Known locally as “The Ranch,” the longstanding La Jolla restaurant will have a party as it strives to expand and reciprocate generational gratitude.

Literally expanding into the future, Verdes El Ranchero at 7404 La Jolla Blvd is celebrating 80 years in La Jolla … at 81.

Though the restaurant opened in 1945, construction on the beloved La Jolla restaurant pushed back revelry plans and owners Gloria Green and Megan Murphy will show off the added space while honoring the original building and its place in the community at an event starting at 1 pm Saturday, May 16.

Since it opened, Verdes El Ranchero has been a fixture in the La Jolla restaurant community, serving Sonoran-style Mexican cuisine to locals and tourists who flock to the eatery for homestyle meals in the cozy space.

The menu features traditional dishes like chile rellenos, carnitas, tamales and soups and nearly everything is made from scratch daily.

Not of Mexican heritage themselves, Green and Murphy (who is Green’s daughter) “take great pride and care in trying to share the wonderful food culture that Mexico has,” Murphy said.

The love Green and Murphy have for their restaurant and menu is evidenced by their patrons, who return again and again, often weekly or more frequently, crowding the doors ahead of the noon opening six days a week.

To honor Verdes El Ranchero’s 80 years as a La Jolla mainstay, the May 16 celebration will be a “house party,” Murphy said, with open seating and $5 food and drink specials including tamales, beer, wine, margaritas and the debut of their new al pastor tacos.

With live music and more, Murphy and Green are hoping to “have everyone come and hang out and show our appreciation for the neighborhood and for this place.”

Origins and changes

When Buzzy Martinez opened the restaurant in 1945, it was contained within the current bar space, a small room with a kitchen behind it named “La Rancherita.”

Over the years, it’s had fewer than five different owners, flipped a few times between its original name and “El Ranchero” and added the room adjacent to the north, at some point earning the nickname “The Ranch.”

Murals were added in the 1960s (still there in the original bar room) and the main dining room was carpeted in the 1980s (not still there).

Somewhere along the way, The Ranch became cemented within the pantheon of original La Jolla Mexican restaurants still talked about in local circles, which includes Alfonso’s (open from 1971 to 2019), Jose’s Courtroom (open since 1972) and Su Casa (open from 1967 to 2019).

Nearly 40 years ago, the Green family, comprised of Gloria, her now-late husband Michael and their children including the toddler Megan, moved into the Barber Tract neighborhood, two blocks from (the then-called) El Ranchero.

“This was our local place,” Green said, adding her family grew to count themselves among the loyal patrons.

By the time Michael retired from the HVAC industry in the 2000s, The Ranch – again called La Rancherita and owned by the Estrada family – was looking for new ownership, as Estrada hadn’t been able to maintain the business, Murphy said.

Business photography by Provisions Media

A friend and bartender at The Ranch approached the Greens in 2009 about buying the business and Michael agreed, wanting to save the restaurant, Murphy said.

“He wanted to revitalize, bring it back to what it used to be,” she added. 

Michael switched the name back to the more-familiar El Ranchero and added the Verdes (“green” in Spanish) as a nod to his last name and Gloria, a skilled home cook, modified the menu slightly but returned it to Ranch favorites.

The restaurant had gotten away from scratch-made recipes, Murphy said; the Greens worked with the kitchen crew to restore the original flavors.

Since 2009 and continuing beyond Michael’s death in 2021, the Greens and Murphy, who became an early co-owner at her father’s behest, have revived The Ranch, and the restaurant’s popularity has grown, cultivated by the family who believes it to be an integral ingredient in La Jolla’s culture.

“It’s always been a neighborhood spot,” Gloria Green said. “Usually, there’s somebody here that you know. … It’s a comfortable place; that’s what we wanted it to be.”

“That’s what it was when I was growing up,” Murphy said, adding there are still two cooks who have worked in the kitchen since she was four. 

“The history of this place is … the most special thing,” Murphy said. “It’s generational.”

Green and Murphy have heard from their customers stories of fond, Ranch-related memories, like seniors recalling their first beer there decades prior, people remembering meeting their spouses there and adults who shared they visited as small children.

“Families continue to come over generations,” Green said, “which is really a good feeling.”

Into the future

The Ranch’s expansion is a takeover of the space formerly occupied by Carino’s, a neighborhood staple itself from 1972 until its 2023 closure. 

Carino’s “unfortunate” demise, however, provided The Ranch with an opportunity to add more dining space and offer a room for private events. 

The modest 660-square-foot expansion has a second bar and kitchen, finally allowing The Ranch to begin serving the oft-requested al pastor and Ensenada-style rotisserie chicken.

Decorated with a more colonial Mexican style and keeping the refurbished, original Carino’s door, the space is integrated with the first two Ranch rooms with an already-existing doorway in the wall. 

Now that the expansion is complete, Green and Murphy look toward the future, hoping to continue to offer a family-like experience to anyone who walks inside. 

Someone from the family is at the restaurant every day, Murphy said. “We’re showing that care.”

That care extends onto every plate, she said: “We don’t take shortcuts. We don’t want anything coming out of our kitchen that we wouldn’t want to eat ourselves.”

With that daily attention to craft and customers, Murphy hopes The Ranch will live on for decades more.

“It’s our family history as much as it is everybody else’s,” Murphy said. “We’re proud to be stewards of it.”