STORY AND PHOTOS BY HANABA MUNN WELCH
At least we had Paris.
A West Texas version of Humphrey Bogart’s famous line from the movie “Casablanca” could be “At least we ate breakfast at the Hotel Matador.” The outstandingly good breakfasts would get five stars in Paris. A breakfast to remember was part of the hotel’s original plan for success when sisters Linda Roy, Marilynn Hicks and Caron Perkins opened the Hotel Matador in 2014—the same year the old hotel building turned 100. “We decided if you’re going to have a bed and breakfast the claim to fame should be good beds and a memorable breakfast,” Roy said, breakfast cook on a recent weekend. If anything came as a surprise to the enterprising sisters, it was the breakfast fellowship factor. “That’s one of the joys of sitting at the table with the other guests,” Roy said. “You never know who you’re going to have breakfast with at the Hotel Matador.” Recent guests were in town for different reasons — a funeral in Matador, a songwriter festival in nearby Turkey and dove hunting season across the area. Roy, who had prepared bacon, eggs, asparagus, fried potatoes and a biscuit for the meal (not to mention a tasty apple pastry breakfast dessert), enumerated her own historical ties to the town.
“We go back six generations in this county,” she said. “Our great-great-grandfather built the jail. His son-in-law was the sheriff.” In those days, the living quarters for the sheriff and his family was the jail. “My grandfather grew up in that jail,” Roy said. In town for the funeral, Ida Tanaka alluded to her own ties to Matador by saying, “I’ll bet my family spent time in that jail.” Tanaka recounted that on her first time to return to the area for a family event she was surprised that the hotel existed. She remembers saying “A hotel in Matador? You’ve got to be kidding!” Now she counts herself among those who sigh when they come through the front door. It’s a commonly heard sound of gladness and relief that comes from guests glad to be back. They may not know what’s for breakfast, but they know it’ll be good. If a newcomer asks, “What’s for breakfast?” Roy always has the answer: “I won’t know till in the morning.” The way breakfast brings together different sorts of people from different places is something Roy likes to see. In particular she remembers guests from the Czech Republic, South America, Texas and New Mexico, all seated together for breakfast. Tanaka remembers meeting members of a wedding party on a previous visit. The hotel guests all got to know each other over breakfast.
The pastor, seated at a different table from hers, prayed a blessing.
“We were all saying ‘Amen’,” she said.
Toni Gonzales, maid, has worked at the hotel since it opened. She often remembers guests — another factor that sets the Hotel Matador apart.
“She recognized me,” Tanaka said. “You are Martha’s sister.”
A very recognizable group stays every April at the Hotel Matador during the Bob Wills Western Swing celebration in Turkey. Theirs is a standing reservation.
They’ve told Roy, “We have it in our will, if we die, cancel our reservations for Bob Wills.”
Not that they’re counting on dying. They’d have to miss breakfast.
BREAKFAST CLUB Photographer’s rule: If you’re going to take pictures of a meal, do it while the food is fresh on the plate — a difficult challenge at the Hotel Matador, where breakfast is delicious and tends to disappear quickly. Seated at the main dining table are Ida Tanaka, left, and Linda Rager, both of Conroe. | HANABA MUNN WELCH
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