Out of Commission for next week

As they say.... life goes on, but we will miss Matt. My DH's cousin passed away this week. DH and Matt were very close when they were little. As they grew up and moved out of town (opposite directions), they kept in touch mainly by telephone, and Matt and his wife would come to Port Aransas where we would get together in the summers.
We will be going to Dallas for the Rosary and Funeral. So far DH is ok. But, I bet it will hit him when he gets there. I'll try to be as much help to the family as possible.
Well, I'll get back to blogging week after next.

Matt Martinez Jr.: Proudly raised the Tex-Mex banner
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, March 15, 2009
By ERIC AASEN and JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News / The Dallas Morning News Matthew Haag contributed to this report.
Matt Martinez Jr., the colorful and charismatic restaurateur who injected his own culinary flair into his family's Tex-Mex legacy, died Friday night of complications from cancer. He was 63.
In Dallas, Mr. Martinez was best known for his Matt's Rancho Martinez, a popular Lakewood eatery.
Mr. Martinez's family first opened up Tex-Mex restaurants in Austin in the 1920s. He brought his family's food to Dallas in the mid-1980s.
Along the way, he launched restaurants that earned rave reviews, wrote books, appeared on television shows, served his food to presidents, met myriad celebrities and became friends with Julia Child.
"It's a sad, sad day for Tex-Mex," said Robb Walsh, the Texas food writer who has authored books about the regional cuisine. "He was the guy who took the Tex-Mex banner and raised it up and said, 'This is what we do, and we're proud of it.' "
Mr. Martinez was instrumental in helping to jazz up the reputation of Tex-Mex, a term first used as a put-down by critics who sought to differentiate Mexican cuisine from Americanized foods like nachos, Mr. Walsh said.
"Matt was the first member of a Tex-Mex dynasty to say, 'OK, if this is what they're going to call what we cook, then, by God, let's make this the most popular food on the planet.' "
Estella Martinez said her husband expanded on one of the state's oldest Tex-Mex dynasties.
"He always said he took a poor man's meal and made it good enough so that anyone in any walk of life could enjoy it," she said. "I think he took Tex-Mex to another level."
Austin family
Mr. Martinez was born in Austin, where his grandfather sold tamales on the Capitol steps and in 1925 opened one of the first Tex-Mex restaurants in Austin.
His father opened Matt's El Rancho in Austin in 1952.
In the late '60s or early '70s, former Texas Land Commissioner Bob Armstrong asked "Little Matt" to make an appetizer. He wanted "something not on the menu," Mr.! Martine z recalled in the 2006 cookbook MexTex: Traditional Tex-Mex Taste.
So Mr. Martinez hurriedly mixed together some taco meat, guacamole and sour cream, pouring chile con queso over it and threw it in the oven.
Mr. Armstrong spread the word on how good the dish was, and the Bob Armstrong Dip became Mr. Martinez's most famous appetizer.
At Matt's Rancho Martinez, every recipe had to have Mr. Martinez's stamp of approval before it went on the menu, said Lorenzo Rodallegas, the restaurant's general manager.
Mr. Martinez was friendly and especially loved to talk with kids who ate at his restaurant.
"From the minute he walked in, at least three or four customers knew him and would talk to him," Mr. Rodallegas said.
Mr. Martinez was likable because he made people feel comfortable, said Mark Davis, a photographer who worked with the restaurateur on MexTex.
"Even if he didn't know you, he treated you as if you were an old friend," he said. "He would walk up to a stranger and strike up a conversation."
At the restaurant, one wall is covered with a mural of famous people, including Elvis. The mustachioed Mr. Martinez is front and center, wearing a shirt made out of the Texas state flag. His hands are held outward.
On another wall: a picture of Julia Child.
He introduced her to chicken-fried steak during a visit to one of his restaurants. They became "fast friends," and they even downed drinks in San Antonio together, Mrs. Martinez said.
In the 1960s, when the Martinez family was catering a meal at President Lyndon Johnson's ranch, Mr. Martinez, then about 18, joined the president for a drink. Mr. Johnson poured some Jack Daniels. The kid drank it straight -- and winced.
"You know, son, when I first started, I had to put a little Coke in it," the president told him.
Knowing famous people was fun, but Mr. Martinez especially valued the time spent serving customers. He also loved to hunt and fish.
Didn't complain
In 2003, Mr. Martinez! had sur gery to remove a cancerous kidney. He told his children that everything was fine.
But the renal cancer eventually returned, spreading throughout his body.
Only last year did he tell his children about the severity of the illness.
"He was always a cowboy, somewhat of a maverick," said his son, Matt Martinez III. "It wasn't his way to complain."
In November, doctors found more tumors in his brain stem and spinal column. He entered hospice last week.
Earlier this month, Mr. Martinez and his wife celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary and renewed their vows.
"I wouldn't trade that for anything," Mrs. Martinez said. "He was weeping and so was I."
In addition to his wife and son Matt III, Mr. Martinez is survived by sons Joaquin Miguel Martinez of Garland and Jesse Garcia Martinez of Dallas; daughter Christine Nicole Lopez of Garland; sisters Gloria Marie Reyna, Cecilia Ann Muela and Cathy Krietz, all of Austin; 18 grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Viewings will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday at Calvary Hill Cemetery, 3235 Lombardy Lane, Dallas; and from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 6306 Kenwood Ave., Dallas.
A rosary will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday and the funeral at 11 a.m. Thursday, both at St. Thomas Aquinas.
Memorials in Mr. Martinez's name may be sent to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105 and Covenant House Texas, 1111 Lovett Blvd., Houston, Texas 77006.
Staff writer Matthew Haag contributed to this report.
eaasen@dallasnews.com;
jsimnacher@dallasnews.com