Ted's Cafe Escondido

[TheTravellers]

Who actually owns Ted's now? I know it started with Ted on 68th (although they completely lie about it being a remodeled house - there was never a house there, it was a field, we played there as kids/teenagers, and they built the restaurant there and made it look like a house, county assessor records support that). I know they partnered w/Hal Smith, and then Ted got out, but not sure what the owner situation is now. Apologies if it's pages back in this thread, I didn't go through it all before asking...

[BoulderSooner]

Who actually owns Ted's now? I know it started with Ted on 68th (although they completely lie about it being a remodeled house - there was never a house there, it was a field, we played there as kids/teenagers, and they built the restaurant there and made it look like a house, county assessor records support that). I know they partnered w/Hal Smith, and then Ted got out, but not sure what the owner situation is now. Apologies if it's pages back in this thread, I didn't go through it all before asking...

in 2002 Ted Curtis partnered with Hal smith to open new locations ..

https://www.oklahoman.com/article/28...re-restaurants

in 2013 a PE firm the Beekman group took over the brand ... but Hal smith is still involved and is on the board ...

https://www.thebeekmangroup.com/the-...afe-escondido/

they are run fully separate from HSRG

[TheTravellers]

in 2002 Ted Curtis partnered with Hal smith to open new locations ..

https://www.oklahoman.com/article/28...re-restaurants

in 2013 a PE firm the Beekman group took over the brand ... but Hal smith is still involved and is on the board ...

https://www.thebeekmangroup.com/the-...afe-escondido/

they are run fully separate from HSRG

Thanks.

[MikeLucky]

in 2002 Ted Curtis partnered with Hal smith to open new locations ..

https://www.oklahoman.com/article/28...re-restaurants

in 2013 a PE firm the Beekman group took over the brand ... but Hal smith is still involved and is on the board ...

https://www.thebeekmangroup.com/the-...afe-escondido/

they are run fully separate from HSRG

When we went to the soft opening of Metro Cafe, one of the owners was there and we spoke with him a bit. Turns out he's the guy that started Outback Steakhouse, sold it off and started Longhorn Steakhouse, I believe. He was the one who took Metro Diner nationwide and was here for their soft opening. He mentioned that he was working with Hal Smith for Metro and that they were working on taking Ted's national. My assumption now is that this cantina version is what they have settled on as the concept to go national as opposed to a full on Ted's Cafe Escondido, but that remains to be seen.

I also got to chat at another time to someone close to the gentleman that started Ted's and his departure was characterized as a bunch of money to go away and leave it alone type situation. And, from what I can tell it was a BUNCH of money.

[Rover]

When we went to the soft opening of Metro Cafe, one of the owners was there and we spoke with him a bit. Turns out he's the guy that started Outback Steakhouse, sold it off and started Longhorn Steakhouse, I believe. He was the one who took Metro Diner nationwide and was here for their soft opening. He mentioned that he was working with Hal Smith for Metro and that they were working on taking Ted's national. My assumption now is that this cantina version is what they have settled on as the concept to go national as opposed to a full on Ted's Cafe Escondido, but that remains to be seen.

I also got to chat at another time to someone close to the gentleman that started Ted's and his departure was characterized as a bunch of money to go away and leave it alone type situation. And, from what I can tell it was a BUNCH of money.

Didn't Hal run Outback?

Ted was ahead of his time in a few things, particularly the seating scheduling program that was very accurate. When they said it would be 20 minutes it was way more reliable than the off the hand estimates others did at the time. I think people appreciated it and it helped build loyal clientele. They knew that say McDonalds grew because they were consistent and predictable, not because they had the best food (except for maybe addictive French fries )

[ctchandler]

Traveller,
I think you might (I said "might") be confused with Cocino De Mino, the store that Ted's bought on 68th. Cocino De Mino started in an old home, remodeled to be a restaurant on SouthEast 29th street. I'm not saying you are wrong, just wondering if you are confusing the story with Ted's.
C. T.

