When Arlington Mexican restaurant Campo Verde closed earlier this year, after an impressive 40-year run, many longtime customers shrieked in horror, while others undoubtedly asked, “Well, what took so long?”
Few restaurants had caused as much divisiveness as this insanely unique Tex-Mex joint on Pioneer Parkway. Decorated year-round in Christmas lights, it had become an institution for many North Texans, its blitzkrieg of colorful, twinkling lights bringing smiles to faces of all ethnicities and ages at all times of year; even in the dead of summer, when it was 102 degrees out, it was Christmas at Campo Verde.
A model train mounted to the wall brought even more happiness, as the train cars zoomed from one end of the dining room to the other — a simple toy transformed into a mesmerizing spectacle…