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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1973)
t To them, togetherness means tortillas By Nancy Harker Staff W riter f The fa m ily th at plays together stays together, but the fam ily that works together has to be together A lot' And, if they’re the Ralph Curtises of Rhododendron, they'd better like tortillas Tortillas are the mainstay of Mexican cuisine, for which the Curtis' restaurant, bon Pablo's is known The three Curtis sons, Alan, 18, Bruce, 13, and Tom, 11, are fam iliar to bon Pablo’s customers They fill the jobs of waiters, dishwashers, janitor, busboy, and in Alan's case, cook They seem to thrive on it " I sometimes think, what in the world would I do if I didn't have jobs for them ," exclaimed Ju anita C u rtis about her energetic boys "We've never had our kids complain that they didn't have anything to do ” There is always plenty to do in any restaurant, and at bon Pablo's, most of It is done strictly by the Curtis family Except for a dishwasher on the weekends, there is no outside hired help b o the boys resent the demands on their tim e7 "They've never seemed to m ind," replied Juanita "There isn't much organized activity up here, and I think it’s good for kids to keep busy." Customers at bon Pablo’s can see that the cheerful smiles on the three young faces are genuine, even if there is a little grumbling about chores "The kids do a lot,” declared Juanita "Alan works full time Bruce and Tom wash dishes every other day There's a couple of hours worth of dishes a night "We can arrange it in such a way that they rotate,” she R l NNING A family buxines* can be "fun", according to Ralph and Juanita ( urti* at lion Pablo'* restaurant in Rhododendron Behind them on the wall i* "Aztec Calendar" made for them by lloodlander Mert Wheeler < Post photo i TE S TIN G TOSTADAS is une of the fringe benefit* reaped by the Curtis' middle son. Bruce, 13. I Po*l photo I continued "That way, they just do a few hours at a tim e In the summer, they each work two or three hours every day." While some mothers dread summer vacations, and the onslaught of footloose children, J u a n ita a p p re c ia te s them Vacation means that the two younger boys will be able to work more during the busiest season Summer may be the busiest time now, but Juanita can rem ember when there was no busy tim e at all When the Curtises bought it 11 years ago, bon Pablo's had a succession of owners, none too successful The restaurant business was new to Ralph and Juanita. their only prior connection was her job at a Mexican eatery in Bend, where they previously lived "Knowing what 1 know now, I'd be hesitant," answered Juanita, when asked if she’d do the same thing again " I was glad there w asn 't much business in the area then That gave us tim e,” Tim e was at a premium for the Curtises 11 years ago Juanita ran the restaurant weekdays, while taking care of three boys aged six months to seven years Ralph commuted on the weekends from Bend, where he still held his job as engineer at a radio station It was two years before Ralph was able to give up his job and move to Rhododendren They feel it was all worthwhile "We always loved this area. When we lived in Bend, we would drive through here often, and wish we could live here The restaurant seemed like a good opportunity.” Although the Curtises liked the und erp o p ulation of the Hoodland area, it was not especially helpful to a not-yet- established e a te ry , run by inexperienced owners The odds weren't good, but in this case, what they didn’t know didn t hurt them " I had a feeling we had a good product, and I knew somehow w e ’d m ake i t , " recalled Juanita "About the time it looked like we weren't going to make it, it caught on People came in to try the food, and spread the word." The word was probably "delicious ” Bad Mexican food does not sell, especially in a sm all m ountain v illa g e , 50 miles from the urban m arket Many bon Pablo's customers compare its product favorably with authentic Mexican meals Some regular patrons skip menus all together, and order "the usual.” "The ususal" might be a tostado. a super-size concoction of c ris p to rtilla s , d e lic a te frijo le s , and ground beef, topped with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes Brave souls smother this with bon Pablo's hot sauce made from real live (they b ite ) peppers O th er items on the menu range from Guacamole dip to multi-course Mexican dinners " P e o p le a p p r e c ia te something a little special,” commented Juanita. The Mexican chef she worked with in Bend taught her how to prepare Mexican dishes She in D IS IIP A N HANDS can be a problem. e*en for an expert such a* Tom Curti«! Post photo ) " IT ISN 'T fancy,” »ay* Juanita ( urti* of lion Pablo'* restaurant The small Rhododendron eatery i* known for it* special cuisine. ( Post photo i tu rn , has taught husband Ralph, and recently son Alan All three are equally proficient, she claims “ Whoever is here does the cooking Ralph does much of the preparing, and Alan does some cooking ” Doesn’t cooking get tiresome, especially after 11 years in the kitchen7 "Oh, it's been fun' It gets old at times, but it's fun to cook Mexican food 1 enjoy cooking very much." "Ralph doesn't enjoy it as much as I do,” she added " I t ’s more my thing He’d rather be One current outdoor project involves a recently purchased rototiller, with which he is establishing a backhoe business Alan, who attends M t Hood Community College m top of his restaurant job, finds time to help with this too. Another outdoor in terest, shared by the male Curtises only is flying Ralph, who once taught school, is teaching his sons to fly at Rich's Airport, where his two-seat plane is kept " It scares me to death! I like to have my feet on the ground," asserts Juanita “The kids sure love it, though They fight over whose turn it is to go up " The two younger boys who attend Welches Grade School, have diverse interests Tom, whom his mother describes as a "bookworm ", is addicted to books on mythology Bruce often creates a little "b a c k g ro u n d " music, p ra c ticing on his trumpet, which he plays in the school band One particular hobby was shared by all members of the Curtis fam ily, long before It became the "in " thing to do. "We all enjoy cheas. We replayed a lot of the Spasaky- E ischer gam es during the championship matches." N ot su rp risin gly, fa v o rite pastimes of the Curtises do not include eating Mexican food. "W e very seldom eat Mexican food We've just been around it too long!” Home cooking, even the kind other people pay for, often gets taken for granted However, Bruce and Tom recently of fered a piece of advice to their m other for im provin g her recipes "Mom, why don’t you go down to school, and learn how they make tacos th ere" CASH R E G IS T E R duty frequently fall* to Alan, 18, who parts patrons from their "pesos" with a smile. (Post photo) SECTIO N TWO SANDY, OREGON, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1973 Watch the gam e on CableTV You’ll s e e it better. When the camera zooms in for a close up . .. you won’t miss a thing. You’ll see everything sharp and clear. No fuzziness. Or blurry images. Or ghosts. Just crisp, clean pictures without interference. It’s the next best thing to being there. And maybe even a little better. Cable TV’s extra channels will expand your league. You’ll get a wider choice of games. More teams. More sports and entertainment of all kinds. 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