BajaNomad

Carlos & Charlie

bajalera - 11-16-2003 at 03:46 PM

Bajabus --

Thanks for the restaurant review. Our computer has decided one entry per thread is enough and won't let me reply, so I'm starting a new one.

I really don't give two whoops of a rats sass that you don't have a clue as to why anybody would eat at C&C's, but I'll share my reasons with you, anyway.

The fried fish is better at soooo many other places? Well duh! What I go there for is not the food but the ambience.
Like Stephanie, I think it's a great place to sip margaritas at sunset, with a happy blend of passersby and the Mogote in the background. (The Bismarck has good food, but reminds me of one of the smaller rooms at Carlsbad Caverns.}

And then there's the nostalgia of a familiar place. For five years I passed the C&C location--then the Ruffo family home--nearly every day, en route to the public market or the Perla. (I still go there once in a while, too, and find it somehow comforting that the food and the service are just as bad as ever).

Carlos & Charlie's, although a ditsy name, has never struck me as a nauseating one. Is your wife perhaps a Mexican lady whose cultural sensitivities are upset by all the gross gringo commercialization and overall bad taste?

If so, there's no need for the barf bag in this case. Instead, take a trip to Mazatlan and stop in at another non-gourmet venue--the Shrimp Bucket, in the no-longer-fashionable part of town. There are photos on the wall that note how Carlos Anderson, after establlishing a well-known restaurant in Mexico DF, opened the Shrimp Bucket, and eventually the C&C chain, which now has branches all over Mexico (and I've heard there are a couple in Spain). Can't remember when this little Mexican success story started, maybe the 1940s-- I'm not sure, but do know that C&C isn't some recent example of U.S. exploitation and tackiness..

I can't identify Charlie. Maybe John Steinback's dog?

Anyway, there you are--and bon appetit!
- bajalera

Bajabus - 11-16-2003 at 04:27 PM

I guess one persons ceiling is anothers floor. Last we ate there the service took forever and the food was sub par. You are right though it is a nice location to sip a drink and watch the crowds. I also do not like Perla. Thanks for the rebuttal. Have you tried the mare y pena, The machaca de atun ahumado is awesome.

Dave - 11-16-2003 at 04:36 PM

Carlos and Charlie, isn't that the Mexican phone company?:lol:

jimmy smith - 11-16-2003 at 07:48 PM

Thanks for setting me straight Bajalera, I always thought that was Augistine Olachea's house rather than Ruffo's.

Anonymous - 11-16-2003 at 09:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Carlos and Charlie, isn't that the Mexican phone company?:lol:


No...that's Taco Bell

:rolleyes:

Mexican phone companies

Ski Baja - 11-16-2003 at 09:43 PM

I've always referred to them as Campbells! Some of you may get this.

bajalera - 11-17-2003 at 12:07 PM

Thanks, bajabus, for the taco tip--will have to try them.

I don't really like to post defenses of blah food and waiters so busy talking--or even playing games--that they forget what they're there for, but that's what I seem to be doing. Oh well . . .

I don't know whose family home it was....

Stephanie Jackter - 11-17-2003 at 12:20 PM

but the location Carlos and Charlies occupies was totally abandoned for a good 5 to 10 years before they took it over. My ex and I used to walk by and fantasize about rescuing and renovating the old building for our own malecon mansion. I remember walking by it a few times after Charlies had gotten it and not recognizing the building at all because of all the changes. I think Charlies has been there for 17 years now. I couldn't believe it's been that long.

Watch that credit card like a hawk if you go there though. It's a real pain in the butt having to change cards and fill out theft reports after they rip off your card numbers, not to speak of how much money these rip offs are costing us all in higher prices everywhere.

I feel sorry for the poor guy who manages the restaurant, who I think is probably an honest person who didn't even know what was going on. I emailed his wife about the problem and how Charlies is going to stand to lose a lot of business if these rip-offs keep happening, so maybe he can figure out who's doing it and get it under control. I just hope they don't get peeved with me for being the barer of bad tidings.

