This Guy Spent 24 Hours in a Pool of Bean Dip to Save His Favorite Restaurant
Can't say I blame the guy.
I would do just about anything to bring back now-shuttered NYC staple Bar Sardine—go swimming in the Hudson, lop off a pinky toe, you name it. So when I say I understand the man that sat in a tub of bean dip for 24 straight hours just to save his favorite restaurant, I mean it.
When LA-based filmmaker and pro stuntman (shocker, right?) Hunter Ray Barker's fave local Mexican joint, Los Toros, was struggling to survive amidst the pandemic, he dreamt up a, well, rather eccentric way to drum up business: spend 24 hours in an inflatable pool filled with the restaurant's actual bean dip in the parking lot.
"I was like 'Are you sure? Are you sure you want to do this?'" Los Toros owner Nicolas Montaño told Reuters. "And he goes, 'Yeah, I think it would be fun and it's something I want to help the business.'"
Between 9:30 am Monday and 9:30 am Tuesday, Barker did just that—outfitted in a Los Toros T-shirt and face mask, no less. He kept the entertainment coming too. He chilled with a marg, snagged an enchilada, gave away a $200 gift card to the restaurant, and even got a tattoo of the Los Toros bull—while sitting in the dip. Lana Del Rey (yes, that Lana Del Rey) even stopped by.
"What makes Los Toros so special to me is the feeling. I have been coming here with my family for over twenty years," Barker wrote on the event website, which was naturally dubbed 24HourBeanDip.com. "I have had many firsts here. My first margarita was here at Los Toros, served on the rocks, of course. The first money I ever made was here at Los Toros when my dad bet me $20 to sing his favorite song 'Vaya Con Dios' alongside the house mariachi band."
And while one might think the whole sitting in bean dip for 24 hours thing might make it less appetizing, he seemed... only more obsessed.
"It was kind of nice," he told Patch. "I love [bean dip] even more. The bean addiction still stays strong."
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