After 47 years, El Burro is leaving the Pruneyard
Luna Mexican Kitchen will be the new tenant
You’ve got a couple of months, maybe three, to get into Campbell’s El Burro for its signature chile verde. Or maybe the popular enchiladas suizas. And a Cadillac margarita.
After 47 years, the South Bay staple for Mexican food — one of the Pruneyard’s long-lived tenants — will shut down and look for a new location. The owners of the center, which is undergoing a massive renovation and expansion, were not able to reach a lease agreement with the restaurant, both parties said Tuesday.
“We’re so sad. We’ve been here forever,” said Lori Uribe, daughter of original owner Mario Uribe, who opened the restaurant in 1971.
“They’re a great tenant, and we tried to work something out,” said Caroline Morris, senior vice president with Ellis Partners, which purchased the Pruneyard in 2014. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t come to an agreement” about renovations needed for El Burro’s aging restaurant space.
Instead, another locally owned restaurant, Luna Mexican Kitchen of San Jose, will open its second location there, Morris said. “We’re happy to continue the tradition of a Mexican restaurant in that space,” she said. Construction will start in the fall, with an early 2019 opening planned.
As for El Burro, Uribe said they’ve been looking for a new location for a few weeks, with some customers suggesting the family explore taking over the vacant Elephant Bar nearby on Hamilton Avenue.
Three generations of Uribes have worked at the restaurant, she said, and some employees are longtimers too. “We have one woman in the kitchen, Maria, who has been here since the first day,” Uribe said, and manager Cruz has worked at El Burro for 41 years.
On social media, customers reminisced about dinners and parties they’d celebrated at El Burro over the years and ranked this pending Campbell closing among those they found hardest to bear.
“This is a tragedy. Almost as bad as losing Andy’s BBQ,” one man posted on the Campbell Water Tower’s Facebook page. Others lamented the loss of Boswell’s, with one woman commenting, “There doesn’t seem to be anywhere to go to listen to music and have an after-dinner drink anymore around here.”
No final day of business has been set yet, Uribe said, but she expects customers will have at least two months, maybe longer, to frequent the business. In the meantime, El Burro will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 10 on Friday and Saturday, at 1875 S. Bascom Ave., Campbell.