There is an online auction coming up that I would like to participate in. I imagine the eBay page will be packed with hordes of auction hounds as nostalgic as myself, all determined to ace the iconic item up for sale.
Here’s a little background:
When Felix Mexican Restaurant closed after 60 years of being a favored destination for native Houstonians craving cheese enchiladas awash in chili beef gravy, guacamole like no other guacamole, and a most singular red grease tinged chili con queso, the tears that fell from the Tex-Mex-loving populace could have flooded the city.
This was the place where I first tasted Mexican food as a child, and in all the decades that followed, the place by which all subsequent cheese enchiladas, guacamole and queso were judged. (Note pulled from my ancient, dog-eared Mexican food journal: “There’s no place like Felix.”)
During the years that Felix was in flower, poised next to its location in Montrose was a huge sign designed in a cunning cactus motif that jutted up from the sidewalk and was emblazoned with the tantalizing promise “Felix Mexican Restaurant.” It was a beacon that drew in the faithful. After the restaurant closed, no one knew for a couple of years what happened to that sign.
But a little bird told me that the sign has been found and an eBay auction of the sign is imminent. Once the event takes place, the last remnant of my beloved Felix will go to the highest bidder.
What I have to figure out is this: If I drain the bank account to buy the thing, should I remove my roof and set it up in the living room? Or plant the sign outside in my butterfly garden as a perch for birds?
Want to Own a Piece of Houston Restaurant History? On Monday, November 26, 2012, the team from Uchi Restaurant, which took over the old Felix location, will kick off a week-long auction on eBay to sell the iconic “sombrero siesta” Felix sign that towered for so many years in front of front of Felix on the corner of Westheimer near Montrose. Plans call for proceeds from the eBay auction to be donated to the LULAC National Scholarship Fund. Owner/founder Felix Tijerina served as national president of LULAC – the League of United Latin American Citizens – for four terms.
The auction will be divided into three parts with each piece of the vintage porcelain sign sold individually. Winning bidders will have to arrange for pick up at the storage facility. To find out more about the auction go to uchirestaurants.com.
Click HERE to see the auction on Ebay, now live.