Longtime Frontier GM hanging up the apron
When UNM freshman Pete Villegas took a part-time night shift job at a newly opened little diner across the street from campus, that’s all it was: a part-time job at a little diner across the street from campus.
The eldest of six children in a military family, Villegas had recently departed early from the U.S. Air Force Academy — “Let’s say military was not a career choice for me” — and was bound, he thought, for a teaching career.
But the job was good, and Villegas found he was good at it and he stayed — and stayed, and stayed.
Since then, that diner, Frontier Restaurant, has roughly tripled in size and has achieved local landmark status. And Villegas is finally moving on today, Monday — 50 years later.
Frontier’s big windows look out on Central, offering a front-row view to the city’s most historic thoroughfare. Villegas, now the restaurant’s general manager, has seen a bit in his half-century on the job.
He was there when cheer squads from rival high school basketball teams both wound up at Frontier for a post-game snack, and broke into impromptu dueling spirit displays from opposite ends of the dining room.
“So I’m looking, I’m saying, ‘What’s all the noise out there?’” Villegas said. “... They were actually doing several cheers against each other.”
He was there when movie producers used the last dining room to film a scene of “Coyote Waits,” an adaptation of the Tony Hillerman novel — fun to watch, but a bit disruptive to restaurant operations, Villegas recalls.
He was there, albeit back in the kitchen, when a streaker treated diners to a mercifully brief pass-through peep show. Villegas said he heard a commotion and came out to investigate.
“I didn’t even see him,” Villegas said. “... It was funny. But he must have been fast, I mean, he had his tennis shoes (and) just ran through.”
He once witnessed an eating contest involving the famous Frontier Burrito, marveling at the winner.
“I can barely finish one, but he ate three-and-ahalf before he said, ‘I can’t do it anymore,’” Villegas said, laughing.
Today, if you ask him, Villegas will tell you the Frontier Burrito is his favorite menu item, and the fresh-squeezed orange juice is a must-try. He’ll nibble on the sweet rolls, but “learned a few years ago” not to get too stuck on the sweet rolls.
Villegas has seen birthday celebrations, served the faithful daily coffee drinkers, made room for the chess club that for years set up shop once a week.
He’s watched hundreds, maybe thousands, of employees come and go — some of whom later came back to visit and tell Villegas what a mark he made on their lives.
“What I enjoy most working here is (being) able to make a difference in young people’s lives, and that means coaching them on their work ethic, coaching them on their decisions, on their