Avila’s El Ranchito turns 40

When Sergio Avila, who operates the Huntington Beach El Ranchito restaurant, was young he began making the trek from Los Angeles county to Huntington Beach with his brothers to go surfing. Their love of surfing prompted his family to open Orange County El Ranchito locations.

This year, the brainchild of Margarita and Salvador Avila, Avila’s El Ranchito is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Opening the Surf City location six years ago was a no-brainer because of Sergio Avila’s love of the water and the family’s continued success in other beach cities, including Newport Beach. The restaurant follows the Avila standard: authenticity and a community-driven atmosphere.

Years ago, Maria Elena Avila, operator of the Costa Mesa Avila’s El Ranchito and the restaurant’s catering business, was brewing ideas for an elegant, extravagant meal for an event at the Nixon Library, where President Richard Nixon was scheduled to dine. She instead followed her heart and set up a kitchen where her “mama,” Margarita Avila, matriarch of and inspiration for Avila’s El Ranchito restaurants, could whip up some home cooking.

“Really what people love is authentic food,” Maria Elena Avila said. “These people, they travel all over the world and … if I could invite them all to my mom’s house to eat, that would be the greatest treat in the world.”

The Avilas set up a kitchen at the Nixon Library just for Margarita Avila to make up her tasty treats from scratch. The event was a hit, Maria Elena Avila said.

That standard lives on in Huntington Beach as well as the family’s nine other restaurants, as they celebrate their 40th anniversary.

Avila’s El Ranchito was born when Salvador and Margarita Avila came to the United States from Mexico with their children. Salvador Avila was in search of the American dream, which Maria Elena Avila said their family lives every day.

“We children saw my parents working so hard to have their dream come true, and when we saw them working, they did it with such love and such pleasure,” Maria Elena Avila said. “They didn’t mind spending day and night at the restaurant — they were seeing the dream come true, the American dream realized.”

And although Margarita and Salvador Avila are able to enjoy life and take it easy as their children and grandchildren run the family business, the rest and relaxation was a long time coming.

“I do thank God because he chose to turn his favor upon our hard work and bless our family and bless us with the opportunity to be so close together and see my parents, right now in these later years of their life, enjoy the fruit of their hard work,” Maria Elena Avila said, holding back joyful tears. “They really, really enjoy life right now. Their dream has come true to see us all living still very close to each other…. And to see the family united, still working together, that says it all.”

The secret to the Avila family’s success is in its unity, passion and work ethic. All five of Margarita and Salvador Avila’s children continue to live within two miles of each other in Newport Beach. Maria Elena Avila said her parents maintain an “open door” policy to their home, and there are often people coming in and out.

But the secret to the restaurant’s success, which Maria Elena Avila said stems from their family unity, is right on the plate — simple ingredients, with the recipes straight from “Mama Avila’s” kitchen. Each day, the cooks make the popular chicken soup, rice and all the dishes from scratch. They de-bone their own chicken instead of buying it packaged, which could probably make life for an El Ranchito cook easier and the process faster, but it would sacrifice the quality and the essence of El Ranchito’s food, Maria Elena Avila said.

Anyone who’s visited any of the family’s Southern California restaurants may be able to tell a slight difference in the establishments, which parallel the culture of the location.

The Avilas founded their first restaurant in Huntington Park in 1966. The family began to move down the coast and started one in Long Beach six years later. It was the surf that brought the family to Orange County 31 years ago.

“The boys started surfing in Huntington Beach … and because of that, [Sergio Avila] kept a surf theme in that restaurant,” Maria Elena Avila said.

The downtown location is open-air, with windows that open up to Main Street and welcome the breeze from the Pacific Ocean.

Sergio Avila wants his eclectic community of diners to feel at home in his restaurant, and he welcomes them to his family during every service.

Pictures from surf trips of Sergio Avila’s family — all surfers — hang on the wall so locals get another dose of family atmosphere. And he caters his restaurant predominantly toward locals, Maria Elena Avila said.

“There are surfboards up against the wall, skateboards up against the wall and bicycles, and then there’s a Mercedes parked in front,” Maria Elena Avila said. “It just shows the diversity of people who live in Huntington Beach.”

This year, Maria Elena Avila and her three brothers and one sister wanted to make sure they paid proper respect to the tradition their mother created. Although the 81-year-old woman’s health is not quite what it used to be and she no longer runs day-to-day operations of the restaurants, Margarita Avila still lends her taste buds to the restaurant.

“Before, Mama used to be able to go to the restaurants and taste all the food and make sure the quality control was there,” Maria Elena Avila said. “It was so neat when she used to do that. All the cooks loved it because Mama represented their mama. Now that Mama can’t do that anymore, it’s been my role” and she tastes things made from the Costa Mesa test kitchen.

Margarita Avila’s “special sense of flavoring” is blended with her love of family and community, something all the Avilas cherish, Maria Elena Avila said.