A Santa Maria restaurant owner has good reason to be jubilant, and it’s not just this weekend’s Cinco de Mayo celebration.
Feb. 27 marked El Pueblito Restaurante’s 15th anniversary. The Mexican restaurant opened for business in 1997, at the corner of South Blosser Road and Boone Street.
“Fifteen years is a long time! We keep on giving good service—that’s the main thing,” said owner Joaquin Cardenas, a native of Jalisco, Mexico, who came to America in 1985.
He brought with him his rich Mexican heritage and his family’s recipes.
Cardenas farmed strawberries in California for more than a decade, but his American Dream was fully realized when he opened his own restaurant. He named it El Pueblito—“little town” in Spanish—“because in that time, 15 years ago, Santa Maria was still a little town, a little pueblo,” he recalled.
Twelve of his restaurant employees, who were there on opening day in 1997, still work at El Pueblito these 15 years later.
“When your employees are treated good, they stay with you, and that’s part of the business,” Cardenas said.
El Pueblito truly is a family-style, family-run business: Two brothers work there. One brother manages the fresh, locally grown produce and meat in the kitchen, and the other is a bus boy.
Cardenas’ two teenage daughters, who are in high school, work the front of the restaurant part time.
You will find loyal workers and loyal customers at El Pueblito: “It makes us so happy when you see the same customers come in twice a week, or three times a week,” Cardenas said.
He believes customers come back for the attentive service; comfortable, casual atmosphere; and, of course, the consistently good food.
Cardenas describes El Pueblito’s cuisine as “50 percent Mexican food; the other 50 percent is Mexican seafood—all fresh, the whole fish: red snapper, catfish, tilapia, fresh oysters, shrimp cocktails.”
One of the most popular items on the menu is the Coctel de Camarones. A Mexican shrimp cocktail starts the meal for many a customer; large chilled shrimp, avocado, tomatoes, tomato juice, onions, and cilantro fill a big wine goblet. Most people douse it with hot sauce, “and some people like cucumbers.” You have the option of ordering shrimp, octopus, oyster, or any combination.
The restaurant’s tortillas and salsa are made in the kitchen each day, served with most of the traditional Mexican entrees.
El Pueblito is open every day from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. The restaurant’s website states, “We know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that is why we open at 6 a.m. to provide our Santa Maria customers and travelers a hearty delicious meal.”
Popular items on the Desayunos menu are the classic Mexican breakfast dish, Huevos Rancheros (fried eggs served on corn tortillas, topped with salsa); Huevos con chorizo (sausage with scrambled eggs); five different Mexican-style omelets; and a traditional Mexican comfort food, Chilaquiles (corn tortilla slices that are fried, cooked in salsa, sprinkled with cheese, and served with eggs).
Mexican lunch and dinner specialties include Carne a la Diabla (spicy grilled steak); Cielo Mar y Tierra (grilled quail, steak, and shrimp); Fajitas de Res (shredded beef served with fresh tortillas); Chile Verde (slow-cooked pork with roasted tomatillo and chile sauce); and Carne Asada con dos Huevos (grilled steak with eggs); just to name a few. The menu also offers the expected Mexican creations: quesadillas, chile rellenos, burritos, tacos, tostadas, flautas, and enchiladas.
According to Cardenas, the most popular dishes at El Pueblito are the seafood entrees, which include Enchiladas de Camaron (shrimp enchiladas); Filete de Pescado Estilo Pueblito (cod filet with cheese, mushrooms, and vegetables); Pulpo a la Diabla (spicy octopus); Mojarra Frita (fried tilapia); several seafood soups; and Pescado Dorado (crispy whole catfish).
If you come to eat on a Friday evening around 6 p.m., you’ll be serenaded over supper when a local mariachi band drops in. The young, talented members of Mariachi Autlence, dressed in elaborate Charro suits, fill the busy restaurant with their lively, traditional Mexican music. (I can’t wipe the smile off my face when the mariachi band plays, feeling transported to a different time and place.)
Appropriately, mariachi music’s Mexican birthplace is the same as Joaquin Cardenas’: Jalisco. Various mariachi bands occasionally play at El Pueblito on Saturday and Sunday nights, too.
Not surprisingly, Cinco de Mayo, marking the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla, is one of the most popular days of the year at El Pueblito, but not the busiest. That distinction goes to another holiday that is right around the corner this month: Mother’s Day.
Keeping restaurant crowds coming back for more is hard work and even tougher in this economy, though Cardenas is pleased with his restaurant’s success: “For us, I say we are doing perfect.”
El Pueblito is at 603 South Blosser Road in Santa Maria. The phone number is 310-4910.
Sun wine and food writer Wendy Thies Sell finds good Mexican food comforting. E-mail comments or ideas to wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 3-10, 2012.