Name: Alvaro Ortega
City of residence: Greeley
Occupation: Co-owner of Chelo’s in Timnath and Ruben’s Grill + Cantina in Loveland
Where in Northern Colorado do you live, and how long have you been in the area?
I grew up in Greeley, and I currently live in Greeley. I’ve been there since I was probably two years old, so I grew up in this area. As I grew up, the area started developing, and a lot of new stuff came in. Next thing you know, we have a restaurant in Timnath now.
Tell us what you do for work and how long you’ve been in the restaurant industry.
I own two restaurants. I started working at a restaurant when I was a kid. I’d go to school and then work and just try to get the hang of everything. I probably started doing it when I was 11. I always liked it, so I grew up in it. We started Ruben’s in 2023, and I’ve just been trying to grow from there. I’m still learning to this day. We didn’t think much about Ruben’s; we didn’t think it was going to go too crazy. But people found out, and thank God it’s been good. It’s been busy. It gave us the opportunity to open Chelo’s as well.
Do you own both restaurants with your dad?
Yes, it’s me and my dad. We started Chelo’s together. He had been in the industry already for over 30 years. I grew up and was like, “We should try something else—a different town or somewhere that’s still Northern Colorado, but not too far away from where we live.”
What inspired Chelo’s?
Chelo’s is named after my grandmother (Consuelo Navarro), and Ruben is my grandpa. That’s how I wanted to start, from the very top, and then venture into what they like in everything from the design to the decorations. Everything I have around Chelo’s represents her.
What kind of cuisine does Chelo’s serve?
It’s Mexican food. It’s, in a way, part of what I sell already at Ruben’s, but we wanted to integrate more things that I don’t have over there and try out new dishes and drinks. We make all of our drinks from scratch. Everything is natural and mixed. We wanted to do a little bit of a different concept and bring something different to the area because the restaurants aren’t too far away from each other. We wanted to present things that people know and also bring in a new concept and new dishes people can discover.
Who inspired you to open this new restaurant?
My family has supported me very, very much. My dad was a big influence on both ideas. My wife has also been very supportive. She helps me a lot. She pushed me to try different ideas and helped me even design the place. We’re all pretty close, and we all support each other. My parents and siblings all do a really good job. If it wasn’t for them, I couldn’t do it by myself. I really do have their support. We all work as a team. I want to keep that going and learn from them, and learn from here, from the new experience.
What inspired the mural at Chelo’s?
The mural is a collage of pictures from years ago. It’s a mix of artists and actors that both my grandparents like. I think it was cool to integrate this into the restaurant. This is probably my favorite part of the restaurant. Everything else is nice, but this has a story, and it has the whole background of why we’re here and why it happened.
How else are you involved in the community?
We do a lot of nonprofit donations. We sponsor a lot of events, golf tournaments and teams. Anything that’s in the area we like to contribute to and be a part of because they bring us a lot of business, and we want to support them with all the events they have going on throughout the year.
If you had a friend or family member visiting Northern Colorado for the weekend, what are some things you would take them to do?
First of all, we would be golfing. I think we have so many good golf courses around the area. I like Highland Meadows a lot, and Mariana Butte. Other than that, there are so many things to do in Fort Collins. The Greeley Stampede is really big as well. At Ruben’s, they put on the hockey games, so watching an Eagles hockey game is always good. People always pregame at Rubens before the game. Ideally, that’s what I would take them to do.
Do you have a favorite menu item at Chelo’s and Ruben’s?
I like everything because I don’t get tired of eating what I sell, but if it’s for me to pick, we have this short rib that we sell. We make it from scratch, and then we top it off with mole, which I like to describe it as a Mexican gravy. It’s a little spicy, but it’s not crazy spicy. My mom makes the mole from scratch. When we introduced the dish, I wasn’t so sure about it. People don’t know what mole is, but they know what short ribs are. So we started selling it and were like, “We’ll see what happens. Maybe they like it, maybe they don’t like it.” It has been selling a lot.
I still like anything from our queso to our green chili. I put a lot of work into making these recipes the way they are now. I think it’s a matter of adding more dishes that my mom cooks because we pass on the recipes from generation to generation.
Are there any big plans for Chelo’s this spring?
We haven’t done our grand opening yet; we’re still in the soft opening era. I like to take my time and plan ahead and really focus a lot on having all the local people around the area come try it out prior to doing the grand opening because it’s such a big event for me. I want it to be really special. We’re thinking spring is probably the best time to do this event. It might be a one-day thing, or it might be a two-day thing over the weekend. That’s the main highlight of what we want to do for the spring, and eventually get to know everybody around here.
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