Casa Nueva: Cantina Rules

The Cantina Crew

Casa Cantina

DRINKING

1. Do not leave drink unattended. (prot-r, prot-i, func, norm)
2. Must be 21 to order a drink at the bar. (norm, func, prot-i, prot-r)
3. Show ID when ordering alcoholic drinks at the bar. (func, norm, prot-i, prot-r)
4. Talking with others at the bar is acceptable. (norm)
5. Patrons may use a credit or debit card whenever with no minimum. (func)
6. If drinks are spilled, clean up the mess with napkins. If on the floor, alert an employee. (norm, func, prot-r, prot-i)
7. Get out of the way after getting a drink. (norm, func)
8. Do not block the water tap. (func, norm)
9. Get water from the self-service tap at the bar and return cups to the bar when finished drinking. (func)

FOOD

1. Food and drinks are ordered at the bar: one must find an open space at the bar and get the attention of a bartender to order. (func, norm)
2. Pay for food at the time of the order. (func, norm)
3. Food options are on the small menu located at all of the tables, which should be left on the table when departing. (func)

4. Hold on to the laminated number card given by the bartender after placing a food order. (func)
5. Wait for number to light up on the Bodega board and listen for the corresponding bell to go pick up food at the Bodega window. (func)

6. Return borrowed hot sauces and spices to the table by the bodega pick up window. (func, norm)
7. Pick up silverware at pick up window. (func)
8. Return laminated number card to a basket located at the pick up window. (func)

IMPLIED SOCIAL NORMS

1. Not an appropriate space for extreme emotions, whether that be crying, PDA, or screaming. (norm, func)
2. Do not touch the thermostat. (norm, func)
3. Do not vandalize Casa property. (prot-r, norm)
4. Respect the band playing on stage. For example: clapping at the completion of a song. (norm)
5. Keep voices to a conversational volume or lower when a band is performing. (norm)
6. If one moves tables and chairs, do so quietly and remember to return them to their original location when done. (func, norm)
7. Art hanging on walls should not be touched. (norm, prot-r)
8. Seat oneself in a booth, table or at the bar in the Cantina. (norm, func)
9. Do not block the entrance to the kitchen or bathrooms. (func, norm)
10. Do not leave drink unattended. (prot-i, norm)
11. Show ID when ordering alcoholic drinks at the bar. (prot-r, prot-i, norm, func)
12. If drinks are spilled, clean up the mess with napkins. If on the floor, alert an employee. (func, norm, prot-r, prot-i)

WRITTEN OR DISPLAYED

1. Do not enter employee-only spaces such as: the kitchen, the sound booth, or behind the bar. (prot-r, prot-i, norm, func)
2. If one borrows board games or books from the bookcase near the entrance, return them in the original condition when finished. (norm, func)
3. Bus the table and place dishes/silverware in bin by the bodega pick-up window. (func)

4. Check the calendar by the entrance/exit for events and closings. (norm, func)

5. Salsa, art, and other Casa Nueva products are available for purchase at the bar within the Cantina. (func)
6. Do not exit through emergency doors except in the event of an emergency. (func, prot-r, prot-i, norm)
7. Do not tip (prot-r, func)

8. Do not block the water tap. (func)
9. Must be 21 to order a drink at the bar. (prot-i, prot-r, norm)

Taxonomy

We chose to divide the rules present within the Casa Cantina into four taxonomic categories after organizing the rules. The categories are as follows:

• Prot-i: protects the individual
• Prot-r: protects the restaurant
• Func: maintains functionality of restaurant
• Norm: maintains social norms

Discussion

On a Monday evening around 8 PM, our group made a trip to Casa Nueva’s Cantina for a delicious dinner. Casa is somewhat of an Athens legend, serving as the epicenter for the city’s local food movement, with organically grown fresh vegetables and locally produced dairy products tossed together to make healthy food in a unique social setting. Casa satisfies Agnew’s three requirements, found on page seven of an article by Cresswell entitled, “Defining Place,” of the fundamental aspects of a place. Casa is located in central Athens, an ideal meeting place for people of the area. Its location is off of Court Street, physically separating the establishment from the drinking culture of Athens while maintaining a prominent, accessible location. The interior of Casa is comprised of wood paneling and obscure art, illuminated by rather dim lighting, providing a cozy and unique physical space for interaction and dining. The customers of Casa Nueva each have their own sense of place in regards to the restaurant, based on their interactions with the space and their ideologies. It is a well known fact that Casa’s style of business is a detour from the ordinary: particularly in the Cantina. While dining and listening to the smooth sounds of the Coolville Hot Club, our group began to understand the quirks of Casa as much more than just unique styles of conducting business, but rather as intentional rules drafted with a purpose. We decided that the rules of the Cantina serve to protect the individual customer, protect the restaurant, maintain the restaurant’s functionality, and embrace social norms.

