Lorina’s Cantina, the favorite Lake Amistad watering hole

November 9, 2007
By Joe Hyde
Special to LIVE!

Jerry Harris retired in Del Rio. Or so he thought he would. His wife, Lorina, who comes from a large family of sisters, couldn’t sit still. And besides that, they enjoyed the social life around a bar. That’s when opportunity knocked.

In 2002, a bar location out by Lake Amistad became available. “She can’t just sit around and do nothing,” Jerry explained, pointing to Lorina. So Jerry and Lorina bought the place and renamed it Lorina’s Cantina. “Well, we met in a bar. We got married in a bar. We’ve done everything you can think of in a bar. I guess we are just destined to own one,” Lorina said. “Lorina is just a cream puff,’ Jerry added.

Jerry met Lorina in El Paso where Jerry worked as a maquila manager. He managed plants that made automotive parts. Lorina sold real estate there. Opportunity knocked in Del Rio, then in plants well south of there, and they moved. “I used to have a driver take me deep into Mexico where I’d work for the week, and then they’d drive me back for the weekend,” Jerry said.

Once retired, the couple grew restless and Lorina’s personality was a perfect fit for building a bar crowd. “She is here to please a lot of people with a great establishment to gather,” Jerry said.

The bar quickly grew in revenue and clientele. Around two years ago, the couple purchased the land across the highway, north of the original bar and made it bigger and better. The new Lorina’s Cantina, 9087 U.S. Highway 90 West, is teeming with activity the latter part of the week. Earlier in the week there is a regular, smaller crowd. “I serve food for free every day,’ Lorina said. And that food can be anything from Lorina’s tasty Mexican delights to a huge six-foot-long sandwich served the evening of this interview. “Some fishermen were having a party and they didn’t eat it, so they brought it by,” Lorina explained.

Charity and bars do not necessarily harmonize, but Lorina’s has been the recipient of several gifts that upgraded the establishment. “Customers have given us money to fix the place up,” Lorina explained. Like the hardwood dance floor, it was donated. A plaque is affixed to the floor acknowledging the donor. And a large glass garage door that opens towards a panoramic view of the lake was donated, too. Plaque attached. The door opens to a large outdoor patio, their latest addition to the building.

Lorina’s is a busy hub on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. On Thursdays and Saturdays, they have karaoke. On Fridays, the couple reserves the time for live entertainment. “We’ve had the Calderon Brothers, Johnny Bush (who wrote “Whiskey River” for Willie Nelson) and Levi Mullen. They want to increase the opportunity for live bands to perform at Lorina’s.

Lorina’s daughter Desiree Chapman helps out at Lorina’s when she’s not at home with her newborn. And Jerry is hopeful that as time passes, the younger generation can pick up some of the slack. “Lorina works too hard,” Jerry said.

But there’s no time for slowing down, to hear the couple talk. “We need to build a smaller bar attached here. Maybe we’ll just build a restaurant instead,” Jerry said. Lorina hands me a bowl of corn chips. “Aren’t those the best chips you have ever tasted,” she asked. They were. Lorina explained they were a special type of chip from El Paso. And, she noted, she has a lot of culinary tricks up her sleeve if they had a restaurant, too.

Texas chili is a passion for the couple. “Lorina won second place at Terlingua in 1998,” a proud Jerry said. The ghost town near Big Bend National Park is home to two famous chili cook-offs every year. The next one is happening the first weekend in November. For contestants headed out, Jerry and Lorina put out word in the competition chili world that they were going to hold their first annual chili cook-off the week prior. It was a hit, and they plan to have one ever year from now on.

One more thing about Lorina’s you may want to know. There is this picture in the men’s room. You have to see it. And that’s all I have to write about that.

Lorina’s Cantina is open 2 p.m. until 2 a.m., Thursday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. to midnight, Sunday through Wednesday.