Wool Growers opened in 1954 and has become a local icon.
Wool Growers Restaurant
Built in 1893, Noriega’s was orignally a boarding house.
Noriega’s 525 Sumner St. Built in 1893, by Faustino Noriega and Fernando Etcheverry, this popular French Basque restaurant didn’t start out serving food; instead, it functioned as a boarding house. That didn’t last long, and the famed restaurant was soon opened. In 1931, French immigrants, Juan and Gracianna Elizalde, purchased the property and decided to leave the name as Noreiga’s. Other than the addition of the credit card machine, and what is now the bar and dining room that were built around 1940, the restaurant prides itself on having remained exactly the same — still housing boarders, still serving delicious Basque food and still owned by the Elizalde family, with granddaughters Rochelle Ladd and Linda McCoy now at the helm. During the 1950s and 1960s, Noriega’s played host to the annual Basque dance, held after the Basque picnic. During the dance’s heyday, Wool Growers, Narducci’s, Pyrenees and Noriega’s were all within three blocks of each other, with revelers dancing in the street from one bar to the next. Ladd recommends a traditional Basque Moscow mule made with vodka, ginger beer and lime juice, and the Saturday night oxtail stew, which is slow cooked for the finest quality.
620 E. 19th St. J.B. and Mayie Maitia, who came here from the French Basque country, opened Wool Growers Restaurant in 1954. Prior to their successful establishment, both had worked at Noriega Hotel when they recognized there was a need for a Basque restaurant with longer hours since Noriega Hotel and other local Basque eateries only served one family-style meal at 6:30 p.m. For those who couldn’t make dinnertime, their Basque craving would have to wait another day. So Wool Growers, whose name honors the sheepherders who used to frequent the restaurant, first opened its doors during the hours that Noriega’s didn’t serve meals. The Basque restaurants with only one mealtime sent the stragglers to Wool Growers. Today, the restaurant is still family-owned and operated by Mayie with the help of her daughter, Jenny, and granddaughter, Christiane. Mayie recommends the Picon punch — a Basque staple made of Picon liqueur, brandy, soda water and a lemon twist as an aperitif. For food, she suggests their oxtail stew or famous lamb.
Pyrenees Cafe & Saloon 601 Sumner St. Pyrenees Cafe & Saloon used to be a one-stop shop. These days, the bakery is in a building around the corner (and is now a separate company), and what used to be an upstairs hotel for sheepherders is now rented out. However, from its opening in 1887 until 1935, this Spanish and French Basque standard had a bakery, saloon and hotel all under one roof before transitioning into the cafe-saloon it is now. The bar has been a continuous presence, and Pyrenees is considered the
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