"I wanted to do something different this time," he said, addressing a table of regulars.
Part manager, part mother hen, she knows everyone in the place — she points out a table of regulars from North East, 50 miles away, and another group that once bet at Pimlico.
A table of ample regulars eyes me with happy malice, but they tilt their Shiners in approval when I go for a second mouthful, then a third.
In the middle of the room were the in-betweens: a couple of groups of out-of-towners, some regulars, and a table of punks who didn't know why they were there.
Two things bring the space alive: flowers, like lavender tulips and apricot roses, and customers, a mixture one weeknight in May of locals, Houstonians, a handsome Mexican couple who are regular visitors, and a table of three women, childhood friends, who had gathered from all across the country.
At the Formula One Club, open year round, the house band, Big Nite Out, performed Bob Marley and Pearl Jam covers to tables of regulars, European Formula One fans and the Philippine and Indian women they were flirting with.
Like the others, it's tiny; we wound up sharing our hastily arranged table with a couple of regulars who made us feel at home.
Its large oval table became the headquarters of a group of regulars who called themselves the Science Club and met every Friday for lunch.
Developing a community of regulars.
There are a handful of regular tables in that main room and a second smaller room, where customers must remove their shoes to dine, that is outfitted with tatami mats, floor seating and only one table.
In Sulfur Springs, Texas, in the late morning, Lew Mannon, 76, and Gerald Pinkham, 78, were sitting alone at a table, the last of the morning regulars to leave.
