Don’t panic—Las Cuatro Milpas isn’t going anywhere. At least not for the “next two-to-three years, probably,” says Sofia Estudillo, whose grandparents Petra and Natividad Estudillo opened Las Cuatro Milpas in 1933.
Estudillo says rumors of the restaurant’s imminent closure are entirely false. “This news made me a little bit stressed,” she says, gesturing to the line of hungry patrons stretching down the block. “Everybody asks, ‘Are you going to close?’ No, I’m not going to close. Not yet.”
Las Cuatro Milpas is San Diego’s oldest Mexican restaurant and has remained with the Estudillo family since its opening. Its tacos and tortillas are legendary and have been featured in the Netflix series Taco Chronicles, this magazine, and many, many others.
Today, Estudillo’s sister Margarita Hernandez owns the restaurant, while the property remains in the hands of a shared family trust. Estudillo says that when her sister wants to sell the business, it’ll be her decision, as they are the last generation of descendants who wish to run the restaurant. But, she adds, she doesn’t foresee that happening soon—and not to the church next door, who has made repeated offers to purchase the property over the years.
The family first heard news of their business closing on Monday when Estudillo’s daughter Beatrix showed her the unsubstantiated story posted on a local blog. “Not true,” she says firmly. But the incorrect story sparked hysteria across social media, inundating the family with calls, media inquiries, and questions from patrons. Beatrix had to create an Instagram account to keep up with the chaos. Even walking down the unusually long (even for them) line to get inside this morning, multiple people said they came to eat specifically because they heard it was closing. It was stressful, says Estudillo. And completely avoidable.
When they do sell—something that Estudillo says will probably happen in the next couple of years—it will be the property only and not the business itself. That day will mark the end of an era, but that day is not today.
