Javier Hurtado – Restaurateur and Visionary

We are grateful to Javier Hurtado and his restaurant Cha Taquería for sponsoring the reception this Friday following the sold-out opening night of Jardín de Sueños. Dañel visited with Javier recently to find out a little more of his background ...

Javier Hurtado grew up on a farm, helping his parents to raise cattle and pigs.  His father was a butcher and owned a slaughterhouse.  His mother owned a little restaurant that purchased its meat from the slaughterhouse, and that is how his parents met and continued to grow their family business together, making their own cheeses and sausages, too.

Then young Javier went to college and earned a degree in finance.  He moved away from the family business to become a stockbroker and was very successful.  He missed the active life he had working on the farm and helping in the family restaurant, and his job lacked the passion he felt about food. So he quit his job and put all of his savings into a restaurant by Portland State University.

Like all of his endeavors, his first enterprise was very successful, but six years later light rail construction forced him to close and he had to start over again.  In 2006 he launched is first Cha Taqueria and currently has six restaurants, working with the same chef since the chain’s inception.

Part of his success is strong fiscal management, due to his background in finance, but the real secret to the restaurants success is fresh, locally sourced food.  They have their own cattle ranch in Estacada and are hoping to expand the ranch and also raise their own produce.  They also have their own private label wine in partnership with Eola Amity Vineyards.  From the farm to the table, you always know that your meal at Cha is as fresh as it can be, and the prices are great, too.  Javier believes in a quality meal at an affordable price, even at his very beautiful restaurant in NW Portland. So head out on your next night out to Cha Taqueria for amazing fresh meals that you will really enjoy.