El Pescado Loco
by jamesinger
a while ago
14012 Poway Rd. Poway, CA 92064
Description:
The Third Job I got fired from:
El Pescado Loco. (Summer c.1991)
I got fired for stealing the owner's daughter's tips after I justified this because she would not tip me on any cash tips I received. Because of this, I would take cash tips, tip myself out ten percent and then give her the tip.
One night, after 2 months of this method of "tipping myself," she accused me of stealing them, even though I had been all summer.
I also smoked pot everyday before work, and sometimes during work, in the customer bathroom with some burnt out rock and roll manager who drove a teal camaro, wore a multi colored tie dye bandana, and called everyone "buddy."
I also stole my friend Scott cases of beer and made him all kinds of free food.
I washed dishes with this really cool kid with a gigantic head from Chihuahua Mexico that didn't speak a word of English but hated it there as much as I did. I taught him how to smuggle bottles of Corona inside of 44oz. Cups full of ice. I would bring him back Coronas and he would keep them wedged into a ring of ice in the cup drinking the beer through a plastic straw.
We both washed dishes super slow and there was always a ridiculous backlog. The manager would flip out all the time and come back to "bust ass" by doing all of the dishes and giving us other things to do. I would purposely lag to get him to come back and do all of my dishes for me. "Bust ass."
This place was next to my neighborhood in Garden Road. Every place that has ever there goes out of business in under a year. The place there before El Pescado Loco was The Blue Dolphin Cove, and before that was some BBQ place run by this ex pro football star on The Chargers. He was some huge linebacker and he had his face all up on the sign with a silly ten gallon hat on. There have been two places there since El Pescado Loco. Most recently, it was this Italian restaurant where all the big fat fake mafia bosses hang out and drink espressos all day. Currently, it is a Thai restaurant.