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
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