VENTURA COUNTY WEEKEND : Group Seeks Donors of Food for Hungry Teens : Boys & Girls Club of Ventura needs culinary help for its two monthly Nite Club events. Chaperons would be a big plus too.

Calling all cooks.

Volunteers at the Boys & Girls Club of Ventura are looking for restaurants, individuals, service organizations or community groups to prepare and donate food for their twice-monthly teen fun nights.

These Nite Club events attract an average of 50 youths, ages 13 to 19, for games, sports, music and conversation. Last year, food sources included Ventura’s La Trattoria restaurant, which supplied lasagna, and Arby’s Roast Beef.

“We want to plan everything out, rather than wait until the last minute and then I’m running home to make sandwiches,” said Donna Buchalter, Nite Club organizer. “We don’t need gourmet meals by any means, but we would like very much to contact some local restaurants. Maybe there are church groups out there looking to adopt a group and they want to make some cookies.”

Buchalter said the teen evenings are designed to provide a safe place for local youth to hang out and to interact with one another. In addition to food donations, she said she is looking for adults to contribute their time as chaperons.

The Nite Club meets once a month at both the Robert Addison Center, 1440 N. Olive St., and the Bill LeFevre Center, 1929 Johnson Drive. All functions run 9 p.m. to midnight. The next gathering will be held Friday at the LeFevre Center. Call 655-5503.

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Pedro and Rebeca Padilla are fixing up the interior of what will be their second Ventura County restaurant, Taqueria El Tapatio, set to open in Oxnard in early March. The couple also owns El Tapatio Restaurant in Camarillo.

The new establishment, at 421 S. Ventura Road, in the newly developed Trolley Plaza shopping center, will feature Jalisco-style Mexican cuisine similar to that served up at its predecessor. The menu will include tacos, burritos, tortas, shrimp cocktails and fish tostadas.

Aaron Raznick, the shopping center’s developer, said the restaurant will have 3,000 square feet inside, with an additional 1,500-square-foot, heated patio.

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There may not be any professional football teams in Ventura County, but there is plenty of interest in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Just ask Ellis Smith.

The owner of the Smith & Smith salsa and hot sauce shop in Ventura has gotten a nice response to his special Super Bowl Baskets. For the big game, Smith has designed three baskets, of different sizes, filled with spicy and salty football fare.

“When you have a Super Bowl party, everybody just sits around watching TV, with chips, salsa, nuts and beer,” said Smith. “These packages include all the munchies.”

Each of the baskets comes with salsa, pinto bean dip, Gil’s Habanero Cerveza Nuts, and some Mission-brand chili and limon tortilla chips. Each basket is accompanied by a jar of Atomic Horseradish and some spicy sardines.