Rudy's Cantina - Davenport, IA

One of the oldest Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities is Rudy's Tacos with 11 locations around the area.  (There is also a Rudy's Tacos in Waterloo, IA.)  While there are a lot of Mexican restaurants in the Quad's - and some that we like a lot more than Rudy's - there's something about Rudy's food that makes us come back every once in awhile.  And now that they built the new Rudy's Cantina about four years ago down in the East Village of Davenport, which isn't all that far from our house, it gives us even more reason to go back.  

Rudy's Cantina in the East Village is located at 2214 E. 11th Street, the home of the original Rudy's Tacos that was opened in 1973 by Rudy and Marilyn Quijas.  (see map)  The original Rudy's was a small place - you could only get about 20 people in the place - but it became a very popular place in a very short price.  The Quijas' (pronounced KEE-hoss) family opened up a second Rudy's Tacos on Cedar St. on Davenport's west side in 1976.  (A quick aside.   My wife and I - as do a lot of other people we've talked to over the years - think the Cedar Street location for Rudy's is the best of all of them.)  In 1977, the Quijas' renovated the original Rudy's Tacos, tearing down the building and replacing it with a much larger building.  

Rudy and Marilyn Quijas divorced in the mid-80's with Marilyn taking over the operations of Rudy's Tacos.  (Rudy Quijas died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 55.)  In the 90's, Marilyn Quijas, with the help of her son, Kevin, started to franchise out Rudy's Tacos locations around the Quad Cities.  Kevin Seymour opened a Rudy's Tacos franchise in Eldridge, IA in 1997 and also owns the Milan, IL location.  Mike Kehl owns four Rudy's Tacos locations - including the one on Cedar St. in Davenport.  But the Quijas family continues to run the original location in the East Village with Kevin Quijas running the day-to-day operation.  

When the Quijas family decided that they wanted to expand about eight years ago, they took over the spot just to the west of their original restaurant.  They renovated the building to put in a bar, an upstairs dining/party area, and an outdoor patio on the roof of the original Rudy's.  During construction, they started to put up a river rock facade on the front of the new building of which the City of Davenport's Historic Preservation Commission immediately said they could not do.  The river rock facade was not in compliance with the historical architecture of the East Village.  Frustrated, the Quijas family had to take down the rock facade further delaying their opening of the new Rudy's Cantina.  

But they finally got it open about four years ago and we've been down there a couple three times to have some food and drinks up on the rooftop cantina that overlooks Lindsay Park and the Mississippi River beyond.  It's a very popular spot in the summer months.  

On this visit, my wife and I had been at a neighborhood Christmas party, then went to see the final performance for The Blue Band in the Quad Cities as they retired the band earlier this year.  We were driving home through the East Village around 11 p.m. and my wife said, "I'm sort of hungry."  I suggested stopping at Rudy's and she said, "Sure!  That sounds good!"  

Usually, parking along 11th Street in the Village on a weekend night is a tough ticket.  But we were able to find an open spot directly across the street from Rudy's Cantina and we went inside.  The only problem was that they were cleaning up in the original part of the restaurant.  My wife asked, "Are you open?"  

One of the young ladies cleaning up said, "Oh, yeah.  We're open until 1 a.m."  (Rudy's has winter hours that take place after January 1 where they close earlier for a couple of months.)  We went into the cantina area of Rudy's and took a seat at a booth with a large window that looked out at 11th St.  One of the girls brought us a menu and we both ordered up a margarita.  Chips and salsa were provided as we looked through the menu.  

I was looking at the extensive tequila menu they had on the wall and the bartender told me, "And that's not all that we serve.  We have over 130 different tequilas."  He said they ran out of room to list all the tequilas they had.  What they had on the wall was impressive enough.  

Rudy's serves up your typical Mexican fare - tacos, enchiladas, burritos, chimichanga, and fajitas.  They have specials from time to time - a couple summers ago, my wife and one of our neighbors had lunch on the rooftop patio and they had a carnitas platter that day.  It was very good.  

But we usually get the same thing when we go to Rudy's - their beef enchiladas.  And they're pretty basic - seasoned ground beef tucked into flour tortillas, topped with cheese, shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes.  But there's something about the seasoned beef that gets our attention. Well, that and the wonderful hot sauce Rudy's makes in-house.  It's a runny hot sauce with hot pepper flakes and seeds mixed in, served in squeeze bottles.  When my wife and I both get full orders of enchiladas (3 enchiladas in an order), we will usually use about 3/4's of a bottle between the two of us.  

This evening, we decided to split an order of the beef enchiladas.  I had some appetizers at the party earlier and my wife has this thing about eating late.  The kitchen at Rudy's were nice enough to cut them in half and serve them to us on individual plates.  

The enchiladas at Rudy's are big - on most evenings I can finish a plate myself, but my wife usually can only get about 1 1/2 to 2 eaten at a sitting.   These were no exception to the rule at Rudy's.  Even cut in half, the enchiladas were filled with a lot of ground seasoned beef with liberal amounts of melted cheese poured over the top.  And, like always, they were very tasty.  It was a good late night meal after doing a fair amount of drinking earlier in the evening.  

Rudy's Cantina in the East Village of Davenport carries on the tradition of the Quijas family that started the original Rudy's Tacos in that spot coming up on 45 years ago this year.  The decor and atmosphere of Rudy's Cantina is very nice and up to date, they have a nice bar area, a nice upstairs dining area/bar, and great little rooftop patio on top of the original building.  The food at Rudy's is different from the more authentic Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities.  Quite frankly, most of it is the American-ized version of Mexican food, and if you understand that going in, you won't be disappointed like some people would be.  But there's something about the beef enchiladas that keeps my wife and I coming back from time to time.  Well, the beef enchiladas with their very good hot sauce they serve at each table.  We'll have to put Rudy's Cantina in our rotation for places to have a drink now that we know they have a large selection of tequila to choose from.  And we may have to sneak in an order of beef enchiladas while we're there.   

Comments

[R.H. Quijas” Brunk]

For clarification, the franchising began in the late 70s or early 80s, with the original North Davenport location, followed by locations in Bettendorf, Rock Island, Moline, East Moline, and Milan; all long before the 90s.