LA PERLA TAQUERIA in East San Jose has for decades pushed its tables together for family meals, birthdays and even baby showers. That will all end before January.
Owner José Huitron has tried to reconcile his staggering overhead costs with the restaurant’s duty as a neighborhood mainstay. The crowds aren’t as big as they used to be. Economic hardship and a widespread fear of immigration raids have families thinking twice about leaving home for dinner. His decision to close on Dec. 29 marks the end of a chapter for the East Side.
“We have had so many phone calls (saying) ‘Please do not do this,’” Huitron told San José Spotlight. “But we’re losing a lot of money. We cannot put any more into it. People are coming in to see me. They come and say, ‘I don’t want you guys to go. You have the best margaritas in East San Jose.’”
Huitron and his wife Ana opened La Perla in 1985, doling out plates of enchiladas and chiles rellenos to lines of people. They opened two more locations on Bascom Avenue and further north in Hayward over the years. But while those locations came and went, the original restaurant at 1150 McGinness Ave. has seen enduring success. Customers don’t just come for the food.
Where modern, hip chain restaurants tout minimalist polish, La Perla’s crowded interior evokes a family home occupied for 41 years. Huitron raised his three kids within the restaurant’s warm, off-white walls bearing hand-painted flowers, bells and multicolor patterns. Hacienda arches grant passage to a banquet room. Antiques fill most available ledges.
“People come here in groups and families because it’s a family restaurant,” Huitron said. “It’s traditional. We’ve kept it that way.”
But La Perla — along with other local businesses that capture the East Side’s spirit — has been struggling. Huitron said he pays about $10,000 in monthly rent for the commercial space, as well as $5,000 a month in utilities. Licenses and permit fees add extra pressure to his bottom line, and the restaurant’s revenue isn’t enough to cover everything. Huitron estimates a 50% decline in sales over the last two years.
“People don’t have the money to come and spend in these times. Everybody’s suffering,” he said.
It’s not an isolated situation, according to Jesus Flores, president and CEO of the Latino Business Foundation Silicon Valley.
“These small businesses are unique because they’re not part of chains — they have their own ideas and traditions and culture that they want to express,” Flores told San José Spotlight. “That is what’s going to be changing — the identity of our community — if we continue seeing this trend.”
District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz said he plans to take action on the issue.
“This closure reflects a reality many immigrant-owned small businesses in East San Jose are facing. Increased federal enforcement is harming not just families, but our local economy and neighborhood businesses,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight. “In the next budget cycle, I will be introducing a proposal for an immigrant small business relief fund, and we are already in conversations with the city’s Office of Economic Development and TMC Capitol to move this work forward.”
The restaurant has donned seasonal decor in its final weeks. Mini Christmas trees, candy canes and red tinsel weave throughout the space. Despite the looming closure, Huitron vows La Perla will still make Christmas tamales.
Huitron said he plans on taking time off to relax after the closure. But opening another restaurant, some time far from now, isn’t off the table.
“In the future, we might open another location somewhere,” he said. “But right now, I have to take some time off with my family.”
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.
This story originally appeared in San José Spotlight.