Time for real Mexican food
Tacos El Zarape serves special niche and purpose
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
LarryM@argusobserver.com
Monday, September 7, 2009 1:06 PM PDT
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| Joe Ruiz Jr. (left) and Joe Ruiz Sr. stand together in their restaurant, Tacos El Zarape, 715 N.E. Second Ave., behind the Pilot station. |
ONTARIO — Tucked away on a back street in Ontario, behind the Pilot Travel Center, may not seem a likely spot for a restaurant.
For Joe Ruiz Sr., who owns Tacos El Zarape with his son, it is the perfect spot.
“We looked at the property for two years before we bought it,” Ruiz Sr. said.
The duo paid particular attention to the number of trucks going in and out of truck stop to help boost their decision.
The restaurant has been open for about a year and nine months, and business is going well.
“I think we get about 50 percent truckers and 50 percent other people,” Joe Ruiz Sr. said. “We like it. When the food is good the people will find you.”
And, some customers come from Weiser, and there are customers that live in Boise.
“It’s time for real Mexican Food,” is the motto of the restaurant. That means everything is traditionally prepared, using fresh ingredients, and made fresh every day, including the salsa and guacamole.
“My people can tell the difference,” Ruiz Sr. said.
For example in the tacos, there is meat, onions and cilantro.
“This is the Jalisco style,” he said.
Everything is cooked on the grill, no microwaves, he said.
The restaurant is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. but sometimes after that because truck drivers may arrive later.
Sometimes, truck drivers are there waiting when they open up, and people call their order in on their cell phones, Ruiz Sr. said.
“We are open seven days a week, 365 days a year,” he said.
Joe Ruiz Jr., 24, manages the restaurant, and other family members help out, including his father, mother and wife. There are 10 other employees, but they too are considered part of the family.
Family is important to Ruiz Sr.
He is the youngest of 13 children in his family, with eight brothers and four sisters. At 14, he came to the United States with the purpose of learning English and the goal of eventually opening a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta to help support the family farm.
Ruiz Sr. arrived in the United States in 1978, working at Skylines Farms during the day and going to school at night to study English. However, Ruiz Sr. decided he liked the Ontario area and that it would be a good place to raise a family.
“I’ve been here 31 years,” he said.
In 1981, Ruiz started his own trucking company and Ruiz Enterprises, which his son is also a partner in, but he has never forgotten his real mission, which was to support the family business back in Mexico. That includes a 3,000-acre cattle ranch in the state of Jalisco.
“I think it was a good opportunity to help family,” he said.
