Making fresh tortillas at Las Cuatro Milpas. Photo, Mario A. Cortez, courtesy La Prensa San Diego
Las Cuatro Milpas (1933-2025) held the record for San Diego’s oldest Mexican restaurant for 90 years. Their homestyle Mexican cooking was served continuously since 1933 by the Natividad and Petra Estudillo family.
Petra and Nati named their small restaurant Las Cuatro Milpas (‘the four fields’).
La Prensa newspaper proclaimed Las Milpas ‘hands down, the most authentic Mexican restaurant in San Diego.’
Hard to argue with a line of patiently waiting customers down the block. There were no handout menus, just a menu board above the counter where you ordered. Pork tacos topped with cotija. Chorizo con huevos. Burritos. Beef tamales. Rolled tacos. Chorizo, rice, and beans. Sodas. The best handmade flour tortillas. And menudo on Saturdays. That’s it. All were good — tacos for breakfast! Cash-only establishment.
The landmark restaurant closed at the end of 2025, with the building being purchased by neighboring Light of the World Church. Impending retirement, and unpaid taxes were also contributing factors to the closure.
Barrio Logan (1933-2025)
1857 Logan Avenue
San Diego, CA 92113
Notes
Citation: Martin S. Lindsay. ‘Las Cuatro Milpas.’ Classic San Diego: tasty bites from the history of America’s finest city. Web. < https://classicsandiego.com/restaurants/las-cuatro-milpas/>
“San Diego’s oldest Mexican restaurant” Although La Piñata restaurant in Old Town opened in 1933 as Ramona’s Spanish Kitchen, it had a succession of owners and only became La Pinata after 1969.