Taco turmoil: Local Mexican restaurant owner strives to fulfill father’s dream
Huntington Beach resident Carlos Silva was born prematurely in Mexico City in 1981 and spent time in an incubator.
“They said I was maybe not going to be able to walk, talk, move or whatever,” Silva said. “My fingers were stuck together and many things. I was not fully developed. But, since day one, I’m sure I made it because my father was always there.”
His father, Carlos Guzman, gave him strength when he would have to go in for an operation.
It’s a Wednesday evening and business is slow at Carlitos Diner in Fountain Valley. This gives Silva time to tell his tale.
Silva is unsure exactly who Guzman named the Mexican and American food restaurant after when he opened the first Carlitos in Huntington Beach 12 years ago. Is it named after father or son?
Right now, his father has bigger things to worry about. Guzman suffers from dementia; Silva has taken over the two restaurants.
He and his wife, Gaby, work long hours at Carlitos while Silva’s mother, Martha, takes care of her five grandchildren. There were four girls, before the first boy was born last year.
“It’s very hard for me, but I know that I have to push all of this forward,” Carlos Silva said. “He depends on me, my mom, my kids. My whole purpose of coming here was to help my dad, and now his dream is my dream. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I have to continue.”
Carlitos Diner, in its current state, is fighting to survive. The two locations will be selling $1.49 tacos all day on National Taco Day, which is Tuesday, and Silva hopes that sparks some business.
He has encountered problems since opening the Fountain Valley location two years ago.
The coronavirus pandemic took its toll, and Silva said the previous owner of the Fountain Valley location, who had a restaurant called El Azteca, opened another spot not far away.
Silva got behind on payments. He said he received an eviction notice in July.
“They were supposed to close the doors on Aug. 1, but because of a friend who gave me legal help, this lawyer made a courtesy call from my understanding to the landlord, and they negotiated,” he said. “Now I have a deal.”
He has to make seven payments of the full rent plus $3,000 each month. The total is about $9,000 per month for Fountain Valley, plus $4,200 more for the Huntington Beach location.
It doesn’t take a mathematician to know that’s a lot of dinero.
Carlitos Diner, which offers all-day breakfast, certainly has its share of fans.
Jerry Supernaw holds his SuperStarz Business Network group meetings there each Thursday morning.
Supernaw and his wife have become friends with the Silvas, even helping them find a home when they moved to Surf City from South Gate several years back.
“I’ve had a couple of Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce events over there, and everybody loves the place,” Supernaw said. “They love the family, the food’s great, the prices are good. In fact, I have to keep bugging him, ‘Carlos, you’ve got to raise the price, you’ve got to raise the price. Even if it’s only 50 cents, you’ve got to raise the price.’
“He’s just so concerned about making sure he does the right thing for the community. He doesn’t want to overcharge people. They’re a wonderful family, they really are, top to bottom.”
In Silva’s current situation, people have tried to step up. Mark Rosenberg has helped Silva produce videos and social media for Carlitos.
Through a post on the Huntington Beach CommUNITY Voice forum on Facebook — which Rosenberg said he previously only used to argue — he met others willing to help, like Planning Commissioner Oscar Rodriguez and Cindy Lee.
Rodriguez has helped Silva out with catering opportunities.
“I got a few folks to lend him some money, so he could keep the doors open,” Rodriguez said. “He’s been paying back little by little, and we’ve been helping him get some business. That’s what’s eating him alive, just paying back the back rent that he owed and the utilities and all of that.”
Lee, a local travel agent who is in tune with the National Day Calendar, has tried to use that to pump up business. There was a National Fajita Day event in August, not to mention National Taco Day on Tuesday.
Lee said she calls the Silvas her primas, or cousins.
“That’s how they make us feel,” she said, turning to Carlos Silva. “That’s how I feel, and I’m sure a lot of your customers feel the same way.”
A GoFundMe has also been established for the Silvas, though as of Friday afternoon it was still far short of the $5,000 goal.
Silva said he quit his job as a bill collector early in the Carlitos days to help his father with the restaurant.
“My dad, my wife, myself, my mom, everybody, we made a recipe book,” he said. “That’s how we started.”
Silva said he decided to open the second Carlitos location in Fountain Valley after receiving a U.S. Small Business Assn. loan during the pandemic. The newer location sells plates of food, while the Huntington Beach Carlito’s sells more individual items like burritos, tacos and tortas.
Now he’s struggling to keep both restaurants open. Carlito’s has a total staff of seven or eight people, Silva said.
“We don’t get paid,” he said. “We survive with the tips and everything goes to the restaurant. Even the tips, right now.”
Though it’s meant missing milestones like the first steps of their babies, Gaby has been by his side the whole time. The legacy of Carlitos is important to her as well.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel like that,” she said in Spanish, translated by her husband.
The family bonds remain strong.
Silva’s parents live with him. The recipes live through him.
In the end, Silva has made his father proud, but their roles are now reversed since those days in Mexico City more than four decades ago.
Now, it’s Silva who strives to give strength to his father.
“As long as I can, and physically nothing happens to me, I’m going to be with my dad,” he said. “Right now, with his disease, he could forget anything, but he doesn’t forget me. He knows it’s me. I come into the picture, and I’m his guide.”
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