Old Memories, New Memories: Chef Carlotta Flores on Family, Food and Downtown Tucson

As Chef Carlotta Flores celebrates her 80th birthday, she reflects on generations of family, the meaning behind the food and a downtown Tucson that has been both backdrop and home to much of her life.

Sitting down for lunch with Chef Carlotta Flores at El Charro Café Downtown is a little like sitting down inside a piece of Tucson history.

The walls of the downtown restaurant hold decades of family photographs, memorabilia and traditions. Among them are promotional calendars, a tradition Carlotta’s great-aunt Monica Flin, founder of El Charro, began in 1946 as a thank-you to customers after World War II and one the Flores family continues today. On the table are two dishes with their own long histories: El Charro’s legendary carne seca and the beef tacos Carlotta remembers eating at El Charro as a child.

For Carlotta, however, El Charro’s history has never been only about dates, recipes or restaurant milestones. It is inseparable from memories of family and of growing up in downtown Tucson.

Some of her favorites are from the Christmas season, when downtown was filled with department stores and holiday window displays. She remembers visiting Santa Claus at Steinfeld’s Department Store, attending Mass at the cathedral and spending Sundays with her grandmother watching Mexican movies at the Plaza Theater before joining the rest of the family for beef tacos at El Charro. Those memories are part of what gives downtown its sense of place for Carlotta. “Downtown became a melting pot of old memories and now we are creating new ones,” she said. “Old memories give you place.”

A family legacy carried forward

El Charro Café has been part of the Flores family story since Monica Flin opened the restaurant in 1922. But Carlotta’s own path to leading it was not necessarily predetermined.

In the early 1970s, with Monica’s health declining, Carlotta and her husband, Ray, returned to Tucson with their two young sons. The initial intention was to help prepare El Charro for sale. Once back, however, Carlotta found that walking away from the restaurant and everything it represented was not so simple.

Carlotta had grown up around its food, people and traditions. El Charro held not only her family’s history, but the memories of generations of Tucsonans. Instead of closing that chapter, she chose to carry it forward.

Her connection to Monica was personal as much as professional. Looking back at Monica’s experience and her own as women who shaped the family business, Carlotta is candid about what it has required. “Women in business … it’s rough,” she said, reflecting on the tenacity and grit that have been passed through the family. But another value comes up just as often when Carlotta talks about El Charro: community.

Food that brings people together

Ask Carlotta about El Charro’s place in Tucson and her answer extends well beyond the Flores family. “El Charro belongs to Tucson more than it belongs to the Flores family,” she said.

Over the decades, she has watched the restaurant become part of countless other families’ stories. She recalls El Charro being part of everything from baptisms and first dates to weddings, graduations and funerals. “It means everything to be a part of our customers’ personal milestones,” she said. “Like our own family, we have had the honor of being a part of our clients’ memories.”

Some of those connections now span generations. Couples who made El Charro part of their time at the University of Arizona and wedding celebrations return decades later as their own children head to the university. “Concentric circles of family life go right through [El Charro],” Carlotta said.

The same is true within the Flores family. Carlotta remembers weekly family gatherings centered around the restaurant. El Charro even became part of her own wedding day: before the ceremony, she stopped by to show the staff her dress and share cake. Years later, her daughter Candace spent some of her first days at the downtown restaurant. Through each generation, family members have grown up alongside the business, stepping in for one another and becoming part of its daily rhythms.

For Carlotta, food is at the heart of those connections. “Food makes conversations happen,” she said. The seasonality and traditions surrounding food are among her favorite parts of cooking, from beef tamales during the holidays and Christmas cookies to ingredients such as anise that carry significance during particular seasons or celebrations. “Food has meaning.” Knowing where ingredients come from, understanding their history, and learning why traditions exist all contribute to the experience of enjoying and sharing a meal.

Family beyond the family tree

During lunch, Carlotta’s description of El Charro as a family place was visible in real time. Our conversation was regularly interspersed with relatives and staff members stopping by to say hello, sharing an update or asking Carlotta for her thoughts on a dish.

She remains involved, offering ideas and feedback drawn from decades of experience while also making room for her children and grandchildren to develop their own visions for the family businesses. Her pride is especially evident when she talks about seeing younger generations learn to cook, lead and care for what previous generations built.

As her children and grandchildren bring new ideas to the family businesses, Carlotta sees that evolution existing alongside traditions that have endured for decades. At the same time, family at El Charro extends beyond relatives. One of El Charro’s longtime employees has been with the Flores family for 30 years, and Carlotta considers staff an important part of the restaurant’s story.

Downtown is “our heart”

Just as El Charro cannot easily be separated from Carlotta’s family story, neither can downtown Tucson. “Downtown is our heart,” she said. “It’s where our family home evolved into this incredible living, breathing legacy. It’s where I was raised and where my husband Ray and I met and then raised our family.”

Carlotta has watched downtown move through dramatically different eras. She remembers the downtown of her childhood, followed by years when stores and restaurants closed and families and businesses moved farther from the city center. She has also watched its resurgence through new restaurants, arts and cultural institutions and the revitalization of destinations including the Fox Tucson Theatre.

Today, she still makes downtown part of her own life, from attending matinees at Arizona Theatre Company to exploring the restaurants adding new energy to the area. “I’d be downtown more if I could,” she said. “There is a lot of stuff to do downtown that is underappreciated.”

Looking ahead, she hopes downtown continues to support arts, commerce, creativity and innovation while holding onto something less tangible but equally important: community and compassion. It is that combination of old and new that seems to resonate most strongly with someone who has spent nearly a lifetime watching downtown change. New restaurants open, buildings find new uses, new generations create their own memories, but the old memories matter too.

Past, present and future

As Carlotta celebrates her 80th birthday, there is no shortage of accomplishments she could point to. Instead, when asked what makes her proudest, her answer comes quickly. “I am a grandma first. No doubt.”

She and Ray are also entering their 60th year of marriage, and she is looking forward to more time with their five grandchildren — Marques, Sofia, Raymon, Alisandra and Alex. “They are my past and my future,” she said. “I couldn’t be more amazed by who they are becoming.”

Perhaps that is one way to understand El Charro. It is the restaurant where Carlotta remembers eating beef tacos with her grandmother and the place where generations of Tucson families have celebrated their own milestones. It is a family home that became a restaurant, a restaurant that became a Tucson institution and a legacy that continues to change as new generations take part in it.

Carlotta hopes there will always be some piece of El Charro in Tucson, whether through its food, the story of the chimichanga or holiday traditions shared with the community.

More than a century after El Charro first opened its doors, the memories continue to accumulate. Old ones giving downtown a sense of place. And new ones just beginning.

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El Charro and Beyond

Find the Flores family downtown at El Charro Café, Charro Steak & Del Rey, The Monica, and Stillwell House. Explore all Flores family restaurants and concepts at Flores Concepts.