Cafe reopens with Mexican flair

By KRISTI ALBERTSON

The Daily Inter Lake

Compliment JR Zambrano's food all you want - just don't call it authentic.

It's a word he dislikes because it's been overused and misapplied, especially in regard to Mexican food. Mexican restaurants all claim to serve "authentic" food, he said, but in reality, few do.

Zambrano is one of the few, however.

He prides himself on food that is truly authentic. He relies on the recipes he grew up on in northern Mexico and others he learned running a restaurant in Cancun. Everything, down to the enchilada sauce, is made from scratch.

"Cooking is my big hobby, my big love," he said. "I've always been able to cook."

About three weeks ago, Zambrano reopened the Stoner Creek Cafe and Deli in Lakeside. He specializes in Mexican food but offers American dishes as well. While the menu is new to the restaurant, Zambrano has been serving the items on it throughout his 35-year career.

He took the helm at the Lakeside restaurant after a poker game with Randy Wienke, who owns Stoner Creek and the Bluestone Grill and Tap next door. Tourist season was rapidly approaching, and Wienke told Zambrano he wasn't ready for it.

"I told him, 'You can't afford me, but you should hire me,' " Zambrano said, grinning.

He was kidding, but Wienke thought it was a great idea. Zambrano could run Stoner Creek, which had been closed since September.

"I was owning two restaurants and couldn't handle both," Wienke said.

He hired Zambrano as a manager. All he has to do is pay the bills and make the food; Wienke takes care of the building and the rent.

Although Zambrano, 80, was retired, he was excited about the new venture.

"The poker table has brought me some good things," he said.

His enthusiasm waned only a little while he was getting the restaurant ready. It took him a month to clean the kitchen, a process that involved using a shovel to clean behind the equipment and using a hammer and chisel to remove a half-inch layer of burned-on grease from the stove.

When at last everything was spotless, Zambrano opened the cafe. He currently has three employees, two servers and a cook, but hopes to hire more once business takes off.

For now, the restaurant is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, but Zambrano would like to employ two more chefs so he can be open one more day a week and during the evenings.

Zambrano has run at least 12 restaurants prior Stoner Creek, including 10 in Colorado and Texas. He also spent two and a half years in Spain and over a year in Cancun.

His first restaurant was in Denver in 1971. After buying a house and spending a year fixing it up, Zambrano sold it. As part of the deal, he ended up with a little cafe.

He operated the restaurant with help from his wife and mother-in-law and before long, fell in love with the business.

Before becoming a cook, Zambrano had spent 21 years in the military. He joined the Navy and fought in the Pacific during World War II. In 1947, he joined the Coast Guard. Nine years later, he joined the Air Force.

He served in Korea and Vietnam, finally retiring in 1966 as a technical sergeant.

For a few years after that, Zambrano tried his hand at various business ventures. He worked for a couple of hotel chains, got into the carpet business and worked in commercial promotion. But after he opened his first restaurant in 1971, there was no turning back.

"It got into my blood," he said.

It was in Denver that Zambrano created his signature dish - the bronco.

"I was eating a sopapilla, and I cracked the top and filled it with beans, green chilies and cheese," he said. "My wife said, 'I can make you one of those.' She rolled out a tortilla, deep fried it and smothered it, and I ate it.

"That was in 1953," he added. "It took 20 years to market it. And now I make it all over the place, and everybody loves that dish."

Because it has burrito ingredients, Zambrano wanted to give it a similar name. He didn't like "mustang"; he thought it was "too horsey."

"Then bronco hit my brain," he said. "This was in Denver, but I never associated it with the football team."

Then a reporter from the Denver Post wrote about it in the paper's food section.

"At the bottom, it said, well, it looks like a little

football used by the Broncos," he said.

After that first cafe, Zambrano had varying degrees of success in the business. Once he was asked to run a restaurant in Texas. The owner told him not to worry about the lease or paying for the equipment; all Zambrano had to do was cook and make money.

"I never did make any money in that place," he said. "I took him back his keys in six months."

Other ventures were more profitable. A different Texas restaurant was on its last legs when he took it over in early October 1978. Five months later, people were lined up outside the door for a table.

The secret, Zambrano said, is the food.

"Even if I say so myself, I'm good," he said, laughing. "If you don't believe it, just ask me."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com