A Restaurant Run Right: How El Cholo Has Enchanted LA For Eighty-Seven Years
In this city, it seems as though each passing week marks the grand opening of a new restaurant. They’ve become the equal equivalent of Tinseltown’s beloved box office, where if it doesn’t open big, it’s not gonna turn a profit. It seems everything is all celebrity-backed, and overexposed, leaving the rest of us who could care less to fend for ourselves.
But as we saw when we sat down with Adam Lewis and learned the history behind his family-run Kate Mantilini establishment, we saw firsthand that sometimes keeping things simple and in-house can lead to sustained success.
Ron Salisbury knows this better than anyone. For nearly eighty-seven years now, his grandparents’ Mexican restaurant, El Cholo, has been serving up some of the finest food in the city, and he’s got the stories (and a slew of accolades) to back it up.
“My earliest memories of life are in this restaurant,” Ron said when we sat down with the legend for lunch.
I grew up working here. I learned math by counting money from the register. I’ve met so many people here, and my life is so rich because of them.
The restaurant resides in a (heavily) renovated cottage that has served as El Cholo’s home for the better part of its run after moving across the street. Ron’s grandparents’ passion for providing a place to feel cozy (and serving some of the finest traditional Mexican food you can find) is what has kept customers coming back for decades.
“I was told that the restaurant works because it snuggles you,” Ron said. “It’s cozy, warm and comforting.”
As you walk past the many rooms of intimate booths and tables, you notice all of the pictures, mementos and in some cases, booth dedications. I took particular notice at the inclusion of my namesake, Nolan Ryan, and it turns out he’s a close personal friend of Ron’s, who is an avid baseball fan.
“Tom Seaver used to come in here all the time when he was at USC,” Ron said. “When Tom joined the Mets, every time he would come in he’d bring another ballplayer with him. One time he said, ‘I want you to meet this kid I bring along to shine my shoes. Meet Nolan Ryan.’ He was nineteen-years old then but we became friends to the point where I even invested in some of the baseball teams he has. Plus I got the chance to face him in spring training.”
“He threw easy so I could get a hit but then he said, ‘I’m working on my eighth no-hitter, and it’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs. You’re the last batter.’”
“Did you break it up?,” I asked.
“Are you kidding me,” Ron laughed. “No.”
We next came across the famous “Nacho Booth,” which is one of the most requested spots at El Cholo despite the fact that it resides right near the noisy kitchen. Perhaps all that love comes from the endless nachos that continue to come to the table courtesy of Ron.
“People love it,” Ron said. “Instead of having people complain, they actually request this booth.”
These nachos are no ordinary tortilla chips though. They were created by one of El Cholo’s waitresses, Carmen, who single-handedly put the chips (and El Cholo) on the map.
“We had a server who came from Texas and she started making nachos on the side and giving them to people,” Ron recalled. “So customers started asking for nachos the way Carmen prepared them.”
He added, “They got so popular we had to put them on the menu. She passed away a little over a year ago; The LA Times had a headline obituary on her and the nachos that was incredibly long. I was lucky to get mentioned.”
The rest of the food is every bit as enchanting as the atmosphere that envelops over you upon entrance. Not only are the nachos exceptional but El Cholo is best known for their excellent enchiladas. Ron told us that one person in particular has always been completely enamored with them and still goes to great lengths to get at them to this day.
“Jack Nicholson came in late one night and the restaurant was closed. The host kept saying ‘I’m sorry sir, we’re closed,” and he just kept saying, ‘All I want is my enchilada, rice and beans.’” My son then came out and once he saw Jack smiling, he said, ‘Oh Jack, come right in.’ He still comes in, but we mostly just deliver food to his house now.”
We had to try Jack’s favorite for ourselves and it did not disappoint. However, Jack’s missing out if he hasn’t tried the blue corn chicken or the Santa Barbara shrimp enchiladas. These dishes are so sinfully indulgent that they could make anyone feel as devilish as Jack.
We washed these delectable dishes down with El Cholo’s famous flan and family margaritas. I particularly enjoyed the LA Lemonade version, but fair warning, these are pretty potent.
And not always so fantastic, either. “A patron who owned another restaurant came in and said the margaritas, well, sucked,” Ron said. “But he offered to show me how to make them properly, so I went to his restaurant and the rest is history.”
As he continued to give us the proper tour of the place, he pointed out that the many renovations over the years to the cottage sometimes meant that rooms would be too small for the booths that now occupy them, but we believe this adds to the appeal and makes you feel as if you’re right at home.
“I’m glad about that because it does give it an authentic feeling,” Ron remarked. “If it was too perfect it would look like it was done by designers meticulously laying things out.”
“I can remember when we had vinyl linoleum on the floor, there was no air conditioning and it was cash-only, or you trusted people for checks,” he added. “The funny thing was that if someone would give me a bad check, I would drive to their house and pound on the door. That’s just what you had to do sometimes, even over a seven-dollar check.”
Hearing Ron discuss carbon paper copies, it’s interesting to think of the things that have been going on in the world outside this restaurant’s wooden doors. But even now that customers are coming in with iPhones and many wouldn’t even know what carbon paper was, it’s clear that the dedication that Ron brings to the business is the reason they’re still here.
The passion that he has put in to El Cholo has helped spawn seven restaurants in total that he and his sons manage. While Ron now resides in Newport Beach and works closely with his Cannery Seafood Of The Pacific restaurant, he likens each establishment to a child, with each owning a special piece of his heart.
“They are like children. Each one is uniquely different,” he said. “From the people who come in, to the way they take off based on their own personality, each one has their own special tale to tell.”
“It’s hard to call El Cholo a child because it was here before I was,” Ron laughed. “It’s just an ageless place. I can remember celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary and feeling surprised, but here we are coming up on our eighty-seventh year now.”
One of the biggest reasons for Ron’s success over the years is that he’s simply never satisfied.
“You don’t have to be incredibly smart to run restaurants, but you do have to be obsessively driven to keep improving and not be satisfied with the status quo.”
It’s because of this mentality that he’s always striving to get the best out of his staff, who he knows play the most crucial part in bringing out the best in his restaurants. He takes on a mentorship role and actively rewards them for striving to be their best both in and out of the business.
If his employees read a designated book from a list chosen by Ron and can later have a meaningful conversation with him about it upon completion, then he gives them a monetary reward that ranges from twenty-five to one hundred dollars.
“The young people that work for me today are really missing a lot of stuff that they should have been taught. So I see it as an opportunity and hopefully when they leave us they are better people and the world is a better place.”
Certainly when we left El Cholo, we were fortunate to discover the restaurant’s rich history and feast on some fabulous food. But it’s the people that make El Cholo so special. Ron has maintained the same standard of excellence that his grandparents started so long ago.
My philosophy is I’ve never opened a restaurant with the idea of making money. Never. It’s possible to drive such joy and excitement out of it. It’s like a legal narcotic. The more you get of it the more you want it. I don’t take a day off.
As restaurants continue to come and go in the city, it’s nice to know that El Cholo isn’t going away anytime soon. After only one visit with Ron and getting to hear his stories, we’ve already developed a special bond and will be back soon.
“We’ve got story after story like that,” Ron said. “That’s what this restaurant is about. It’s part of people’s lives.”
Photos By: Jacopo Campaiola
Surf: http://www.elcholo.com/
Go: 1121 S. Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006//323.734.2773
