El Charro, a favorite for 73 years, is returning — but moving to Walnut Creek
The name and location are changing but the blue cheese butter remains.
Lafayette’s beloved Mexican restaurant, El Charro, which closed last December after 73 years, is moving into the space currently housing Maria Maria in Walnut Creek. According to Diablo Dish, El Charro will be part of a revamped Maria Maria at 1470 N. Broadway.
Dubbed The Original El Charro 1947, the restaurant will serve the large portions of enchiladas, tacos and burritos that El Charro devotees have come to count on over the years, alongside some of Maria Maria’s more elevated offerings.
Financial losses during the pandemic forced longtime owners Laura and Dave Shields to serve their last meal on Dec. 31. The news caused an outpouring of support from Bay Area families who spent the majority of their birthdays, anniversaries
and other celebrations inside the adobe walls of El Charro.
In an email to this publication, Laura Shields said that El Charro was purchased from the bankruptcy court by Benjamin Seabury, a Bay Area restaurateur and retired semiprofessional football player who owns Ben ’n Nicks in Oakland’s Rockridge District as well as The Star pizza restaurants in Oakland, Albany, San
Francisco and Portland.
“We wish Ben and his crew the very best,” said Shields, who noted that Seabury came to her home after purchasing the restaurant to collect El Charro decorations, tablecloths and Shields’ other memorabilia dating back to the early ’70s. The new owner will be making a fresh start, she said, with new employees.