Tucson is known for many different reasons. Some love it because of the weather, the deserts, the scenery or for the food. Even though Tucson is not the biggest city, it does have an abundant amount of restaurants that people love. Some of these restaurants have a history while others could be popular chains. Tucson has many fan favorite restaurants that include Reilly's Craft, North Italia, RA Sushi and many other places, but a place that I have taken particular interest in is El Charro and it is located at 311 N Court Ave.
On Broadway in downtown Tucson there sits a restaurant that makes some very unique claims. The restaurant is called El Charro Cafe and has been continuously operated by one family since 1922. This would make El Charro Cafe the oldest, continuously operational Mexican restaurant in the entire United States. Their other claim to fame is the story of how the Sonoran-Style Mexican dish, the Chimichanga, came to be. Today, the restaurant has numerous locations in Tucson and prepares a variety of menu items with unique, local, and deliciously healthy ingredients.
Monica Flin began El Charro simply and in 1922. There are many stories of Monica waiting for a customer, taking their order, then running next door to the Chinese grocer to purchase the ingredients for the meal on credit, run back to her kitchen, prepare and serve the meal. Only once she was paid would she go back to the Chinese grocer to settle her bill. She ran her business this way while she began earning a well-deserved reputation for delicious, Mexican food, often made and served with local and native ingredients.
The restaurant's early proprietor and chef, Tia Monica Flin, claims to be responsible for the creation of a burrito that has been fried. According to the restaurant’s website and history page, “While frying her now famous El Charro ground beef tacos, she accidentally dropped a burro into the frying pan and when the oil splashed up she was about to lash out a common Spanish cuss word starting with ‘Ch’ but because she was amongst her young nieces and nephews, changed it to ‘Chimichanga’, the equivalent of ‘thingamajig.” Thankfully for all of us, Monica was a controlled and creative cuss.”
Monica eventually moved El Charro into a bigger location that ended up being her old family home and this is actually the current location for El Charro (there are also three other locations located in the country!) A fun fact about the current location is that the ceilings were built by Monica's father. The ceilings were built out of black basalt rock that he even collected himself! Not only did he build them himself, but El Charro is also known for having these high ceilings as well. The basalts that her father collected were from the base of “A” mountain (which is over two million years old.) and if you are a Tucson local then you know how important “A” mountain is to us as a community which makes El Charros decor that much more significant and close to home. There are other decorations inside that are also from the original El Charro from 1922 which gives it a little bit of a vintage atmosphere. Besides the decor and the history behind El Charro, they are known for creating the very first Chimichanga. The creation of the Chimichanga actually came accidentally when Monica was in the kitchen and accidentally dropped a beef burrito into a pot of boiling water that was close by. As anyone would react, Monica freaked out and started yelling obscenities and then realizing that she was not alone in the kitchen, she replaced these obscenities with the Spanish word for “thingamajig” which is the word chimichanga. After realizing that this burrito was still edible and in fact delicious, the chimichanga came to creation! El Charro has many other items that they are also known for such as their salsa, tamales, and their carne seca dish.
During Monica's reign as owner and head chef, the restaurant was grew in popularity and so did their budgets for fresh and worthy ingredients, along with their advertising budget. A 1951 advertisement in the Arizona Post for El Charro Cafe simply states, “When in doubt as to what place your friends will enjoy - visit Tucson’s Atmospheric Mexican Restaurant, El Charro.” While another in 1956 is quite a bit longer. “Pepito says: Enjoy Tucson’s finest, most authentic Mexican food either in your car or in our air-conditioned dining room. Or, if you’re planning a party Call EA 7-1993 for our speedy Carry-Out Service. Making entertaining easy: Complete Fountain Service Too! We also offer a complete catering service at reasonable prices. El Zarape: Home of Mexican foods Drive-Inn 2640 E Speedway Open daily 11 am to 2 am.” This definitely shows that not only were they increasing their advertising and making better quality ads, it shows they could afford to do this and still provide excellent service and high-quality food.
After being founded and run by Monica for 50 years her health started to decline in 1972 and she eventually passed away in 1975 at the late age of 90 years old. Before passing away the establishment was given over by her sister Zarina who is also the sister that helped Monica open El Charro in the first place. After being in charge for a little while and having the business still booming, Zarina decided that her daughter, Carlotta Flores, would be the one to take over the restaurant. So in 1972 Carlotta became the new owner of El Charro. Not only does she own the business, she also is the head chef. A quote from Carlotta is, “Whatever the meal, whatever the season, every meal at El Charro is served with color, music and, whenever possible, good company,” Flores says. This just shows that the family has always been so invested in this business and that they all truly love what they do. Carlotta is not the only family that is involved in this business. She has three children who are both currently involved in the business. Her son Ray is president, her son Marcos is the VP and her daughter Candace is in charge of catering and the events that El Charro is a part of. Having the younger generations involved has helped Carlotta know what the business needs and how to keep it up to date with the times.The whole family is involved and according to her, “We have literally lived our lives in our kitchens, we live, eat and sleep the business!” Carlotta has made some changes to the restaurant that have definitely increased their profit and popularity. The first of these is that it can be marketlike if someone wants to enjoy El Charro food, but does not have enough time to dine in or just is not in the mood to do so. Restaurant goers can pick up small portions of some of the items on the menu. She has also come up with the idea to do cooking classes and with the wonderful idea of souvenirs as well. One can even buy a cookbook that was written by Carlotta herself. Carlotta would have definitely made her great Aunt proud. Overall, El Charro can make anyone feel at home!
In recent years, the menu has continued to change and evolve. Carlotta added many vegetarian or vegan options to the menu in order to give everyone an opportunity to taste this famous cuisine. The growing food culture in Tucson has definitely had an impact on the restaurant in terms of the types of dishes they have experimented with. The old favorites are, of course, still available, but now there is a large variety for the large variety of people who come in. Carlotta and her family were even able to open different locations that incorporated the family traditions and ways of Monica, but with different types of food. They opened a taco, burger and beer joint near the Tucson Mall, one in airports in and outside of AZ, and a completely vegetarian restaurant was open for a time. They also have a location on the north side of town.
“History.” El Charro Café - Nationwide Shipping, July 8, 2018. https://www.elcharrocafe.com/history/.
The Arizona post. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz.), 23 Nov. 1956. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82000867/1956-11-23/ed-1/seq-14/>
