Olamendi’s Family Restaurant in Dana Point Since 1973
How Jorge Olamendi’s “Mi Casa Es Su Casa” Attitude Led to a Community Giving Back
My family has been coming to Olamendi’s Restaurant in Dana Point for many years. I started the tradition with my parents back in the 1970s when it first opened its doors. Today, I share that same experience with my granddaughter. I say “experience” because Olamendi’s is much more than just a restaurant.
Don Jorge Olamendi (“Jorge”) was born in Vera Cruz in the southeastern stretches of Mexico. When he was just a teenager, his family moved to California. In 1973, he opened his doors to Olamendi’s Restaurant on El Camino Real in San Clemente, a very small family owned Mexican restaurant where he began serving authentic dishes that most people in California had never heard of let alone tasted.
Using recipes of his mother and grandmothers, he served mole poblano alongside fish and lobster tacos, delicacies that were brand new to the area and completely unknown to the locals.
Jorge’s mother Doña Christina Torres de Olamendi learned the art of authentic Mexican cooking from her mother Doña Conception Reyes in the state of Puebla, Mexico as well as from having spent time with the nuns of the Convent of Santa Clara who were well known for their incredible culinary arts.
When I sat down with Jorge to talk about his mother, you could see the love in his eyes as he remembered back to his childhood and shared family stories with me of watching his mother cook as a young boy, the scents and smells forever ingrained in his memory.
He also told me how after opening up in San Clemente, he would drive down PCH admiring the location of a restaurant called Henry’s that sat right across the beach from Doheny State Park with a beautiful sunset view. Jorge said he would daydream of owning a restaurant like that overlooking the Pacific. About three years later, it was as if fate stepped in when Jorge learned the restaurant was for sale.
Taking a huge leap of faith, he and his wife Doña Maria Olamendi sought financing, which was not easy, and purchased what is still the current location of Olamendi’s in Dana Point, a dream come true. In fact, Jorge expressed deep gratitude and appreciation to Henry’s and the wonderful Serna Family for helping him with that transition so many years ago.
From the moment you walk through the doors, you are greeted like family and you feel as if you’ve been transported to Mexico City with its festive décor of colorful pinatas, life size Day of the Dead Papier-Mache skeletons dressed in mariachi garb and family photos of ancestors and close friends. I asked Jorge about his collection of trinkets and souvenirs and where they all came from. He just laughed with that genuine smile and said, “well, let me tell you all about that.”
What he said next gave me quite a giggle. You see, Jorge explained to me how he collected most of these things during travels and apparently, his wife was not a fan.
Having grown tired of them piling up in their home, Doña Maria gave Jorge an ultimatum to get rid of some of them or else. This is when they started making their migration to the restaurant.
My guess, which I should’ve confirmed with Jorge, is that wife Doña Maria may also be responsible for the sign at the front door that reads something like “all art is for sale.”
When talking to Jorge about what he attributes his success to, two things come to mind. The first is the fact that Olamendi’s was the first restaurant in So Cal to serve authentic home-made Mexican dishes that people had never tried before. The second may surprise you. Former U.S. President Richard Nixon lived in San Clemente so when he and Jorge became close friends and Nixon became a “regular” at Olamendi’s, Jorge said business began to boom.
Throughout the years, all six of Jorge’s children have worked at the restaurant along with nieces and nephews and other family members making it a true family run business. I got the feeling that most of the staff who’ve worked there over the years have also become “family” to this warm and wonderful man. In fact, I asked Jorge about an older gentleman I used to see playing the guitar in the restaurant. He would go around the tables playing special requests and I can clearly remember him playing for my first-born granddaughter when she was just a baby. I hadn’t seen him for quite some time and inquired about him. Jorge teared up and told me very sadly that I must be referring to Don Francisco Ruano, a very dear friend for more than 45 years who passed away a few years back. Jorge kept referring to Francisco as a true “troubadour” and a lifelong friend reminding me how Francisco played for President Nixon and King Hussein of Jordan as well as so many children. Even my eyes filled with tears as Jorge told me that just before Francisco died, he gifted Jorge his beloved guitar, his most prized possession.
The way Jorge treats everyone around him like family is remarkable, but it’s no surprise given how loving this man is. What is even more remarkable though is the way the community has taken Jorge in as their family too.
Never before was this clearer than when the pandemic first hit. Restaurants were forced to close their doors and non-essential workers were sent home. Business for Jorge plummeted an astonishing 80%. Jorge did everything he could to keep his employees working and doors open while still following all guidelines and protocols to keep staff and customers safe.
Calls from concerned customers poured in asking Jorge how he was doing. Neighbors began dropping by with homemade cookies and flowers. When it was announced restaurants could open doors for outside seating, Jorge was thrilled.
The problem was he only had glass covered tables that he feared would shatter from the heat of the sun being outside. So, he took the only two plastic tables he had, put them outside and converted the parking lot into an outdoor seating area. Two sets of customers at a time was better than none.
As word got around about Jorge’s dilemma, what happened next is truly a testament to Jorge’s generosity over the years (including his friendship with the Juaneno-Acjachemen Nation and feeding the area’s homeless which is something his son told me, and Jorge humbly left out of our conversation). People began showing up donating tables, chairs and even plants allowing Jorge to barely survive the intense economic hardship the pandemic caused.
The pandemic also hit Jorge’s thriving tequila business very hard. Olamendi’s started its somewhat famous tequila several years ago. I say “somewhat” because it’s probably the best tequila many have never heard of.
You might be surprised to know it’s sold at many upscale establishments around Orange County including Disneyland’s Club 33, Rothschild’s and even the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach. In fact, Jorge’s signature Margaritas using Olamendi’s tequila were voted the best cocktails in America three years in a row and his tequila won the 2018 Chicago’s BTI Platinum Award.
Yet, despite overall increases in nationwide alcohol sales during the pandemic, COVID hit Mexico extremely hard and Jorge began facing problems with supply and production. When I was asking Jorge about this, true to form, he brushed off the economic impact on himself and became obviously torn talking about all of those who suffered the loss of loved ones during the pandemic and how much worse things were for them.
It is just impossible not to be in awe of this man’s good heart. Although Olamendi’s has not yet fully recovered, Jorge tells me how grateful he feels for the community that came together and helped him keep his doors open. In fact, he is already looking for ways to give back. He told me the lesson he has taken from everything that has happened, is that we should all have faith in the kindness of humanity, and he expressed genuine gratitude not just to the residents of Dana Point but all of Orange County.
For those readers who have been to Olamendi’s, I know you are just nodding your heads already knowing how wonderful Jorge is. So, I’m going to leave you with a little-known fact about Jorge that his son shared with me. Jorge is a huge Beatles fan!
Of course, upon hearing this, I felt compelled to obnoxiously pull out my cell phone to share a home video of my 2-year old nephew strumming his dad’s guitar and belting out the lyrics to “Get Back.” Instead of the usual polite nod I get from people forced to endure my home movies, Jorge completely lit up with a big old grin watching every second of it, and you know what? That right there is the charm behind Olamendi’s - a man with a giant heart and a true love of people.
By the way, his favorite Beatle is Ringo. Sorry Paul!
[Be sure to follow Olamendi’s and Olamendi’s Tequila on Instagram]
[When I shared this article with Jorge and his family before publication, they asked me to add that their prayers and blessings go out to President Nixon and King Hussein’s families as both were great men. They also wish to send Don Francisco’s family their thoughts and prayers as they, their friends and customers remember his beautiful light and music especially the way he would play It’s a Small World to the children visiting Olamendi’s.]
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