Initially, we constructed a list of rules based on observations made while eating. After discussing these rules, we placed them into categories that would better explain why the rules came to be, and how they are expressed. The categories devised to organize the rules we drafted are drinking, implied social norms, food, and written or displayed rules. While there are some rules that fall distinctly within one category, certain rules transcend the boundaries into multiple categories. For example, the rule that a patron must show their identification when ordering alcohol fits into both the categories of implied social norms and drinking. Additionally, the action of showing an ID when ordering alcohol can be further divided into taxonomies. These taxonomies work to satisfy the question, “what purpose does this rule serve?” Showing a form of identification when purchasing alcohol protects an individual customer from breaking federal law, an action that could have severe ramifications. A bartender requiring the showing of ID works to protect the restaurant from serving alcohol to an underage individual, which would lead to the loss of the establishment’s liquor license, and hence decline in business. Because of federal law, showing ID is required at every establishment that serves alcohol. It has become a social norm, and it is expected that ID will be shown without the explicit direction to do so. When a customer fails to show an ID while ordering a drink, the ability of the establishment to serve customers in a timely manner is limited, leading to customer dissatisfaction and potential loss of business.

Connection to Larger Social Themes:

The rules found in Casa Nueva’s Cantina section can be broadly and generally applied to connection with one of the most current social issue plaguing our country. The current topic of transgender rights has been hard hitting news for more than a while now. The biggest issue to stem from transgender rights was the issue of whether or not they had the right to use the bathroom of their identified gender. This came from Texas’ transgender fight to only allow public schools to let in people with the corresponding gender on their birth certificate known as the “bathroom bill.” For example, if you were born a physical male, but now identified as a female, you would not have been allowed to use the women’s bathroom in school under the law. In order to better understand this controversy, CNN put together an online article with the facts and myths surrounding the law, which can be found here.
Casa Nueva has always been known to be an all-inclusive space. They believe in fair and equal treatment of every one, whether that be with their employees or their patrons. Casa never turns away people due to their identity, gender or sexual preferences. They believe that everyone deserves a quality meal, drink, or experience. This even plays into the way that they choose to pay their employees. They believe that everyone, regardless of their performance or the type of customers they receive, should be paid an equal fair wage for their service. This is why Casa decided to not allow tips to be given at their restaurant. Another example of this is how they treat people during their open mic nights. They make it so that everyone has an equal opportunity to do what they would like for open mic and be able to express themselves. For their 30 year celebration, an article from The Athens News, “Casa Nueva celebrates 30 years with event,” had an interview that properly explains the environment. “Before working at Casa, I waited tables at various corporate chain restaurants,” said Cordell. “I was treated like I was dispensable; my thoughts or opinions didn't matter to my managers. Young women aren't always treated very well as service workers, and I certainly had my share of negative treatment in those businesses. That was never the case at Casa. Equal rights and fair treatment are extremely important to us.” Again, you see their motto as being “equal rights and fair treatment,” something that transgenders are fighting for right now in our country and even abroad.

Food and Restaurants: Unique Vibes Attracting Specific Demographics

In a broad sense, people symbolically consume and create their own identities through the food that they eat (or don’t eat). While individuals can express their identity through food via, for example, being paleo, pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, or through religious reasons (i.e. halal), the environment surrounding food is often an intensely personal one that inevitably constructs, reinforces, and then portrays a specific identity of an individual. While this identity construction may be psychological or cultural in nature, it is a method through which we differentiate ourselves. And, while everyone perpetuates some level of personal identity, the social atmosphere surrounding food can help in denoting the connection between social identity and social power – or, simply, what we consume, where we consume, and with whom we consume can say quite a bit about our class position and privilege. This concept has been around for a while, with people such as sociologist Norbert Elias suggesting that the consumption of food helps to develop social power and relationships within settings (see Elias’ book, The Civilizing Process, 2000). Other sociologists and anthropologists have also relayed this argument by stating that what a person eats, where they eat it, and with whom they eat suggest clear social power stratifications within any society, especially Westernized ones. Not only are these stratifications present socially and culturally, but they also present subtleties within the media. For a more visual example of this concept, take this older Australian ad comparing the working man’s meat pie with fine dining.

