit, visit, watch Jerry Springer. It has been really sad not having them in here, spending time with us,” she said. “The days here have been long without them as well.”
It was from family that Alexander found out the governor had announced the opening of Arkansasside restaurant dining rooms.
“I was on the phone talking to my sister, I saw the date, that it would be about two weeks until we got to open up the dining room,” she said. “My sister was very happy, folks being able to come in and harass me. It has seemed so long… it will be good to have the family back, all out of love. Life goes on.”
At Caminos de Guanajuato, off Interstate 30, they shut down for a couple of weeks when the COVID closures were announced. But after a break, they decided to get things running again, making their authentic Mexican dishes available for curbside and delivery, which kept them going through the shutdown. And though they were disappointed they have to wait, compared to the Texas side, they are looking forward to greeting their customers once again.
“I just saw the announcement from Governor Hutchinson,” said Marco Gonzales, staff and family member. “We opened back up on Friday the 24th after a break. We were ready to continue serving our customers and we wanted to let people know we are still here.
“Yes, it is an unfair situation, but still, we are continuing our authentic cooking and look forward to welcoming Texarkana back into our doors,” he added. “We will do our best to hold out until the opening.”
Maria Parra, owner of Caminos de Guanajuato and matriarch of the family, grew up learning authentic Mexican cooking, which has helped Caminos stand out among Texarkana Mexican restaurants.
She is just looking forward to the customers coming back for a meal.
“I’m really joyful to have them coming back and enjoying our food again,” she said.