Category: Orange

The Orange County restaurant world lost one of its pioneering finest this week with the death of Margarita Avila, matriarch of the Avila’s El Ranchito family-owned chain whose beloved Mexican food recipes helped make the restaurant group a regional success…

Margarita and Salvador Avila opened their first restaurant in Huntington Park in 1966. For more than 50 years, Margarita and Salvador Avila’s El Ranchito restaurants have been a go-to in Orange County for combo plates and margaritas. Regulars will definitely…

When patrons of Avila’s El Ranchito sit down to eat, they’re handed a menu bearing a picture of Margarita “Mamá” Avila. The matriarch of the Mexican food restaurant group is standing by stacks of plates. Her face beams. The photograph suggests…