Our young family went to Manuel’s weekly, always with the same order, which most of the staff knew by heart. Admittedly it was pretty simple – chicken enchiladas mole for four – kids always had limeades, parents usually had the adult frozen version, with salt. We had delightful relationships with all the staff who treated us like family. Then we moved to Northern Utah when our kids were 6 and 8 for a variety of reasons, but after a year, our list of reasons to move back to Texas was growing with increasing urgency – we were starving! At the top of the list was our longing for quality Mexican food, mole in particular. There was a restaurant 45 minutes away that boasted six varieties of mole, but the phonetic spelling of “moh-lay” on their menu was the first red flag. Still we loaded up and made the drive with great optimism and appetites. As you might expect, they did not deliver. We made a brief trip home to Austin to see family and friends, but more importantly to eat at Manuel’s. As we sat outside under the magnificent oaks that languidly fill the courtyard, tears of joy filled our eyes at the sight and taste of mole, and the realization that home is so many things that are hard to recreate when you move away. Sometimes you have to go away to appreciate what you left behind. We were fortunate to have the option to return home to Austin, and to Manuel’s most every week, where it never gets old. We still tell people the final reason we moved back to Austin was for the quality Mexican restaurants, with Manuel’s easily at the top of our list. Congrats on 40 years, and thank you for all the special memories! The Robinette Family,