102 years ago, Jesucita Mijares founded a small tortilla factory in Pasadena, which quickly became known for its Mexican dishes including tamales, made using a metate stone grinder.
Today, Mijares Mexican Restaurant is Pasadena’s oldest Mexican restaurant. It’s still a popular favorite, known for its authentic regional and traditional cuisine. With Jesucita’s passing in 1988, the Mijares family has continued the matriarch’s culinary traditions to preserve the authenticity of the food being offered to patrons.
What’s its secret for being the oldest Mexican dining establishment in Pasadena?
“A lot of prayer, a lot of hard work, good food, treating people the way you would want to be treated of all colors,” said R-lene Mijares-de Lang, the granddaughter of Jesucita, who is now a partner and general manager of Mijares Mexican Restaurant, located at 145 Palmetto Drive Pasadena.
With over a century in the industry, Mijares Mexican Restaurant continues to thrive, without reinventing itself. R-lene believes there’s no need to reinvent to attract customers, saying the restaurant gets continued support from the community just the way it is.
The restaurant is currently operated by six members of the Mijares family and the oldest of them is R-lene’s mother, 90-years-old Alice Mijares Recendez, daughter of Jesucita.
Over the years, the family made only a few changes on the menu. and added new drinks.
Jesucita’s tradition of cooking, specifically the use of giant volcanic stones in grinding grains, was preserved.
“I think if you’ve been around over a hundred years and you still have a thriving business, why reinvent yourself? I think it’s when you’re in trouble that you need to reinvent,” said R-lene.
Aside from offering hearty Mexican meals, R-lene believes the community loves the restaurant because it knows how to give back to the community.
Over the years, R-lene herself sat on various nonprofit boards in Pasadena.
“Our family realizes the importance of giving back to your community that has given us so much for over a hundred years. So I think that’s another reason that people respect us, you know, besides the service and the food and great margaritas.”
Despite enjoying strong support from the community for a century, Mijares Mexican Restaurant, which has over 40 employees and seats over 600 people, also faced struggles during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, when dining at restaurants was still prohibited.
“People were very good about supporting us, but a restaurant cannot survive on food to go only – a restaurant like ours, that seats 600 plus people.”
R-lene said during the season, they had to discover new ways to run the business differently with all the COVID-19 restrictions in place.
Despite easing pandemic restrictions to date, R-lene believes everybody in the restaurant industry is still facing serious financial challenges with the dramatic increase in food and fuel prices.
These factors, she said, prompted restaurants, including Mijares Mexican Restaurant to raise menu prices.
“Of course we’ve all had to raise prices in order to stay on top of what’s the market and the inflation, the gas, the taxes, I mean, it’s a whole different ball game.”
Despite these challenges, R-lene assured patrons Mijares Mexican Restaurant will keep doing what it has been doing over the years. “We’re not quitters. We’re just fighters and hard workers.”
There have been plans to expand the restaurant in the past, including adding a beachside location, but R-lene said “it just hasn’t felt right.”
“If something should happen and it feels right, Mijares surely would be open because we are not afraid to take risks,” she said.
This Thursday, September 15, Mijares Mexican Restaurant will host from 5-9 p.m. “A Night In Tequila” to celebrate its 102nd anniversary. The event features tequila tasting, food pairing and more.
To learn more about the event, visit: https://www.mijaresrestaurant.com