[Rover]

Traveller,
I think you might (I said "might") be confused with Cocino De Mino, the store that Ted's bought on 68th. Cocino De Mino started in an old home, remodeled to be a restaurant on SouthEast 29th street. I'm not saying you are wrong, just wondering if you are confusing the story with Ted's.
C. T.

It was a hamburger place befor Ted’s.

[TheTravellers]

Traveller,
I think you might (I said "might") be confused with Cocino De Mino, the store that Ted's bought on 68th. Cocino De Mino started in an old home, remodeled to be a restaurant on SouthEast 29th street. I'm not saying you are wrong, just wondering if you are confusing the story with Ted's.
C. T.

Nope, Ted's website says this:

In a remodeled house on 68th St. in Oklahoma City, with a fondness for freshness and a made-from-scratch mentality, Ted’s Cafe Escondido was born. We’ve been bringing better Mexican food to Oklahoma since 1991.

County Assessor website says this:

Account #: R119931705
Bldg #1
Building #: 1
Built As: Restaurant
# of Stories: 1 Stories
Square Feet: 3,851
Year Built: 1984

Can't speak to the hamburger place, I didn't get back down there for a long time.

[Martin]

i don't know about the accuracy of it ever being a house, but ct is right in that the property was cocina de mino prior to becoming ted's. just to verify my recollection, i looked at the oklahoman archives... the first mention of the address is in 1984 (coinciding to when the assessor says the structure was built) as the may cafe. the owner was getting opposition from the neighborhood when applying for a beer permit. sometime between then and 1987, it became the second location of cocina de mino. by 1993, the location was ted's cafe escondido when there was (again) drama with the neighborhood when the property owner applied for abc-2 so that the restaurant could serve mixed drinks.

[Pete]

I don't think there were ever any houses on that site.

If you look at the aerial from 1969, it was still a vacant lot.

[Martin]

^
totally agree and was about to follow up with the same thing! in my mind, there's little chance that a house would be built on those three lots and then within 15 years of 1984 have it immediately rezoned and turned into a restaurant. i just wanted to be 110% sure and took a detour to look at a 1975 aerial at the usgs site and got stuck when i forgot my password. : )

EDIT: the lots were empty in 1975 also. the next available aerial is from feb. 1984 and (of course) it shows the structure.

[TheTravellers]

I literally lived about half a block away from it from when I was born in 1965 and I can't remember from my first few years, of course, but from the time I was old enough to run/walk around the neighborhood, there was never a building on the site until sometime after we moved away in 1982. In 1975, me and my friends were playing baseball/football in "the field" (as well as climbing around on "the rocks", which was a hill/rocks where the retaining wall is now west of Ted's, and above it was also a field (McDonald's was on the north side of 68th on May then, and there was a Braum's was where the dispensary is now).

[ctchandler]

It was a hamburger place befor Ted’s.

Rover,
Cocino De Mino was on our weekly lunch rotation, then it was Ted's. It might have been a hamburger place before Cocino De Mino. Cocino De Mino moved further North on May after selling it to Ted's.
C. T.

[ctchandler]

Nope, Ted's website says this:

In a remodeled house on 68th St. in Oklahoma City, with a fondness for freshness and a made-from-scratch mentality, Ted’s Cafe Escondido was born. We’ve been bringing better Mexican food to Oklahoma since 1991.

County Assessor website says this:

Account #: R119931705
Bldg #1
Building #: 1
Built As: Restaurant
# of Stories: 1 Stories
Square Feet: 3,851
Year Built: 1984

Can't speak to the hamburger place, I didn't get back down there for a long time.

Traveller,
Remember, I said "MIght". I think Ted's was using Cocino De Mino's history for marketing purposes.
C. T.

[TheTravellers]

Traveller,
Remember, I said "MIght". I think Ted's was using Cocino De Mino's history for marketing purposes.
C. T.

Point is that there was never a house on that site, it was purpose-built as a restaurant, no matter what anybody's "history" says.

[shawnw]

This place just can't catch a break. Busted pipes. Cars up on the patio...

https://twitter.com/DanicMepressive/...43550713946118

[Anonymous.]

