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It is rare to come into Doña Esther’s Restaurant in San Juan Bautista and not find the center tables of the main dining room pushed together to seat a large group of family and friends or a party going on in the banquet room. Ever since 1982, when Al Castañeda opened Doña’s, the restaurant has been a gathering place for wedding receptions, graduation parties, birthdays and all the other heartfelt celebrations held in the tiny town.
In many ways, that feeling of home and community is reflective of the restaurant’s namesake, Castañeda’s grandmother, known as Doña Esther, who came to San Juan with his family from Mexico in 1952 when he was 6 years old. Doña Esther was known not just for her cooking skills but for her generosity and her willingness to feed hungry strangers who might show up at her door.
As the plaques on the restaurant’s walls testify, Castañeda himself developed a reputation for generosity and devotion to the community. He was known to be the first to show up at the homes of people suffering the loss of a loved one or those who were struggling with illness, offering comfort in the form of food to help tide them over through the crisis.
Castañeda’s daughter, Tami Castañeda-Huaracha, said her earliest Christmas memories come from the huge family dinners Doña Esther hosted in her small home.
“There were so many family members,” she said. “She had five kids, and each of those kids had families with grandchildren starting to come. We literally could not move around because there were so many gifts that they filled up the entire living room.”
Castañeda-Huaracha took over management of Doña Esther’s when Castañeda retired in 2015, and she has worked hard to maintain her family’s traditions of Christmas cheer, from the decorations inside and out to the heavily ornamented tree in the main dining room to the Christmas stockings for every employee hanging on the wall.
Her chefs have also been working full-time making the pork, chicken and beef tamales she says were essential to her family during the holiday season. The demand for the dish is high, and Castañeda-Huaracha says that she is used to having people order them as late as Christmas Eve.
“We always had tamales then, and we still make them from scratch,” she said. “I remember the drinking that went on then—a lot of beer and a lot of shots—as they were putting the masa on the leaves. Music was playing, and everybody was happy. It is a memory I cherish.”
While Christmas has been busy this year, business overall for most businesses in San Juan has been down since the pandemic. Doña Esther’s, one of the town’s anchor businesses, has recently closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, a move Castañeda-Huaracha hopes is temporary.
“Everybody is hurting,” she said. “Everybody across the board. The traffic on Highway 156 is terrible, which keeps people from stopping in town. And the economy has a lot to do with it. The price of food has almost doubled, and how do we pass on that cost to our guests?”
But as the Christmas season gives way to the new year, Castañeda-Huaracha remains optimistic.
“Things have been very difficult, but I think San Juan is coming back to life,” she said. “That is really, at the end of the day, what I want people to know: San Juan is still here, we are hoping to see the city thrive again. And as people start to return, Doña Esther’s will be here for them and their families.”
Some Traditional Dishes from Doña Esther’s Restaurant
Chicharones – A traditional Mexican dish made with pork fat trimmings, served on corn tortillas. “Not the healthiest food, but oh so doggone good,” Castañeda-Huaracha said. “It’s a poor man’s food because we can eat that with beans and tortillas, and it’s a meal. it’s got your calories. It’s got your protein, it’s got everything all wrapped into one.” It is an occasional guilty pleasure I sincerely hope my doctor never finds out about. The dice-sized cubes of pork are fried until they are crispy on the outside and meltingly tender on the inside. Garnished with some of Doña Esther’s housemade pico de gallo, it is sinfully rich and flavorful. The leftover oil from the pork is used to cook the restaurant’s refried beans, and the two work together in the dish beautifully.
Menudo – Tripe soup that Castañeda-Huaracha says is absolutely delicious but utterly awful to make. “You have to have an outdoor kitchen,” she said, “because the smell is just out of this world. We are super lucky that we have our kitchen in the back that has a door we can keep open.” The tripe is cooked until it is tender while still retaining a rubbery texture reminiscent of liver. “So I have to be honest,” she said. ”When I was growing up. I refused to eat menudo. I would only eat the hominy out of it. When I hit 13, my taste buds changed and I was able to start eating menudo. I don’t know how to explain it but it’s so incredibly good!”
Nopalitos and Eggs – Made with strips of pickled cactus that have the consistency of string beans, this is a flavorful and fiber-packed breakfast item that Doña Esther’s serves all day. The dish has a great texture and a medium spiciness and, served with fried cubed potatoes, is a filling dish that will leave you satisfied. Particularly hearty and delicious when wrapped in a tortilla with a dash of housemade tomatillo green sauce.
Chile Verde – “We have reintroduced chile verde the way we used to make it when we first opened,” Castañeda-Huaracha said. “People thought it was too spicy, so we took it off the menu and introduced a milder version. But we’re finding that this new generation really likes the heat of the original.” The two dishes are similar in flavor profiles but definitely different in terms of presentation and heat levels. The traditional version, with a thick tomatillo sauce, has a pretty good kick to it—Castañeda-Huaracha recommends asking for a bit of sour cream on the side to help temper the heat. The milder version substitutes a broth containing large chunks of tomato, onion and bell pepper for the sauce. It still has a bit of kick, but is much more manageable for the average palate, particularly when mixed with the refried beans.
The Carnitas Dinner – This has been my go-to on the menu for years. The slow cooked pork shoulder is as tender as it gets and is incredibly flavorful. I wrap the meat up in a flour tortilla, pile on some beans and rice, add some pico de gallo and dash of the house red sauce, and I am in heaven. It comes with soup or salad (I always go with the chicken soup – thick egg noodles and nice chunks of shredded chicken) and a slice of rich chocolate cake for dessert. If I am not up to that much food, the carnitas soft tacos are a great second choice. For me, this is a must-try. So authentic, if you close your eyes, you can almost see Doña Esther herself in the kitchen preparing it.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
