Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nNolberto left his hometown in Guanajuato, Mexico in the 1970s, coming to the United States in search of a better life for himself and his family. He worked odd jobs here and there to get by, though he hoped to open a restaurant and be his own boss. While working as a dishwasher, he met a woman who saw something special in Nolberto. She took him under his wing and taught him the basics of running a kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can’t just take anyone; it has to be someone that you see [has potential]. And he had that. He had this \u2018saz\u00f3n\u2019 to him,\u201d Nolberto\u2019s daughter Lisa Figueroa said. \u201cHe just had this natural skill in the kitchen. No recipes, just a special touch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCombination Plate #7, which is a taco and an enchilada with rice and beans at Linda’s Mexican Delights, a family-owned restaurant in Long Beach, on Monday, July 28, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nLisa was 15 years old when Linda\u2019s Mexican Delights opened. During her summer breaks, she helped serve her father\u2019s home-cooked Mexican dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe worked, worked, worked, worked, and all I can remember is him with his checker pants and his white shirt. To me, he was always the cook,\u201d Lisa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also time for goofing around with her sisters and mom in the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGoing through something as difficult as running a business, but being able to mess around and joke around with your best friends, those are good memories,\u201d Lisa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the restaurant, the Figueroas also watched other families grow \u2014 as if they were an extended network of relatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLinda’s Mexican Delights, a family-owned restaurant in Long Beach, on Monday, July 28, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nLisa recalled watching one family through multiple generations. When the couple first showed up, it was a husband and wife with three young daughters. One of their daughters, also named Lisa, celebrated her engagement at Linda\u2019s Mexican Delights years ago. Now she has a family of her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now in their 70s, Nolberto and his wife, Rosalina, continue to be involved with the restaurant, but Lisa and another daughter, Maritza Campos, have stepped up to run things on a day-to-day basis. While Lisa takes orders in the front, Maritza \u2014 who Lisa said is the backbone of the restaurant and has inherited her father\u2019s saz\u00f3n \u2014 does the cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long Beach resident Fred Kinney has been going to Linda\u2019s Mexican Delights for at least 16 years. It\u2019s his favorite local restaurant and was the first restaurant his kids ever went to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the recipes are the same since I’ve been going. The potato tacos and the shredded beef, I think, are both very, very tasty,\u201d Kinney said. \u201cIt’s very much tried and true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nA crispy taco at Linda’s Mexican Delights, a family-owned restaurant in Long Beach, on Monday, July 28, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnother long-time customer, Irene De La Serna, remembers taking her family to Linda\u2019s for the first time on a Sunday morning after stumbling across it on a walk. She worried her two young kids would cause a disturbance in the small space, but the Figueroas welcomed her family in and made them feel at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s comfort. It’s home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s exactly what the Figueroa family was going for \u2014 and it’s hole they will leave behind if they\u2019re forced to close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe’re gonna stick to simple but good,\u201d Lisa said. \u201cHere, people can just come in and have something [comforting]. That’s what our food is to a lot of people: comfort food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the desperate message the family posted to Instagram last month, they thanked their loyal customers but warned them they likely won’t make it through the next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We don’t see the light at the end of this dark tunnel,” they said in part. But they’re holding out some hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We appreciate everything and everyone and if anything changes, we will definitely let all of you know,” they said to end the message. “Send us positive vibes and we will send them back.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linda\u2019s Mexican Delights, 951 Redondo Ave, is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After immigrating from Guanajuato, Mexico, Nolberto Figueroa opened a restaurant to support his family. Now, Linda\u2019s Mexican Delights at 10th and Redondo is hanging by a thread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":86544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32346],"class_list":["post-86582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86582"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86591,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582\/revisions\/86591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86582"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=86582"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=86582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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