When Tony Barragan labored at his household’s Echo Park Mexican restaurant within the Seventies, he often heard longtime prospects inform newcomers in regards to the story of his father.
How Ramon Barragan got here to Los Angeles as a 16-year-old immigrant. How he went from dishwasher to go chef at a restaurant run by somebody from his small hometown of Tecuala, Nayarit. How Barragan opened up a spot bearing his final identify in 1961 at a former espresso store that seated solely 24. How he saved sufficient cash to purchase six storefronts subsequent door and expanded Barragan’s so it grew right into a sprawling palace that would seat 300 in its two bars, banquet room and patio.
“Customers would offer like a guided tour in a museum, because it wasn’t just a restaurant to them, it was a human phenomenon,” mentioned Tony. “They would talk about how they loved the food, and then point at us. ‘Look, this is the son! That’s Ramon!’”
Barragan’s was a part of a gaggle of Mexican eating places on Sundown Boulevard in Echo Park and Silver Lake run by immigrants from Nayarit that launched conventional Mexican dishes like cocido and sopes to Angelenos in sit-down environments past the Eastside. Ramon and his youngsters finally opened Barragan’s in Burbank and Glendale, but it surely was the unique one which turned a part of L.A.’s culinary panorama, {that a} 1983 Occasions assessment praised for providing “very, very good … Mexican dishes not commonly seen in restaurants rather than being confined to the usual taco-enchilada combinations.”
In its heyday within the Seventies and Eighties, the Echo Park Barragan’s attracted lengthy strains, movie star regulars like Jackson Browne and even a go to from England’s Prince Philip, who arrived one night time with safety to eat “lots of guacamole and shmooze [sic] with the waiter about green cards,” in response to a 1984 LA Weekly story. As soon as the hype died down and crowds moved on to different kinds of Mexican meals, Barragan’s nonetheless attracted longtimers with its stiff margaritas and reliably scrumptious meals, all based mostly on Ramon’s recipes that known as for freshly made sauces and restricted the “ingredients out of cans to tomatoes and maybe olives,” in response to his daughter, Carmen.
Barragan’s in Glendale on Thursday, August 8, 2019.
(Tim Berger / Glendale Information Press)
The Barragan’s patriarch died April 13 of pure causes at his residence in Duarte, surrounded by household. He was 94.
He was born in 1930 to a father who was an itinerant salesman and a mom who ran a small retailer. Barragan inherited their entrepreneurial streak, hawking cheese in surrounding villages for a quesero when he was 12. However life in Tecuala was arduous, and Ramon had aspirations of shifting to the US to work for Natalia Barraza, a pal of his dad and mom who operated a profitable Mexican restaurant in downtown L.A. known as the Nayarit.
“He had that vision that this lady from Nayarit had come [to the U.S.] and built something,” mentioned Tony. “He wanted to tap into that.”
Ramon helped Barraza open a second Nayarit in Echo Park in 1951 and finally turned the pinnacle chef. He additionally satisfied a niece to start out her personal Mexican restaurant on Sundown, La Villa Taxco, which finally turned its personal profitable chain and beloved L.A. establishment. Quickly after, he opened Barragan’s only a few blocks down from the Nayarit with seed cash from Barraza and borrowing in opposition to his residence, which was a mile away.
Slender however robust, he slowly transitioned the menu from a mixture of American and Mexican American classics in favor of guisados (stews) and soups that appealed to Echo Park’s rising Mexican and Chicano group. Working double shifts at a restaurant that was open six days every week within the early years from 7 within the morning to 10 at night time, Tony and his siblings bear in mind a father dedicated to his restaurant and prospects.
“When you watched him cook, he would watch the flame to make sure it was perfect,” he mentioned. “There was a service mentality to my father. He was here to serve mankind, and it was to serve delicious hot food.”
“He wanted his waitresses to have their lipstick on and their shoes shined,” mentioned Carmen. “He wanted perfection from his employees and his children.”
However she and her siblings additionally bear in mind a young aspect to their father, somebody who enrolled them in Catholic faculties for a greater training, tried to deal with them to donuts each morning or sneaked off on buying journeys “so we could own two pairs of shoes instead of one,” in response to Carmen. Ramon additionally inspired his staff to advance at Barragan’s or mentored them about the way to department out on their very own.
The Barragan story was instructed by USC historical past professor Natalia Molina in her 2022 ebook “A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community.” The granddaughter of Natalia Barraza, Molina and her household frequented the unique Barragan’s as a baby. As an grownup, Barragan’s was a favourite place for drinks earlier than or after a recreation at Dodger Stadium, only a few blocks east. The MacArthur fellow had fond reminiscences of the person she known as Tío Ramon sitting at a stool between the kitchen and counter to “vigilar [keep watch],” similar to her grandmother taught him.
“We take it for granted the cultural work that my grandma and Ramon did to have Mexican food have a seat at the table” in Los Angeles, Molina instructed The Occasions, referring to their spots in her ebook as “urban anchors” the place immigrants have been in a position to create and foster a group of their new nation. She and others have been heartbroken when the unique Barragan’s closed in 2013, the final of the unique Mexican eating places on Sundown run by Nayarit alumni.
“If it was just about the food, you’d say, ‘OK, I can just go to another Barragan’s,’” Molina mentioned. “But it represented, ‘We’re here, we’re seen.’ For that to go away it, felt like a real loss.”
The final Barragan’s remaining is in Burbank and run by Ramon’s son, Armando. In his later years, Ramon preferred to cease by to talk with staff, many who had labored together with his household for many years, and revel in his birthdays with the meals that earned the Barragans their American dream.
“We have customers who ate at the original location 40 years ago and they taste the same food, and they’re just so happy,” Armando mentioned. “And all credit goes to my dad insisting we never change any of his recipes.”
Ramon Barragan is survived by his second spouse, Josie; his youngsters Frank, Tony, Armando, Carmen, Grace Douglass and Rita Hiller; 17 grandchildren; and a number of great-grandchildren. Providers have been personal.
