At El Adobe Restaurant, Wine Comes to the Table With a Taste of History

When former President Richard M. Nixon was living at Casa Pacifica, his San Clemente retreat, and visiting friends asked him to recommend a good place to eat, Elias Meza says Nixon gave them directions to the former San Juan Capistrano jail.

Today Meza is vice president and general manager of that one-time jail and its surrounding structure, now a restaurant, which at different times has served as a stagecoach stop, a hospital, a trading post, a courthouse and two of the oldest homes in Orange County.

For the last 40 years, the place has been known as El Adobe, an airy, multilevel Mexican restaurant, part of which was built in 1778 as the private residence of Chalito Yorba, one of the most prominent residents of the town that grew up around its mission. In fact, the original adobe walls of that house now enclose the restaurant’s cocktail lounge.

Parts of the restaurant’s walls and floors actually were constructed of materials salvaged from the mission after the earthquake of 1812 destroyed the Great Church and some of the mission’s other adobe and brick structures, Meza said. And, immediately after that quake, part of the building was converted to a hospital to care for the injured.

The room on the other side of the entrance hall from the lounge, now called the Fiesta Room, was built in 1810. Known originally as the Juzgado Adobe, it also served variously as a trading post, a stage depot and a courtroom.

And the lobby separating the two former residences once was a stagecoach passage between the two buildings, used for passenger loading.

And the jail? It’s now the restaurant’s wine cellar, open to visitors.

“We found out the temperature down there was just right for wine, so we changed it in about 1970,” Meza said. “There are stories about Joaquin Murietta (the notorious bandit leader of early California) being held down there at one time, but no one’s been able to say for sure.”

From Murietta’s supposed visit until the late 20th Century, El Adobe only occasionally played host to well-known visitors. However, with the establishment of the Western White House at Casa Pacifica, Nixon, an aficionado of the restaurant, and dozens of his celebrated guests often made the trek up the coast to munch a taco or two.

Meza, who has worked at El Adobe in various jobs for 20 years, keeps a small brown guest book for celebrities to sign. During the Nixon years, he collected the signatures of such notables as the crown prince and princess of Jordan and the prince and princess of Iran, Henry Kissinger, various ambassadors, Anthony Quinn, Jonathan Winters, Red Skelton, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.

“Every time Nixon came down from Washington, he’d come to visit us,” Meza said. “And if he had people over, sometimes they’d just get together and say, ‘OK, let’s go to El Adobe.’ And the limos would pull up in front, one after the other.”

Eventually, Meza said, the restaurant put Nixon’s favorite meal on the menu as the President’s Choice platter: a chili relleno, chicken enchilada and beef taco with Spanish rice and refried beans.

Today, El Adobe is popular as a site for wedding receptions. The garden patio room features a retractable roof, which slides away in sunny weather, and there is even an altar if the bridal couple wants their ceremony and reception in one place. The altar, with two adjacent stained-glass windows, is set in a back outdoor garden. The marble altarpiece and the windows, Meza said, were salvaged from a demolished Los Angeles hospital.

But the enduring feature of El Adobe is the versatile building substance for which it is named. The same straw and mud that built the mission now keeps wine cool in the summer and provides San Juan Capistrano with yet another draw for tourism.

“A lot of people want to see our wine cellar,” Meza said, “and we point out the adobe walls. You can still see the straw in them. They’re the real McCoy.”

EL ADOBE RESTAURANT AT A GLANCE

Where: 31891 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano.

What: A Mexican restaurant, converted from two adobe residences dating to 1778.

Historical highlights: Adobe wine cellar that was once a local jail; cocktail lounge and dining area that once served at various times as a stage stop, trading post, hospital and courtroom. Restaurant was a favorite of former President Richard M. Nixon.

Hours: Lunches, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday; dinners, 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3-10 p.m. Sunday; Sunday brunch, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Services: Catering and wedding receptions. Phone (714) 493-1163 or (714) 830-8620.