Mi Ranchito owner brings Mexican culture to Oakland

As a co-owner of the Mexican restaurant Mi Ranchito in Oakland, Herriberto Hernandez does… As a co-owner of the Mexican restaurant Mi Ranchito in Oakland, Herriberto Hernandez does whatever needs to be done. That includes cooking, washing dishes, building a stage and cleaning up blood after bar fights.

When a fight broke out in Mi Ranchito just after 2 a.m. late last fall, Hernandez found himself doing just that. Every month, the restaurant on Atwood Street holds a party to bring together the Hispanic community. Two security guards hired for the night broke up a fight between two men, and, somehow in the struggle, a security guard had his wrist cut on a broken beer bottle.

Hernandez showed no stress. His round, stern face rarely shows any emotion. He just walked into the kitchen, grabbed a mop and wiped up the blood from the hardwood floor.

Hernandez, 45, is at the center of Oakland’s — and possibly Pittsburgh’s — growing Hispanic community. He owns the Forbes Avenue restaurant Veracruz and three Mexican grocery stores in Oakland, Beechview and Dormont, providing a sense of Hispanic community that wasn’t as prevalent before he moved to Pittsburgh. Hernandez opened his latest restaurant, Mi Ranchito, in February with his old friend, Carlos Cruz.

Hernandez said that when he moved to Pittsburgh in 1999, there were about 20 Mexican people in Oakland and now, there are about 2,500 in Pittsburgh. He opened Veracruz Tienda Mexicana on Semple Street and the two grocery stores in 2003.

The city’s constant construction work attracts Mexicans to the city, and Hernandez helps to make sure they’re full and happy.

Hernandez and Cruz plan to hold more concerts, in addition to the baptism and birthday parties they host. More than 80 Hispanic people packed into Mi Ranchito for the party last fall.

During the party, Cruz patrolled the outside of the restaurant while Hernandez stood behind the counter with his hair slicked back and his blue, plaid shirt unbuttoned enough to show his gold cross necklace. He doesn’t dance or smile much, but he joked that he won’t dance if his hair isn’t done.

Laura Woolery, a Pitt student who’s worked for Hernandez for almost three years, said that a lot of “stupid, little things entertain Berto.”

“He likes getting a reaction,” she said.

Woolery recalls an incident when someone dropped a tortilla chip on the floor. Instead of picking it up, Woolery said Hernandez pumped his heel up and down, crushing the chip, while pretending to eat the chip and making a “num num num” sound.

Hernandez left the Mexican municipality of Toluca in 1987. He was 23. As the fifth child born in a family with five brothers and eight sisters, he’s the oddball. He’s the only member of his immediate family who lives in the United States and did not become a teacher in Mexico.

While sitting in Mi Ranchito — “my little ranch” in Spanish — Hernandez and Cruz talked about how they’ve known each other since they both lived in Toluca. Cruz, who took a couple years of English as a Second-Language classes and became a U.S. citizen in 1998, helped to explain Hernandez’s experiences in English. He said that Hernandez’s family raised five or six bulls, cows and chickens on Hernandez’s own little ranch.

“And pigs,” Hernandez added with a chuckle.

Both men were excited to come to the United States. Though Hernandez traveled to the U.S. alone, Cruz joined him in California in 1990. Cruz splits his time between Pittsburgh and California, where his wife and two daughters live. He hopes to bring them to Pittsburgh after his living situation improves.

Cruz and Hernandez share an apartment in Oakland. They’ve lived close to each other for most of their lives.

Hernandez told Cruz to translate a joke and obviously couldn’t wait for the delivery.

“He lived across the street from Mickey Mouse,” Cruz said with a laugh.

Hernandez briefly raised his hands up to his head to mimic Mickey’s iconic ears, nodded and immediately folded his arms back into their default position.

Hernandez lived near Anaheim’s Disneyland and stayed in California for 10 years, bussing and waiting tables in restaurants.

Cruz said they wanted to move on and decided to travel to North Carolina.

“What brought us to North Carolina? Nothing. We were just talking like this, and we go, ‘Hey. We should go to another state,’” Cruz said. “We didn’t know anyone in North Carolina.”

They ended up not liking the state. In 1999, after only two months in North Carolina, Hernandez decided to drive to Pittsburgh to join his brother-in-law. Cruz instead moved back to California but came back to Pittsburgh last year. Hernandez’s brother-in-law has since moved back to Mexico, but Hernandez stayed.

Hernandez worked as a busser in a Pittsburgh Italian restaurant and as a cook in Madonna’s Restaurant, the restaurant that used to operate in Veracruz’s current location.

Marwan Moussa, owner of Madonna’s Restaurant, which has since moved Downtown, still keeps in contact with Hernandez. Moussa, 51, hails from Bulgaria, but he’s made his living selling Mexican food.

He sold Madonna’s to a Turkish family who renamed it Sultan’s Restaurant in 2001. Hernandez kept working at the restaurant, and when he bought it, he named it Veracruz.

“He’s a good person and a good worker,” Moussa said. “He’s very friendly and honest. You can’t find that in everyone.”

Hernandez is single and doesn’t have any kids, but he calls his family in Mexico frequently. He’s busy running his five businesses, and Cruz said that they spend a lot of time working on projects for the restaurant, like building Mi Ranchito’s stage.

Hernandez and Cruz also decorated the restaurant together. Portraits of an Aztec man carrying a buxom woman adorn the walls and brightly colored, woven cloths cover the tables. A “Caution/Drunk Crossing” sign also hangs on the bar-side of the restaurant.

Answering a question about how his businesses accommodate a college crowd, Hernandez simply said, “Está bien.” Hernandez, who prefers not to speak in English except with some employees, lets Cruz elaborate on his short answers.

Cruz said, “I think he has one of the best places to eat. It’s very close to the University. The prices are very affordable. The food is really good. They serve between 250 and 300 people a day over there [at Veracruz].”

Cruz and Hernandez aspire to move back to Mexico within the next five years. However, Hernandez doesn’t want to give up the businesses he’s worked so hard to build. He plans to manage his businesses from afar.

“I’m going to be in charge,” he said.