Restaurant owner lives out the American dream
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

SELF-MADE- Ben Guardado, the new proprietor of El Tecolote Cafe in Camarillo, worked as a dishwasher at Jack's Deli in Westlake Village for some 30 years. The Mexican native came to this country as a teenager, learned the restaurant business from the inside out, and recently took over the Camarillo landmark.

It hardly seemed possible that after leaving his native Mexico and working for 30 years as a dishwasher in the United States, Ben Guardado would someday own his own restaurant on American soil.

Guardado moved to the U.S. from Jalisco, Mexico when he was 18. For three decades he washed dishes at Jack's Deli in Westlake Village, but through hard work and perserverance he eventually became the general manager of the popular Westlake eatery and learned the restaurant business inside and out.

Guardado left Jack's Deli last year and, finally realizing his American dream, assumed ownership of El Tecolote Cafe in Camarillo, the city in which he now lives.

The restaurant is as much a part of Camarillo's history as are the locals who've made eating at the low-slung building on Lewis Road a family tradition for two, three and, in some instances, four generations.

El Tecolote Cafe, the oldest Mexican restaurant in Camarillo, recently began its 62nd year of operation. Since taking ownership eight months ago, Guardado said, the weekend dinner hours have picked up considerably.

"Now we have a few Fridays and Saturdays that we have a waiting list," said Guardado, who prides himself on serving fresh Mexican food in the 4,000square-foot restaurant.

"I love to make people happy and enjoy their food," said the 48-year-old restaurateur.

He said experience has taught him that "fresh is always best," a motto he holds dear when cooking up many of the recipes made popular by El Tecolote's original owner, Mike Loza.

El Tecolote began in Moorpark in 1946. According to local legend, Loza named the restaurant El Tecolote, the owl, after he spent a sleepless first night in the new establishment, kept awake by the ceaseless hooting of nearby owls.

Two years later Loza moved his business to Camarillo and into a small home on Barry Street between Arneill Road and Fulton Street.

Although Mexican tradition considers the owl a sign of bad luck, the restaurant's namesake proved a good omen for Loza, whose Camarillo location became so popular that diners would stand in a line wrapped all the way around the house just to pick up their food to go.

"People became friends standing in line in front of the place," said Rita Moraga, Loza's daughter. Moraga, owner of the Better Half Coiffures salon in Old Town Camarillo, said a local banker, frustrated by the long waits in line, offered to loan her father the money needed to open a larger restaurant on Lewis Road.

Loza took the man up on the offer and opened the doors at the current location in 1952. He expanded the restaurant in 1957.

Moraga said she remembers spending many afternoons in the family restaurant. Her father often worked seven days a week.

"It was our life," she said. "It was just a family affair."

Loza, who died in 2001, sold the restaurant in 1984 to David and Judy Jones.

"We had a lot of really great customers," Jones said. "Four generations of family grew up there. There's a lot of history."

But Jones said the long hours and the never-ending demands of ownership led to the sale of the restuarant.

Jones and his wife ran El Tecolote for 23 years before selling it to Guardado.

Guardado bought not only the restaurant but also the neighboring home on Barry Street, where Loza and his wife, Lola, had raised their family.

Guardado now lives in the home with his wife of 31 years, Julia.

Across the street at El Tecolote, Guardado enjoys chatting with customers as much as he loves cooking in the kitchen.

"I love to cook, so I spend a lot of time in the kitchen to make sure the dishes come out perfect," Guardado said.

"If you make good food, people come back always," said Guardado, who recommends both Loza's original chile verde and the carne asada tacos.

The colorful restaurant, with its numerous paintings of owls and an atrium complete with a waterfall, continues to host family birthdays, anniversaries and, of course, the quick dinner out, just as it has done for more than 50 years.

"I think he's going to do good by it," Moraga said. "I think my dad would have been proud of how he is handling it."

El Tecolote Cafe, 333 N. Lewis Road, is open daily at 11 a.m.

For more information or to make reservations, call (805) 482-4318.