Greer's OC

Avila’s El Ranchito the largest family-owned group of Mexican restaurants in SoCal—eleven locations in all—will be celebrating four decades at its Cannery Village location in Newport Beach with a series of ‘Throwback Thursday’ events beginning Thursday, April 2.

All month long, the Newport Beach location will be throwing it back to 1975 and offering lunch and dinner items from the original menu for prices from 40 years ago.

Items on the ‘Throwback Thursday’ special menu will rotate every week in April. All were created by Mama Avila and most are priced under $6.

Thursday’s menu from the original El Ranchito menu in 1975 include:

Mama Avila’s Soup: fresh chicken broth, chunks of chicken breast and rice. Garnished with avocado, tomato, cilantro and lime. Served with warm tortillas $5.45
Sonora Combinacion: crispy taco & enchilada. Served with Mexican rice and beans. $5.95
Chile Verde: Tender chunks of pork simmered with mild green chile, bell peppers, tomatoes and onions. Served with warm tortillas $7.45

Margarita Avila, known as Mama Avila, and Salvadora Avila opened their first El Ranchito restaurant in Huntington Park in 1966. Today, nearly all of the members of the three generations of Avilas – a total of 40 – are involved in the family business, The Newport Beach location was founded in 1975 by Salvador and Margarita’s son, Sergio Avila.

Avila’s El Ranchito is at 2800 Newport Blvd. in Newport Beach. 949.675.6855.