La Loteria opens on Jamestown's Main Street
Jun. 28—Jorge Ruiz and his wife Martha feel like they've won the lottery.
The couple recently opened up La Loteria, which in Spanish means lottery, in Jamestown, right on Main Street. It's been Jorge's dream to open a restaurant for more than 20 years and prior to now, his food experience has been at McDonalds, Taco Bell and Sysco Food Services, where he worked for more than 30 years before his dream came true.
Before buying the building they're operating out of now, the Ruiz' were thinking about a taco truck or a mobile food service. The family lives on the southwest side of Indianapolis and would regularly drive through Jamestown on their way to Turkey Run State Park. Many times during their drives, Martha slipped in how she liked Jamestown and the feel of the community to Jorge. The family stopped at the Dollar General store a few times and had been through the town a lot, but she never thought they would be owning a restaurant there.
"As soon as we saw this building for sale, we knew it was time," Martha said. "... It was meant to be."
The building they're in used to be a Pizza King, so almost everything in the restaurant was already in place when they took over. After a few kitchen modifications, they were ready to open, but then they hit a minor roadblock. The previous owners had a large propane tank in the back of the restaurant, and it was never communicated that the Ruiz family would still be needing that, so the propane company took back their tank, which caused their water pipes to freeze and burst, flooding almost the entire restaurant. Jorge said they almost threw in the towel. Their forced-renovations were also not covered by insurance.
"It's been a struggle," Martha said. "We had a lot of rocks during our journey. It's been hard but I think we're blessed and we're so lucky and grateful that we found this building and we can start something."
Martha said they've had a lot of support from members of the Jamestown community who were excited at the prospect of a restaurant coming to town. And the restaurant reviews so far have been great.
"I'm glad we're open now," Martha said. "I don't have any experience, [Jorge] doesn't have any experience. It was hard the first day. We had three cooks and one didn't show up. We didn't know what to do since it's our first one. A lot of people understand that though."
Jorge knows he won't get rich owning a restaurant, and he doesn't care. He wants to be able to leave his children with something.
La Loteria's menu is basic, for now, Martha said. They wanted to have menu items that were simple and that people would know — like tacos, burritos and nachos.
For more information about La Loteria, visit the website at ruizfamilyrestaurant.business.site. La Loteria is at 34 E. Main St., Jamestown. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.