But, how can we develop this idea within the context of Casa Nueva?

While many of the rules we noted in Casa Nueva are rather generic and can be applied to many other restaurants, cafes, and retail stores in general (see rules listed under implied social norms), there are rules present within Casa Nueva that define the space as a unique place to eat, drink, relax with friends, and enjoy live entertainment. For example, Casa Nueva employs a “unique” way of ordering food in the specified cantina section. In the large cantina section of the restaurant, a patron is limited to a small selection of menu items, ranging from soup and starters to burritos and bowls. After picking food off the menu and going to a bartender to place the order, the patron is given a laminated number card. This number lights up on the large, stylized “Bodega board” on the restaurant’s wall which then signals to the patron to go to the kitchen window to pick up his or her order of worker-made, locally-sourced specialty Mexican-style food. Meanwhile, the cantina section is filled with dim lighting, quirky local art, and, if it’s a special evening, live music from local bands and artists. The environment and atmosphere in the cantina is one that is warm, inviting, interesting, and definitely eccentric. One can argue that this is the specific “identity” that Casa Nueva wants to portray to its customers. However, this specific environment also attracts a specific group of people who are drawn to these unique attributes in the restaurant. In order to conceptualize this, a recent article from the Huffington Post defines this process in broader light.

In the article (cited below), professor of food studies Fabio Parasecoli highlights an interesting contemporary case reflecting on important questions on the motives behind the food revolution. Parasecoli discusses work by S. Margot Finn, who argues that “hip” food has been built around a societal ideology of being gourmet, difficult to acquire (hence local, not mass-produced), healthy, and, most importantly, authentic and reflecting different cultural preferences and unique practices that are not synonymous to the mainstream food industry. Finn goes on to explain that these ideological ideals surrounding food are geared toward a specific demographic – the professional middle class (and, more narrowly, the middle class associated with left-leaning politics). Interestingly, this article points to mild streams of class warfare as being a partial cause to this shift in restaurant culture. Those in the middle class are continuing to have anxieties in the current age of economic inequality, where they fall high above the level of “poverty,” but stagnate and decline in comparison to the social lives on the rich. The result? The middle class can and does use food and dining as a proxy for expressing themselves through more “exotic,” or unique, food experiences. This may be the case why general society has entered the era of “Instagram-worthy” posh foods that help individuals place themselves into a specific social status. Who’s cool enough to buy a rainbow bagel at Brooklyn’s The Bagel Store? Smoothie bowls at LA’s famous Backyard Bowls? Cocktails at Seattle’s Zig Zag Cafe? Local Mexican food in Athens, Ohio? In a broad sense, those who fall halfway feel the urge to reinvent themselves a new identity, and what better way to tackle that task than through the highly personalized and controllable notion of food. Quoted from the article, Finn states that food is “a process in which people use their literal tastes – the kinds of foods they eat and the way they use and talk about food – to perform and embody a desirable class identity and distinguish themselves from the masses.”

This idea can be seen (in a humorous way) with this clip wherein John Oliver discusses “exotic” items at Whole Foods.

Additionally, food elites and the restaurant business may use this notion in a covert way to promote subtle opinions and beliefs (although this may not be true of Casa Nueva, which is overt in its practice of a no-tipping, worker-owned business practice). While distinctions in current food revolutions may have underlying class motives (whether one sees this as positive or negative), food revolutions also help to distinguish group action toward food inclusivity, meaning that new ways of eating, dining, and thinking about food are starting to bring awareness to other social factors such as business etiquette and the importance of quality food access. If we place this discussion directly onto Casa Nueva, we can see how specific “rules” help to enforce a unique setting in which particular groups of people are drawn. While the establishment is a local hit for students of Ohio University, professors, artists, and visitors who are intrigued by the exotic atmosphere of Casa Nueva frequent the locale often. Casa Nueva has distinctly set itself apart as a must-see restaurant for the local food movement in southeast Ohio, both for its new-age business customs and for the fact that it, among other sentiments, has secured itself as a place for reinvigoration of one’s personal dining experience.

Article citation: Parasecoli, Fabio. “What’s right to eat? Class, Distinction, and the Food Movement.” Huffington Post, 28 Aug. 2017.