No More Barbecue – Taylor, Texas
The backlit U.S. Flag caught my eye, proudly waving over an old, abandoned building. I snapped the picture with the Fuji GFX 50S II, like the many scenes of Taylor, and moved on. That was back in 2022.
Three years later, as I blog about these pictures, I came to a realization. I had taken a picture of this place before on a 2017 trip to Taylor. In this Photo Essay, I included two pictures of this building out of a dozen black and whites. Back in 2017, it was a functioning restaurant, a famous barbecue joint named Taylor Cafe by Vencil Mares.
Yelp indicates the place is now closed, confirming my suspension. Vencil Mares, who opened the cafe in 1948, passed away in 2019. I have no idea when the establishment ceased operations. Was it in 2019 when the owner died, or did it live on but was crushed by the COVID pandemic, like many restaurants?
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2 thoughts on “No More Barbecue”
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I ate at e the Taylor Cafe years ago when Vincel was there. It was a Time Machine. Still segregated, blacks on one side, whites on the other. Only had the sausage. It was pretty good but Louis Muellers was so much better.
Good to hear from you, Jerry. Wow, what a story, strange that it was still segregated. I never ate there but I did eat at Louis Muellers once.