Before the end of the year, two restaurants that have been dishing out casual Mexican food for decades will close as their owners focus on their suburban businesses.
The owners of Taco House, a Tex-Mex diner that has served customers from its original location at 581 S. Federal Blvd., since 1958, gave their news at the beginning of December. It is one of the oldest Mexican establishments in the metro area. Another location, at 1335 Wadsworth Blvd. in Lakewood is staying open into the new year.
Señor Burritos’ cherry-colored cafeteria, at 12 E. 1st Ave., known for its green chile, is also closing — on Monday, Dec. 23. As of last month, Martha Baylon and her family looked to relocate to 7195 Federal in Westminster in mid- to late January. The restaurant opened near Broadway in 1991.
“This move was such a hard decision to make, but yes Señor Burritos Denver is leaving the Baker community after 34 years,” she wrote on Instagram.
As for Taco House, “66 years is a long time for a business to operate, particularly a family business,” owners Greg and Nancy Risch said on Facebook, citing the Covid-19 pandemic and rising costs that led them “to raise prices to levels that are increasingly not affordable for many of our customers.” The family did not respond to several requests for comment.
Becky Trujillo first started coming to the restaurant with her grandmother in the 1970s when there were 11 locations. During a recent lunch rush, the 74-year-old Trujillo sat at a corner booth across from her own granddaughter, Denise Muro.
“Their food was good and very reasonable,” Trujillo said. “We could afford to come.”
The ladies in the family would always order the same thing as Trujillo’s grandmother, Cleo Martinez: the number 4, or three cheese enchiladas with round tostadas. Trujillo would also buy the dry enchilada sauce Taco House sold at the counter, adding chicken broth to it for her own dinners at home.
Not much has changed about the place since her first visit, Trujillo said, seated by a fading portrait of a conquistador she remembers hanging out there just as long as she has.
“I’m sad,” Trujillo said about the restaurant closing, thinking about its place in her life. “This is like part of the family.”
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