Roland Laurenzo, son of famed restauranteur Mama Ninfa Laurenzo and owner of Houston’s popular El Tiempo cantinas, really stepped in his refried beans yesterday. His Navigation Blvd. Facebook page posted this photo of Jeff Sessions with Domenic Laurenzo (Roland’s son) taken while Sessions was having dinner there:
To make matters worse, they cross posted the photo on their other locations’ social media pages. Predictably, the social media world erupted in protest. Apparently unprepared for the firestorm, Laurenzo (or his employees) first tried to quell it by deleting negative comments, but finally gave up and simply deleted the original posts. By the time they did that, though, the post had gone viral, but not in a good way. Still trying to make this all go away, Laurenzo posted this statement last night:
It didn’t work. At the time of this post, there have been 509 comments, virtually all pretty ugly. Many have been deleted.
So, the question is this: How could Laurenzo be so stupid? I’m not talking about serving Sessions his dinner, I’m talking about Laurenzo bragging about it on Facebook where he knows that thousands of customers and social media users would see it. The decision to serve a shitbag like Sessions is his decision. Personally, I couldn’t do it, but a business owner runs his own business, right? The fact that Jeff Sessions stands against common decency, common sense, humanity, diversity, justice, equality, and honesty is well documented. Since El Tiempo is a Mexican restaurant whose staff is 100% Latino and whose customers are as diverse as Houston itself, you would think that Laurenzo would never dream of saying to the world that he was “honored” to serve him even adding a little little American flag emoji as the crowning blow.
In his flurry of excuses/explanations, Laurenzo says he was only told by the Secret Service that a “government official” was coming to dinner, and didn’t know it was Sessions until he walked through the door. He’s also said that the braggadocios Facebook post was made by an employee and had not been approved. Those explanations don’t pass the straight-face test. First, just how many people NOT a Trump official/family have Secret Service protection? Answer: none, except past presidents. Second, it appears that Laurenzo himself is a Trumpist. How do we suspect that? In October of 2016, Laurenzo approved a pro-Trump rally at the Navigation El Tiempo location. A pro-Trump music video was produced at the same location on the same day. Third, I’ve eaten at El Tiempo restaurants all over Houston for years. I’ve NEVER seen either Roland Laurenzo or his son Domenic at any location where I’ve eaten. That’s not to say that they don’t ever visit his restaurants, but what are the chances that he or Domenic just happened to be at the precise location in a personalized chef jacket at the precise time Sessions showed up for a photo op? Answer: not likely. Let’s face it…Sessions was doing some reputation polishing (See: Trump’s taco bowl moment) and arranged a few show ups in Houston after his speech announcing a crackdown on violent crime, which happens to be at a 40 year low. Laurenzo gave an assist. As a side note, Sessions had breakfast at La Mexicana yesterday morning, but, unlike Laurenzo, the Treviño family wisely kept their mouths shut about it, especially on Facebook.
What’s happening to Laurenzo is what often happens to people who are tone deaf (like Trumpists) and who live in an echo chamber. When people live in that echo chamber, they are often caught flat footed when normal people are violently repulsed by something they do or say. I’m sure that Laurenzo was all starry-eyed that Sessions came to dinner and then had to brag about it on social media. The easily predicted backlash was 100% self inflicted, and will likely have long lasting effects on Laurenzo and his business. It’s a shame, but he should have seen that coming.
As for me, I’m certainly going to miss the Dos Lunch special along with my Tecate. Dammit.
UPDATE: Laurenzo threw in the towel yesterday and shut down all of El Tiempo’s social media accounts. Was he humble and apologetic? Of course not. He’s a Trumpist. In several interviews, Laurenzo has called the brouhaha “a big misunderstanding” and that “we never intended to offend anyone.” He also again threw a nameless employee under the bus for the original post. Yesterday, explaining why he shut down El Tiempo’s social media pages, he said, “People are insulting us in such a dramatic fashion, and we feel like we don’t deserve it. At least temporarily I had it taken down because I don’t want to be insulted, my children to be insulted, my family to be insulted.” Well, I’m pretty insulted that the owner of my formerly favorite TexMex restaurant openly supports easily the worst president in US history and his merry band of criminals tearing my country apart as fast as they can. If he’s so worried about being insulted, I’m wondering if he’s as insulted by the fact that 360 children remain locked up in detention centers after their parents were deported without them. I think not. He’s worried about his own family and his own business. Besides – these newly orphaned kids will probably make good dishwashers and waiters for him, right?
There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.
