The block of West Van Buren Street where Don Gollito sits in Harlingen stirs a nostalgic feel.
The Tex-Mex restaurant is down home all the way, “Harlingen-style,” as one of its owners, Fred Uribe, puts it. He co-owns the restaurant with Rick Silva, a self-described “jack-of-all-trades” of the local restaurant scene. On Van Buren, vehicles park at an angle that’s reminiscent of small-town America of previous eras.
It’s appropriate since the Jackson Street core of downtown Harlingen is a handful of minutes away. Don Gollito fits right in among an eclectic mix of coffee shops, architect offices and a fitness gym. Uribe and Silva opened Don Gollito in mid-2019, occupying a space formerly occupied by a previous restaurant.
A recent Saturday morning had a roomful of diners. Uribe and Silva walked from one table to another, offering warm greetings and gratitude to customers for their business.
“We’re Tex-Mex like the Valley,” Uribe said. “We offer really good comfort food where people can feel at home. Finding a family was one of our goals. I feel like we have that here with our customers and our employees.”
Getting The News Out
Uribe likes to put out what he calls “the Harlingen Associated Downtown Press.”
It’s an almost daily series of posts on Don Gollito’s Facebook page and ranges from promoting that day’s specials to customer photos to information about community events. Uribe is an energetic Harlingen hometown kind of guy who describes himself as being “a church boy” during his growing up years. Silva is originally from Alamo and came up in the restaurant business doing every job from cooking to washing dishes to waiting on tables.
“I wanted to work for myself,” Silva said. “I also want to treat my employees right because I know what it’s like to be a worker and have bad bosses. It takes a team effort to be successful.”
Uribe worked for years for the state department of health and has a background in human relations and overseeing payrolls. The business partners originally met while taking classes at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen. They decided to combine their respective fields of expertise and go into the restaurant business.
It’s a tough go under the best of circumstances. Within weeks of opening in 2019, a June downpour of over a dozen inches flooded much of Harlingen, including the downtown area. The following year they faced a more imminent threat as state-mandated closures of restaurants put many small businesses – including Don Gollito – at risk of shutting down permanently in 2020.
“It was hard to figure out what to do,” Uribe said. “How do we survive?”
With no drive-through lane, Uribe and Silva improvised by starting up their version of Texas barbecue chicken with sides of potatoes and beans. It was the featured attraction and proved to be popular fare. Don Gollito made it. Today, the BBQ chicken is served up every Wednesday at the Tex-Mex restaurant.
Local Favorites
A recent visit to Don Gollito brought two orders of hot fresh plates of beef enchiladas and soft beef tacos that were made to order.
The latter is a point Uribe and Silva emphasize. Plates at Don Gollito are not pre-made so there may be a bit longer wait for the dishes to arrive. It proved to be worth the wait as the traditional Tex-Mex plates delivered RGV-style. When the colder weather arrives, traditional soups like caldo de rez will be served up to warm up local diners.
A look over the restaurant’s menu shows a wide variety of botana and a la parilla choices to go with taco grande plates, a barbecue menu, and a seafood menu that includes fish tacos with rice and charro beans. Don Gollito is cozy and adorned with all sorts of artwork on walls and shelves overlooking diners. The name of the restaurant comes from a nickname given to Uribe’s father, which is appropriate given the family feel of Don Gollito.
“We feel like Tex-Mex is more the Valley,” Uribe said in contrasting Don Gollito to other restaurants. “McAllen is a little more high-end and Brownsville definitely has its own style. We’re right in the middle, Harlingen-style.”