The Cover-Up Café
Mike Smith
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In the town of Roswell there are many businesses that manage to capitalize on the 1947 UFO Crash in one way or another. Some of them go all out like the local McDonalds with its playground enclosed in a gigantic flying saucer-like dome, and some of them merely throw a plastic alien in the window and call it a day. Yet, none of them quite stand out like one business in Roswell. And there aren’t even any little green men in sight.
Enter the Cover-Up Café, located on 2nd and Main Street in what used to be an old Denny’s. The café, designed by Gene Frazier, and owned by Linda Wells of Roswell, purposely avoids the aliens and the crashed UFO, instead opting for the theory that the whole incident was just a weather balloon crash like the government said it was back in 1947.
Of course, Frazier and Wells are in on the joke.
“It’s kind of a satirical…because a lot of the serious people that came into the festival understood right away what it was all about, you know, ‘Here’s a weather balloon tracking center.’” explains Frazier. “Nothing was discussed in [the restaurant] about a real flying saucer or a real alien. We usually referred to [the aliens] as balloon pilots with a stretcher in there that was referred to as a “balloon pilot transport device”…You take everything where they would normally say flying saucer, or UFO, and substitute that for weather balloon and it plays off of that.” says Frazier.
No, you won’t find any cheap alien card board cut outs or window paintings at The Cover Up Café, instead Frazier and Wells decided to go all out in their satirical military themed restaurant. Made to look like an outpost left behind by the old Roswell Army Airfield to monitor dangerous UFOs under the guise of a “Weather Balloon Tracking Center” complete with an old military jeep parked out front, old 1940s Big Band music piping from the inside speakers, servers that wear militaristic olive-green T-shirts that read “Balloon Retrieval Unit,” and even a flat screen TV monitor displaying UFO videos with a sign above it that says: ‘Weather Balloons Under Observation,’ the restaurant is quite a novelty in its design concept and keen sense of humor.
With signs outside the building that read: "Do not attempt to approach a downed balloon yourself" and "Only you can prevent mass hysteria" it’s easy to see why the restaurant earned the adoration of recent festival attendees. Jerry Pippin even did his famous radio talk show from the restaurant, and a couple was even married there.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the food’s good either. One online reviewer gave the restaurant four stars and wrote:
“An alien lounged nonchalantly at the counter while "weather balloon" sightings were shown on several screens. The waitress didn't seem surprised at any of this, so I tried to play it cool. I had a plate of battered and fried onions (like a bloomin' onion) and battered and fried radishes and green chili stew, and everything was really delicious and cheap. Truly, there are much worse places to eat in Roswell. This place had kitschy and tasty down pat.”
With specialties such as the Corona Desert Bloom, a beer battered deep fried onion blossom and “the only thing you’ll find in the UFO ‘debris field’ today,” the Captain’s Choice, a mouth watering 16 ounce New York Strip, a variety of sea food dishes, and a “Special Mess Kit” for the kids, there is much to like at the Cover-Up.
But while the Café does booming business during the summer months, the lack of a liquor license hurts them in the off season, which is why now when you drive by you may see a For Sale sign in the window.
“See, that’s what everybody told us…they’d say, ‘We like your steaks better than Cattle Baron but we’re going up there so we can have some wine.’” Frazier explains. “The way it works is they call it your ‘dinner house segment.’ It only takes one person in a group of four or five that says I want a beer with my hamburger, maybe three or four people don’t care one way or another but they want to satisfy the one person…to go where he’ll get what he needs.”
It doesn’t help that the State of New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department: Alcoholic and Gaming Division in Santa Fe is suffering from a massive backlog of requests for liquor licenses. While big name corporations can stand to wait, it’s the smaller businesses that hurt from the delay.
“They ought to do something to help process the mom and pop applications…Because they really can’t afford the delays.” said Frazier.
But don’t panic, the restaurant is far from dead in the water. The For Sale sign was only hung while the restaurant takes a hiatus to find new partners and investors in their Roswell LLC venture. Once enough new partners are found and the liquor license is finally approved the café will reopen.
After all, in the end it’s only right that Roswell has its own unique dining experience. As Frazier sums it up, “Nobody comes to town specifically to go eat at a Denny’s or see a Denny’s or a Chili’s or any other major chain…they want the old tourist trap experience.”
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For more information on joining Roswell Ventures LLC or investing in the Cover-Up Café contact Gene Frazier at (505)-627-9949.
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Reader Comments (4)
I also happen to know, for a fact, that the owners of this fine establishment are an upstanding, conservative, patriotic American family http://www.thesimpsonstv.net/userimages/user3148_1168051939.jpg , who would never treat an employee unjustly. The fact that, he was gray complected, with no nose, of dubious gender, and wearing a really bad wig played absolutely no part in the decision to let him go!
Thank you, for hearing the other side of the story.
God Bless America!
- Stan Smith