For Star subscribers: From feeding construction workers in downtown Tucson to a restaurant empire, the family behind El Charro has persevered and pushed boundaries.
Cathalena E. Burch El Charro Café is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, but the story nearly ended at Year 50.
People are also reading… Then there's The Monica, the Flores' family's newest venture in the heart of downtown.Buying on creditFamily lore has it that in the beginning, Monica Flin used to go to the Chinese grocer a few doors down from her original restaurant on Church Avenue and East Broadway to buy provisions on credit. She would cook up them up in her kitchen and sell to customers before repaying the grocer at the end of the day.
Jules tapped his daughter to make food for his mostly Mexican crew during the construction, which is what got her interested in starting her own restaurant, said Ray Flores Jr., the eldest of Carlotta and Ray Flores's sons. The Floreses settled into the life of Tucson restaurateurs, juggling parenting and the daily grind of operating El Charro.
Carlotta Flores said she and her husband attended their kids school and sporting events, donated food and gift certificates for community causes and became involved in a host of local organizations. She recalled how she would put in a 10- to 12-hour day at the restaurant then change into a business suit to attend a meeting when she was on the boards of several organizations.“I was busing tables in high school and before that, washing dishes in high school, junior high," Ray Jr.
"We were at Mercado for years and it helped us to push forward," Carlotta Flores said, especially with the decline of downtown at the time as the department stores and other businesses fled."Everything was going east so it only made sense that we, too, had a location out east.
While Ray Jr. led the charge to expand the family's restaurants, which were now under the umbrella of Si Charro, younger brother Marcus took charge of the downtown flagship restaurant and sister Candace Flores Carillo took the lead on catering, including at the Stillwell House, which she and Ray Jr. bought about 20 years ago. Flores said the family recently added The Carriage House, Janos Wilder's former venue at 125 S. Arizona Ave., to their catering venue options.
In an open kitchen/cafeteria-style setting, The Monica cooks prepare an eclectic fast-casual menu that globe-trots from pizza made with Guerra's heritage grains dough, deli-style sandwiches and salads, and inventive bowls including the"Tucsonyaki" chicken and rice drizzled with a teriyaki style sauce that adds local spice.
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