San Benito County’s newest restaurant is a little more than a
month old and is already doing a capacity business.
San Benito County’s newest restaurant is a little more than a month old and is already doing a capacity business.
Matxain Etxea, specializing in Basque cuisine, opened the week before Christmas at 206 Fourth St. in San Juan Bautista at the former site of The Branding Iron. It merits the description of a family restaurant for serving meals family-style and because the four owners are related by blood or marriage.
Luis Matchain and Veronica Pirl are brother and sister and although their spouses, Karla Matchain and Bruce Pirl, are new to the business they are rapidly learning because of the great number of diners coming in five days a week.
Luis and Veronica learned the business from their parents’ restaurants in Mexico. As children in Puebla they became part of the family operation and chopped onions, waited on tables, washed dishes and absorbed all the skills of preparing and serving fine food. One restaurant specialized in Basque cuisine because their ancestry includes roots in Spanish Basque country. They also learned how to prepare French and Spanish cooking in addition to their native Mexican dishes.
Veronica met Bruce Pirl, a special education teacher at Anzar High School, while he was visiting Puebla. They fell in love and were eventually married. Karla, whose father was born in Spain, met Luis in Puebla, and they too were married. When they decided to move to the United States it was natural to settle in the area where his sister lived.
Karla Matchain (“It’s pronounced ‘Mat-chain’ and we spell it that way, although it’s ‘Matxain’ in Basque”) acknowledged that although seeing the restaurant fill to its capacity very quickly overwhelmed her at first, it seemed natural to her husband and his sister.
Lamb chops are among the specialties but the menu also includes beef, veal and pork entrees as well as seafood. It is served family style, with the components brought to the table and left there so the diner can have extra portions of any dish he chooses. Soup, salad, potatoes, beans and rice accompany each meal, and the bread and butter, wine and dessert are complimentary.
“We’re open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. from Wednesday through Sunday,” Luis said. “We’re considering adding breakfast but right now we have two days off to be with our children. This past Saturday, we served 102 dinners and some of the people who couldn’t get a seat came back the next day. We have many repeat customers, with some from Tres Pinos where many of the original settlers were Basques.”
Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner starts at 3:30.
In addition to the lunch menu, stew is added for dinner.
“On Sunday we serve paella,” Veronica Pirl said. “It’s a traditional rice dish made with seafood or bits of meat and seasoned with herbs and spices in the Basque style. Our repeat diners are already requesting it.”
Bocattas – sandwiches served in Spanish and French style – include prosciutto, beefsteak, chicken breast, tuna and American ham.
“We haven’t forgotten the children,” Luis said. “Their menu includes chicken nuggets, beefsteak, chicken breast or half a bocatta.”
Beer and wine are available as well as soft drinks, milk, orange juice and coffee.
Luis does much of the cooking and is aided by Karla’s cousin from Spain, Nieves Jimenez. The rest of the staff is made up of family members.
“I’ll never forget those first few days,” Karla said. “People kept coming and I was nervous learning to be a waitress, and Bruce was behind the cash register ringing up the checks, and there were Luis and Veronica, smiling and greeting everyone and taking their orders like it was the most natural thing in the world to them.”
Bruce’s teaching job keeps him busy until late afternoon but he comes in on the evenings and weekends to help.
The restaurant has ample space for 48 diners with the tables far enough apart to allow easy passage of the servers. When the rainy season ends, meals will be served al fresco on the rear deck.
“We’re going to put things out here to amuse the children while they’re waiting to be served or after they’ve eaten,” Veronica said, waving out to the spacious back yard.
She laughed suddenly when three chickens emerged through a hole in the fence. “Hey, chicks, didn’t your mama warn you not to hang around restaurants?”
Over coffee, Luis pointed out crests on the wall that depict common Basque scenes and talked about some specialties of the restaurant, including rabbit, frog legs and beef tongue. “We’re considering adding escargots,” he said.
Anna Pancelli and Jaime Montoya come in on the weekends to sing Spanish, Italian, French and Basque songs to guitar music. “They add a pleasant dimension to the dining,” Luis said.
“The restaurant’s name means ‘House of Matchain’ because we think of it as a home for our friends. We suggest that guests make reservations for dinner, especially on the weekend, so they will be able to be served quickly.”
While their new business stands out as a big event of 2002, all four partners agree that it takes second place to the birth of a child to each couple. Hannah Pirl, five months old, is the delight of her 2 1/2-year-old sister, Grace. And Daniel Matchain, his parents’ first child, checked in on Nov. 4.
“Luis’s mother (Isabel) is a treasure,” Karla said. “She takes care of them while we work but sometimes we go home to see them because our houses are so close to the restaurant. And we have all day Mondays and Tuesdays with them.”
The partners plan a grand opening in the near future but haven’t decided on a day.
“We want the people to come and meet us,” Luis said, “and to bring their families.”