Drift King was craving some tacos?

[Pete]

This Ted's is open, but their patio is not:

[shawnw]

The fact that the rock was not removed from the sidewalk (whereas if it had found its way to the road it would have been removed immediately) tells you everything you need to know about pedestrian prioritization in this city. But we already knew that about this stretch with the light poles right in the middle of the sidewalk...

[Plutonic Panda]

Yeah the sidewalks should be set back from the road.

[April in the Plaza]

Yeah the sidewalks should be set back from the road.

+1. Really need to get DPZ (or a similarly situated firm) to work up a zoning review for all of NW OKC, and then just execute on the vision. Would be far more impactful than most of these silly MAPS projects of late.

[SEMIweather]

The fact that the rock was not removed from the sidewalk (whereas if it had found its way to the road it would have been removed immediately) tells you everything you need to know about pedestrian prioritization in this city. But we already knew that about this stretch with the light poles right in the middle of the sidewalk...

Not to mention the absolute state of the sidewalks (where they even exist) between this part of town and the Paseo as well.

[GoGators]

At some point we are going to have to actually get serious about making these corridors safe for people. This should have been taken care of years ago. This is a complete failure on the city of okc. It’s not the first time cars have hit the front of buildings in this area and it won’t be the last. People are going to get killed by this neglect. An absolute embarrassment.

[securityinfo]

i don't know about the accuracy of it ever being a house, but ct is right in that the property was cocina de mino prior to becoming ted's. just to verify my recollection, i looked at the oklahoman archives... the first mention of the address is in 1984 (coinciding to when the assessor says the structure was built) as the may cafe. the owner was getting opposition from the neighborhood when applying for a beer permit. sometime between then and 1987, it became the second location of cocina de mino. by 1993, the location was ted's cafe escondido when there was (again) drama with the neighborhood when the property owner applied for abc-2 so that the restaurant could serve mixed drinks.

Necropost. I thought I might chime in here, as I was as "in" as anyone could be when TC started the restaurant.

The building was built as the "May Cafe" by John Culbertson, a local author and decorated Vietnam vet. The May Cafe did not go over so well, but TC made friends with Culbertson, as TC's dad owned a rather large restaurant supply company. It was also close to the neighborhood that TC's family lived in.

Culbertson then rented the building to the Concina De Mino folks for several years. For some reasons I don't know, there was friction, and CdM was tossed at the end of one of the lease terms.

TC was in the planning stages for a restaurant, as his music recording studio was in the process of being sold off. Culbertson offered him the opportunity to do his concept on the 68th st. location, and after some rocky starts, Ted's Cafe Escondido was officially born, 1991. Ted never purchased the building from Culbertson, only leased it.

TC and his wife, along with some staff that had departed from another mexican restaurant got it going, working truly devastating hours, for several years. The software was an enormous task... some may remember the buzzer devices patrons were given while waiting, that would alert you when your table was ready. There were even devices on the tables that kept track of how long it took to get it cleared and ready for the next diners.

The alcohol drama is basically exactly as you describe, Martin. TC guaranteed there would only be beer sales, no hard liquor. This was both as TC has a very negative personal feeling with the damages of substance abuse, and also as it would tend to slow the table turns. People camping and drinking you know.

TC actually did spare no expense. He instituted systems and processes that were truly ahead of their time. Some worked, some did not. The stress of small business ownership etc. led him to move to sell, exactly as described in other parts of this post.

This really is a story that told in detail and correctly would be a great "Oklahoma Success" read.

I can't believe it has been 30 years.

[Martin]

Necropost. I thought I might chime in here, as I was as "in" as anyone could be when TC started the restaurant...

great information... thanks for all that! having pagers in the early 90's was definitely ahead of its time... i remember that catching on in the late 90's but don't remember any place with them around '91. on top of that, i didn't even know devices that could track when a table is cleared even existed. the first time we made it to ted's was around 2000 and we waited around an hour to get a table... throughout the whole experience we could tell that the place had a tight system in place.