From what I understand from reading posts on Fred's board about this kind of rip off, the scanner the person who is ripping the card data off uses is very small and can even be stuck in a pocket or attached to a belt buckle undre a jacket. The card is simply passed by the box, and wala, all the magnetic info is transferred. The point here is that the waiter or cashier who steals the card can do it very inconspicuously, so that management can even be looking for the problem and not see what's going on.

I've decided I'm not going to use my credit card when I'm in Mexico any more. I'll just keep with the debit card cash economy routine and avoid this mess from now on.- Stephanie

[Edited on 11-17-2003 by Stephanie Jackter]

Skeet/Loreto - 11-17-2003 at 03:42 PM

This is for all my Liberal Friends for some History on where now Carlos and Charlie;s Stand.

Many many years before some of you were asttending your elite Universities learning How to Smoke Pot, the Old house in La Paz was as "Hippy Hangout"
Yes a 'Hippy Hangout you would not believe. It was Hostel of sorts.
Around1969 when the flower Children started dispersing from San Francisco and Berkerley that jumped into there Vw's and headed south on the old road as well as flying down..They would gather all day and night in their various forms of Dress ,talk,smoke{Tobacco} and do their Transcendal things that I guess all Hippies do. I would talk to them and found them to be very nice bunch of Kids,
from all walks of life , rich, poor!
There was the beginning of a good Library at that time,they would do a lot of reading and discussions on the steps of the Bldg..
I wondered where they went with their life?There was a very pretty young girl who was into making molded Masks of Leather. She was teaching young Mexicanos to Mold the Leather and sell on the sidewalk next to the La Perla.Skeet/Loreto

bajalera - 11-20-2003 at 02:35 PM

Hey, Skeet, I think you must be talking about the library founded by Carlos/Charlie Carmona, where I was a volunteer 1964-68 (after graduating from my elite university and learning the world is not actually flat.

The Carlos/Charlie library was at the corner of Cinco de Mayo and the Malecon--a couple of blocks down from the Ruffo home--and there were no steps for long-haired, happier-than-they-deserve-to-be flower children to be hanging loose on.


Incidentally, Old Timer, when I read one of your rants I keep thinking it's a damn shame you don't give pot a shot. A sure cure for the grumblies.

Anonymous - 11-20-2003 at 03:17 PM

Another benefit of pot is how it slows down the brain (for some) and allows you to type words with the letters in their correct order

Skeet/Loreto - 11-20-2003 at 03:23 PM

Bajalera: Hey Man you must have some good memories of that time in La Paz. It was a different group of Hippies and Oldes.
I would come down from time to time and always end up at the open Air Cafe for good conservation,the Hippies would stay down the block so when I got bored listening to the Sail Baoters I would wonder down to talk to the Hippies.Good times. The last time I was in La Paz theruffo Home was a real fancy Womens Salon, is it still open are do I have the wrong place?

Short Story: 1975 I went down to check on Mac who was building my Panga" Patricia". Several days a big guy and a small Mexicano Lady would have breakfast at the sidewalk cafe . I started talking and found out that he was flying Silver Nitrate into the Clouds along the Mountains all the way to Mulege. He was from Texas a place that I still have some ties to as you can tell.Anyway he was driving a Cessna 210 with a steel frame over the winscreen. He would go up every day get to 20,000 ft find the right cloud and then start seeding the clouds,then come back to La Paz where the mechanics would use bondo to smooth out the wings from the Hail.
He wore a Parachute all the time he was flying. Boy what Cajonies!!

I did try that stuff a couple of times and it made my Peecker limp so I decided to stick to the girls,they are much more fun. Skeet/Loreto

That was the year that Lisa hit and did so much damage in La Paz.Where you there?
People think I am nuts when I tell them about all the kids getting swept out to Sea. You talk about Crying your heart out watching the Sharks feed on helpless children.