McHuston Booksellers

Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: Owasso (Page 113 of 120)

The Enduring Taco.

October 10, 2012 /

Unfortunately, the sleek new Taco Bueno website offers no history of the company, except for such monumental achievements as “Muchaco is invented” and “Iconic Bueno Bubble makes its debut.”

The man behind the company – Señor Bueno, I think his name was – brought the recipes and drive-thru windows to Tulsa sometime in the early 1970s. The location near the Farm shopping center at 51st and Sheridan was one of the pioneer spots. It was within walking distance when the kids were young. It had a game room.

Games may be confined to iPads and cellphones these days, and the architecture has changed over the years as well. As reported in the Tulsa World, and already likely known to many Owasso Bueno aficionados, a second location has been opened in that city. Probably a great relief to the staff of the only other Taco Bueno in Owasso, reducing the taco load. The building design has been updated to feature a stone entryway.

Bueno has had a long-term relationship with the Tulsa area, and while it is true that they’ve added and taken away some menu items over the years, the primary offerings have not changed much. Taco. Soft taco. Chilada Platter. (Why they are chiladas at Taco Bueno and enchiladas everywhere else, I don’t know.) There’s that fry-bread-like muchaco. Mexidips and chips.

And we’ve not grown bored of them after forty years…

Other chains have come and gone. There used to be Steak and Ale, which was a special occasion dining stop for a lot of people. A big salad bar lure for others. That group is gone, having Chapter 7nd into history back in 2008 after a 42-year run. Some of you may remember Shotgun Sam’s, a pizza place that dusted the pans with corn meal before spreading the dough and baking. That chain is no longer.

Part of it is the food and part is presentation, when it comes to diner loyalty. Those Steak and Ale filets were pretty tasty but the management never updated the stodgy old stores, which were reminiscent of a medieval alehouse. When they finally saw the edge of the precipice, remodeling just wasn’t enough to save them. Red Lobster has just announced a big menu shakeup, adding non-fishy items to attract the non-seafood lover in you. The change was spurred by a downturn in sales.

As for the Bueno-heads in line at Owasso – it is clear that the tacos are still a favorite with us here in Oklahoma… even after 40 years, Taco Bueno is still writing the book on Tex-Mex.

1st Editions after the 4th.

July 9, 2012 / / 0 Comments

After a brief test-run, it is time for some fine tuning. There have been no big announcements to date regarding the bistro end of the new shop. That’s because much of the time up to now has involved getting the books and the store’s interior in order.

Even that is still an ongoing process.

There are more items in boxes in the office awaiting rediscovery. I did find my first edition copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and the three-volume Universal Songster (Jones, London 1832) by George Cruikshank, who illustrated Dickens’ Oliver Twist and two other volumes. It was a pleasure to hold those books once again.

Meanwhile, I’m still fielding questions about the food service.

The trial run revealed a few areas requiring attention, and there is still the matter of suppliers: Specifically – trying to get their attention.

In my previous life as a restaurateur, I contacted Coca Cola about switching to their products and they were quick to bring out a machine that would dispense soft drinks. All we had to do is buy the product. Of course, Paddy’s Irish Restaurant seated 150 people (we had many more than that inside on St. Patrick’s Day, but that’s another story…), and the current layout for the bookstore bistro will accommodate about a tenth of that number.

The food distribution company salesperson hasn’t been seen round these parts since April, so it has been Plan B in the meantime.

There is also that issue of publicizing the food service. It’s in the works now, part of the planned entry-level marketing that will accompany the inaugural run, once we’re beyond the trials.

A number of bookstore guests have already expressed their impatience over the delay – a feeling I share completely. I can only point out that several of the Main Street neighbor restaurants were months in opening, even after posting their outdoor signage. The McHuston awning has only had lettering for just over a week now.

My sixth grade science teacher was fond of repeating the adage “Patience is a Virtue.” I’m not going for sainthood or anything.

It’s only in hopes of avoiding the snags that sometimes come with hurrying.

Something new under the sun.

June 26, 2012 / / 0 Comments

It is certainly hard to miss now, at least if you are driving down Main Street in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Them’s some big letters.

The first bit of official advertising for the new location is courtesy of an alteration to the storefront awning.

I’ve been asked why I didn’t put the name up there instead of Books & Bistro. There’s a pretty simple answer: When someone says “I’m going to McDonald’s,” there is no question about what they’re after. I don’t anticipate ever getting to that degree of notoriety, so I figured it would make more sense to describe what is inside the store rather than who owns it.

Besides – when paying by the letter, “McHuston Booksellers & Irish Bistro” adds up to a pretty penny.

As for the looks, I could not be happier. The letters are larger than I had imagined they would be, a pleasing surprise, and already someone has come in after parking to check out the inside of the place.

Sometimes I ask how a customer found the store and sometimes I don’t, but I know from visitors at the old location that the sign out front was my best advertising expenditure. Compare to the sign expense, I paid a lot more for newspaper ads over the five years at Oak Crest shopping center, but it might have been a better idea to just put that money toward a newer, bigger sign.

Did you ever spot one of the newspaper ads?

Goes to show ya.

I am in hopes that the awning will do the same thing toward drawing in customers as the vinyl lettered plywood sign did. (That’s now parked at the back door, slightly faded, but doing what it can from that vantage point.)

Maybe I’ll take down the HP printer paper sign that I taped up to the inside of the glass, the one that inspired a woman to tell me, “It looks like it was made on a computer.”

The lettering on the awning, on the other hand, looks pretty official.

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