Dive right in El Padrino Restaurant

408 W. Jefferson, 214.943.3993

Juan Contreras worked for seven years as a janitor at Love Field and Tyler Street United Methodist Church until he saved $3,000.

That was enough to lease the little restaurant on Jefferson, but it wasn’t enough for everything he needed to start. His mother borrowed $300 from a friend so that Contreras could buy groceries and other supplies to start his humble Mexican restaurant in 1989. His sister helped out at first, but after just three months, Contreras hired four employees.

It seems funny now, but back then the restaurant answered a demand for tacos and tortas, real Mexican street food. Contreras had worked at a restaurant in his hometown, Nuevo Laredo, at a restaurant called Padrino.

“I named it after that,” he says. “When people come from Nuevo Laredo, they recognize it.”

The restaurant was so popular that Contreras opened a second location in the Bishop Arts District a year later, in 1990. That store moved to Pleasant Grove after he lost his Bishop Arts lease a few years ago.

After Contreras appeared on Univision in the early ’90s demonstrating how to make tortas, El Padrino had lines out the door most lunch hours.

The building is a former hamburger stand that went up around 1949. A customer once told Contreras he saw Elvis Presley eating there, and others remember it as a rock-androll café. Anyway, it’s a tiny little joint. There are only about seven tables. No more than about 20 people could be seated in there at once. But it has a kitschy charm. Have a big breakfast for under $7, and watch the action on Jefferson Boulevard.

El Padrino has very loyal customers. A few come every morning, Monday-Sunday. And some who ate there as children now bring their kids. Contreras works every morning except Sunday. And one employee, Ofelia, has worked there for 12 years.

Contreras doesn’t own the building, but he says El Padrino will be around for many more years. His 28-year-old son, also Juan Contreras, runs the restaurant’s catering business.

“We’re not retiring for at least 15 years,” he says.

Above: The tiny restaurant can seat only about 20 people at a time, but it has gained a following of customers who have been coming for over 20 years. Opposite page top: A selection of aquas frescas is made fresh daily. Opposite page center: Juan Contreras Sr. prepares a ham and cheese torta. Below, clockwise: combination tacos, beefand-cheese chile relleno, ham and cheese torta