'Everything good comes to an end'

El Charro Restaurante closes Wednesday

MOSES LAKE - There were customers in El Charro Restaurante Monday afternoon who had been eating there since the business began nearly 40 years ago.

"It's amazing," Hector Zavala said. "Some of these customers even now when we walked in the door have been coming here 30 to 40 years."

When the restaurant closes Wednesday evening, it will be for the last time.

After 40 years, the Zavala family decided to close the business.

Conrad and Ernestina Zavala first opened as El Charro Cafe in 1968.

"Really because I knew my wife was a good cook," Conrad explained. "We're still using her recipes."

Ernestina died eight years ago.

"My mom was the actual one that did the actual work to build up the business when it started," son Hector said. "So there's a lot of memories of her here, and of all the kids and the grandkids growing up. I was in high school when they purchased this place, so I worked here after high school."

After getting married, Hector returned to town and managed the business for 20 years. His brother Jaime managed it for the last 10 years.

"It's gone through a succession of family members," Hector explained. "This is my brother running it. He's the last one in the family to have it. We've passed on the torch from family member to family member. He's done. It's a tough business to be in. It's not like it was 40 years ago when we started."

The Zavalas moved to Othello in 1965, where Hector's uncle opened Zavala's Place in 1966.

Conrad and Ernestina originally began with the front area of their business, located at 205 S. Division St.

For the first three years, Conrad would work eight to 10 hours per day at a potato company job outside the restaurant, then come and work another several hours to help his wife with the restaurant.

"They bought it in 1968. When we got here, we did agriculture work during the summer. That was the last year we did that, when they bought this place. From there on, all the family worked here at one time or another, all the kids and grandkids have worked here," Hector said.

At one point, the business had an operation in Ephrata, Ellensburg and Yakima.

"This is the last one," Hector said of the Moses Lake location. "Everything good comes to an end. We can't stress how much we've enjoyed being part of this community, and the restaurant community."

Many of the Zavala family members are at an age where they're considering retirement and spending more time with family.

"We're all doing different things now, and we want to just live normal lives, I guess," Hector said with a laugh. "We want to have weekends off and evenings off. We're all at that age now. We have no one to pass the torch onto. We've got the grandkids, but they don't want to do it. It's real hard work and ties you down."

Conrad and Hector plan to remain in Moses Lake. Jaime is moving to Las Vegas.

Hector said the family has watched many of the area's children grow up from their vantage point in the restaurant.

"Parents used to bring them in baby carriers and now they're bringing in their kids," he said. "Forty years is a long time. Obviously we had something the public liked, and obviously they still do. It's not running at the capacity it once did, but we didn't have the competition (Jaime) does now."

Hector said his family is grateful to the community for their years of patronage.

"We can't thank our customers enough for keeping us here through the years," Hector said. "It's been a real privilege not only to serve them but to make all the lasting relationships and friends we've made all the years."

"We're lucky to have had real good customers," Conrad said, noting one customer told him five generations of his family had been eating at the restaurant. "I'd sure like to say thanks to each and every one of them. Without them, we probably would not have made it."