By Chad Frey
Newton Kansan

Newton’s oldest Mexican restaurant for sale

It is time for Narciso Larez to slow down, focus on his wife and play some golf. The man is, after all, 92 years old. As a result, a downtown institution is for sale. El Toro on West Fifth has been serving Mexican food for more than 60 years.

Narciso, who grew up in Wichita and once owned a construction company in Newton, believes that El Toro is the third oldest business downtown – behind Anderson Office Supply (Founded in 1892) and The Newton Kansan (Founded in 1872).

“The reason is my wife had a heart attack, and she has dementia now. I need to be home with her, rather than here. We have had this for 61 years,” Larez said.

His daughter, Brenda, has done the books and worked in the restaurant for much of her life. She said that now is the time for her parents to step away.

“He pushes himself,” Brenda said. “… I just think he is ready. I think he is done. I live next door to them, so I do the cleaning of the house for my mom and get them groceries. Mom doesn’t drive. I do what I can to help them, but I know he is tired, and he is done. … He wants to stay home.”

Saying goodbye to the restaurant will not be easy – for any member of the Larez family.

“It will be hard,” said Traci Larez, Brenda’s sister who waits tables and has been part of the place since birth. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

She is like much of the family – working another full-time job and not able to take on El Toro full–time. Narciso has talked with multiple generations of the family, including his grandchildren, about the possibility of selling the business to them.

So far, there have been no takers. He has also talked to other people who have expressed an interest – but so far there’s been no deal struck.

“If I had the time and money, I would do something magical, maybe,” Traci said. “I want to thrive. That is what I want dad to see before he goes.”

His mother-in-law founded a restaurant more than 60 years ago, on Fourth Street. When Narciso bought two buildings on west Fifth including 121 West Fifth Street, it was a cleaning company.

“It was just two big rooms,” Larez said. “… It was Ripley Cleaners. Next door, I don’t know anything at all. It was just empty when I bought it.”

He took a year to renovate the building. Working in Wichita at the time, he could only work in his “off time” on the restaurant. Initially his wife, Marcellia, her mother and his daughter Brenda Larez operated the eatery – in the building that is currently next door to the restaurant. He kept remodeling 121 West Fifth.

“My mom and I are the only ones who know how to cook that food,” said Brenda Larez, a family member who has helped with about every aspect of the business at one time or another. “My grandmother started it.”

Narciso kept working, namely in a construction company that helped him put his own stamp on the community.

Narciso and Marcellia moved to Newton after he served four years in the Navy. He had no interest in returning to Wichita, which is where he grew up.

When he got to Newton is when he started in construction, buying the buildings downtown to create a restaurant for his family.

“I had a construction company (Larez and Sons), I had this so that my family could go ahead and work it,” Larez said. “… I had a class B license that enabled me to do anything in town that I wanted to do. I did a lot of commercial work. I worked for the city; I did the cart path right by the river. I did all the concrete work on main street from the tracks to St. Mary’s. I did a lot of foundation work and concrete.”

He retired from that about 26 years ago and moved to work at the restaurant full time. His son took over the construction company.

Yet the restaurant remained.

“It is a lot of work,” Brenda said. “I too, I just want him to sell it and enjoy what is left.”