Ad
LOS LUNAS — Like many noted eateries the world over, Teofilo’s Restauranté in Los Lunas has a unique ambiance to it.
A lot of that comes from its history — it is, after all, on the National Historical Registry, and known throughout New Mexico for its food and atmosphere.
The restaurant, which is just west of the corner of N.M. 314 and Main Street in the heart of Los Lunas, will celebrate its landmark opening back in 1985 on Tuesday, Oct. 28, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and special events throughout the day.
“We’re inviting all our patrons to come that day,” co-owner Johnnah Torres said. “We’ll have some anniversary specials going on all day long. We’re going to have that ceremony with the Torres family in the morning. And then we’re going to have the Los Lunas High School Brass Ensemble with music that night from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
“(The celebration) is going to be the kickoff to, like, every month throughout this next year. We really want to just keep commemorating and acknowledging how grateful we are to all the community and all of our patrons,” she said.
The celebration is very fitting for both the business and community as the house came to be as the home and office of a storied member of Los Lunas’ early days, Dr. W.F. Wittwer.
The good doctor came to the village on the train, traveling to El Paso. At the behest of the Huning family, he remained in Los Lunas instead and became the village’s first physician in 1899. In 1913, the house was built on land bought from the Solomon Luna estate to the specifications of Dr. Wittwer and his wife, Anne Nowlin, and the ambiance began to grow from there.
Since Johnnah’s parents, Pedro and Hortencia Torres started the restaurant in 1985, they had already established Pete’s Cafe in Belen. Eventually, the family would also acquire the Luna Mansion and turn it into another renowned eatery.
Johnnah, who co-owns Teofilo’s with her brother, Jay, and sister, Joell Himeur, said her first memory of Teofilo’s is a strong one.
“I was 11 when it opened, and my first memory is, I had a uniform,” she said. “My mom had these uniforms, these cute little peasant dresses made. I had already been working at Pete’s Cafe on Friday nights. I would love to go and help at that restaurant. So it’s just been in my blood to be in this environment. I’ve always enjoyed it. I enjoy people and then just serving, like, wonderful food.”
Ad
Johnnah and Sarah Torres, manager and wife of Jay said some of the ambiance also comes from another source — ghosts.
Sitting down to talk about Teofilo’s upcoming 40th anniversary, Johnnah and Sarah both described encountering spirits in the famed former home and doctor’s office that the New Mexican restaurant now occupies.
Sitting in what used to be the porch, Sarah described one occurrence just after she started working as a waitress.
“This was when Jay and I first got married, and there would be, like, somebody by table three,” she remembered, “There was a cowboy, and he calls our hostess, Bonnie. She’d hear him calling her.”
Johnnah chimed in, describing a story of a former manager who would stay overnight at the house.
“She would smoke a cigarette before she would go to bed,” Johnnah said. “She would just put her little ashtray with her cigarette butt in there. And she said in the morning, she found her cigarette butt in the bathtub, like someone had moved the cigarette butt to the bathtub.”
The mischievous ghosts go hand and hand with everything else that makes Teofilo’s.
“It’s really cool stuff with the spirits, definitely, but I know they really are happy with us now, because they don’t do anything crazy.”
Johnnah and Sarah both said they hope to keep that tradition going far past the 40 years they’ve already had.
“We’re hoping this next generation will continue this legacy that has been instilled,” Sarah said. “So that they’ll keep these places for a while.”
