The Dining Divas Make the Best of Dining Out

During the Pandemic

It’s hard to be the Dining Divas during a pandemic when you’re avoiding restaurants and large gatherings. But that hasn’t kept us apart. During the last two months, we’ve figured it out, and we discovered another good restaurant in the process.
Keeping with our Divas in the Park theme, we headed west and met up at Ft. Zumwalt Park in O’Fallon, MO for our monthly gathering. Never having been there and not sure of the accommodations, we took our chances that we’d find an open pavilion, seating would be available, and usable bathrooms would be close by.
I encouraged everyone to order carryout from El Tio Pepe, across highway 70, and close to the park. We were really impressed with their setup. They only serve carryout during COVID 19 and were not open for indoor seating. But they were organized! We were also pleased to see the number of people supporting this business. Cars were in and out of the parking lot.
At the park, we were lucky to find a covered area, out of the sun, because it was a hot and humid night. We all spread out on the different picnic tables and enjoyed catching up. It
was cool to see the Traveling Diva stop by to visit us on her way to Kansas City for the weekend. We also enjoyed the Diva Sisters who crashed the
party and hung out with us.
We did our best to keep the conversations positive, but as we all know, it’s hard right now to keep talk of the virus and politics from creeping in. Unfortunately, one Diva had just learned that a family member had a fellow employee confirmed positive with Coronavirus. That made us all nervous. This Responsible Diva sat away from everyone at her own table. (Fortunately, days later the family member tested negative for the virus, thank God.) That turned into “do you know anyone who has had it?” We didn’t let this topic overtake our conversation.
The Taco Salad and Tacos from El Tio Pepe were fantastic. The Chunky Beef Chimichanga with rice was good, but probably would have been great if eaten in the restaurant as it would have been hotter and crispy. The Chicken Chimi with beans and rice was delicious. Apparently, the Supreme Burrito is the best, and with a margarita,
even better. For the Lost Diva, her meal was still really good (Chicken Fajitas and fresh guacamole with chips) even though she got turned around so her food wasn’t very warm by the time she found the park and ate it. The Overheated Diva, enjoyed her Pollo Cancun so much more the next day for lunch in her air conditioned house. It was too hot
for her to enjoy it at the park.
El Tio Pepe did not disappoint us, except for the fact that they didn’t include napkins and plastic utensils with our orders. Fortunately, in this time of a pandemic, one Diva had plenty of plastic ware available in her vehicle. And a couple other Divas brought dessert.
So we didn’t really miss the restaurant atmosphere. Well, except for that they usually have nice, clean bathrooms. Oh, and air conditioning. Yes, that really helps. So yeah, we’re ready to get back into a restaurant, and we’ll keep hoping.

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