In 1996, Nolberto Figueroa sat his family down and shared something that would change their lives.
“We’re opening a restaurant,” he said.
Named after his oldest daughter, Linda’s Mexican Delights is now celebrating its 29th anniversary — and the Figueroa family is fighting to make it to their 30th. Since the pandemic, they’ve struggled to attract new customers and keep up with rising prices.
They recently raised the alarm in a story on their Instagram. The business, now mostly run by Nolberto’s daughters, is “hanging on by a thread” as they try to keep their father’s dream alive a little longer.
Nolberto 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.
“You can’t just take anyone; it has to be someone that you see [has potential]. And he had that. He had this ‘sazón’ to him,” Nolberto’s daughter Lisa Figueroa said. “He just had this natural skill in the kitchen. No recipes, just a special touch.”
Lisa was 15 years old when Linda’s Mexican Delights opened. During her summer breaks, she helped serve her father’s home-cooked Mexican dishes.
“He 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,” Lisa said.
There was also time for goofing around with her sisters and mom in the back.
“Going 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,” Lisa said.
From the restaurant, the Figueroas also watched other families grow — as if they were an extended network of relatives.
Lisa 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’s Mexican Delights years ago. Now she has a family of her own.
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 — who Lisa said is the backbone of the restaurant and has inherited her father’s sazón — does the cooking.
Long Beach resident Fred Kinney has been going to Linda’s Mexican Delights for at least 16 years. It’s his favorite local restaurant and was the first restaurant his kids ever went to.
“I 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,” Kinney said. “It’s very much tried and true.”
Another long-time customer, Irene De La Serna, remembers taking her family to Linda’s 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.
“It’s comfort. It’s home,” she said.
That’s exactly what the Figueroa family was going for — and it’s hole they will leave behind if they’re forced to close.
“We’re gonna stick to simple but good,” Lisa said. “Here, people can just come in and have something [comforting]. That’s what our food is to a lot of people: comfort food.”
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.
“We don’t see the light at the end of this dark tunnel,” they said in part. But they’re holding out some hope.
“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.”
Linda’s 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.