Owners of landmark Mexican eatery in Madera to retire after 24 years. What’s next for it?
Raul and Ede Castro first announced they would retire from ownership of Burrito King in central Madera last year.
But the husband and wife weren’t ready to stop working. They weren’t ready to stop seeing their customers.
“My daughter posts about our plans to retire, but I can’t leave them,” Ede said. “I love them so much.”
However, “we are getting older,” Raul said.
They are both 70 years old and will celebrate their 50th marriage anniversary in December. Now, they are inching closer to letting their daughters, Erica and Maira, take the reigns and run Burrito King.
The daughters will inherit a restaurant that’s become a landmark Mexican eatery, known in the Fresno-Madera area for Raul’s famous chiles rellenos and for its salsa that’s sold in local grocery stores. After buying the restaurant from Ede’s brother, Miguel Gutierrez, in 2000, the married couple bought their own building for Burrito King, watched the restaurant grow along with the city and forged the types of community relationships they say are essential for a thriving local business.
“We put a lot of work into this place,” Raul said.
“That’s what we came here for,” Ede said. “We came here to work, to give it our all.”
Beginnings in Jalisco, Mexico
Raul and Ede were raised on the same ranch in the Mexican state of Jalisco. They immigrated to the U.S. separately in the 1960s, when they were teenagers, and immediately began working with their parents in agriculture.
“I didn’t want to come,” Raul said. “I was happy in Mexico.”
His grandfather encouraged Raul to go north, but not without some advice: “’Your dad left to America when he was very young, but he didn’t succeed because of his vices (alcohol). If you go, be smart, save your money so you can come out on top.’”
“I took his advice,” Raul said. “I told myself, ‘One day, I’m going to have a little ranch, a home. I am going to give it all I’ve got.’”
Soon enough, he reunited with Ede in the U.S., and they began dating and had three children. Ede eventually began cleaning wealthy people’s homes in Napa, while Raul continued in the fields.
Then, Ede’s brother and Burrito King’s former owner, Miguel Gutierrez, contacted the family. He was ready to retire from his ownership of the restaurant, which was located near Rite Aid on Olive Avenue at the time, and he wanted it to stay in the family. Ede and Raul bought it.
The restaurant industry was completely new for her parents, said Erica, but Madera welcomed them and the restaurant with open arms.
Gutierrez taught them how to run the business and the new owners worked from before sunrise until after sunset for years. They still show up early.
“They work like crazy,” Glen Neal, a Madera attorney and Burrito King regular, said last week. “I was there this morning and Raul was mopping the floor.”
Erica said that work ethic and ambition is what her parents instilled in her.
“Coming to the U.S. at an early age, they grew up here,” she said, “but they never lost their roots. They never lost their foundation of giving it their all and taking a leap of faith.”
A new twist coming to Burrito King?
Madera’s city and county workers, school employees, civic groups and athletic teams are known to frequent the Burrito King. Raul said this is because the restaurant has made itself available to its community, often providing meals for schools at half price.
“You have to help your community,” he said. “That’s the way it has to be.”
The restaurant has become a home for his entire family, including grandchildren, nieces and nephews. But Erica said she and her sister are ready to take it over. She said they will be putting their own twist on the restaurant, while keeping their parents’ traditions alive.
“We will use the tools our parents gave us to keep giving back to Madera and Fresno,” she said.
Raul accomplished his dreams of having a home and a little ranch. (He now owns a 14-acre almond grove that he works to this day.)
He said he would like to return to Mexico, remembering that his grandmother told him that he would likely never return if he left to the U.S.
Ede wants to travel to Europe, or maybe Alaska. Perhaps, she said, the couple will renew their vows.
“Maybe we’ll have a second wedding in the Burrito King party hall,” she said.
This story was originally published May 29, 2024 at 11:10 AM.
