The end of a dining era is at hand.
After 36 years serving enchiladas, margaritas and sopapillas, the Zajur family is serving its last meal at La Siesta Mexican Restaurant in Chesterfield County. Saturday is closing day.
I hate to see it go, said Nita Jones, a longtime customer and former food critic for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I think it's a real Richmond institution.
George Zajur, 43, son of the restaurant's founders, has been running the eatery for years, working 14-hour shifts.
The economy isn't the reason for the closure. He wants more time for himself and to spend with family and friends.
I've really never done anything but the restaurant, he said. It might be nice just to work day shift. The building at 9900 Midlothian Turnpike will be put up for sale.
Catering operations will continue, as will supplying Ukrop's Super Markets with fresh salsa. Expanding the distribution of salsa will be a new focus for the family.
And George Zajur said he may open a smaller La Siesta after the current building is sold.
La Siesta was among the first Mexican restaurants to open in the Richmond area.
But the restaurant has offered more than food over the years, Jones said.
Thousands of students have learned about Mexican culture there. Birthdays, anniversaries and wedding proposals have been celebrated at the restaurant. Clubs have met there, informal reunions have happened too. Business advice has even been dispensed.
From its spacious 11,000-square-foot interior, the idea for the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce sprang forth. Michel Zajur Jr., 50, ran the restaurant until he founded the chamber in 2000.
A lot of people, a lot of relationships have been developed there over the years, he said. It became a hub for Hispanics, people could get information, speak Spanish.
Samira and Michel Zajur Sr. moved to the Richmond area in 1960 from Zacatecas, Mexico. He opened several restaurants, including Sam's Diner on Jefferson Davis Highway.
Mexican food was not served, until friends prodded the senior Zajur to make some authentic dishes. The couple's children persuaded them to open La Siesta in 1972.
When La Siesta started, it was hard to get people to taste Mexican food, Michel Zajur Jr. said.
The couple had six children, three born in Mexico and three in the U.S. Their children and grandchildren have worked at the restaurant or still do.
Many other children have learned vocabulary, customs and dances at La Siesta as part of school field trips during the past 20 years. Linda Fitzmaurice, a kindergarten teacher at Betty Weaver Elementary School in Midlothian has been taking her students for at least a decade.
They were great to us, she said.
Cultural programs for schools will now be offered through the Spanish Academy & Cultural Institute, another entity borne out of La Siesta and run by Lisa Zajur, wife of Michel Zajur Jr.
Contact Emily C. Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or edooley@timesdispatch.com.
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