Don Jorge
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Registered: 8-29-2003
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Mustafa Ali has passed away.
Mustafa Ali, who along with his wife Nellie opened the restaurant Mustafas in San Antonio de las Minas has passed away.
Ali opened Mustafas in the mid 80's long before the emergence of el Valle on the hipster scene. At the time Mustfas was the second restaurant in San
Antonio de las Minas on the Highway 3. El Meson, owned by Jorge, expat and chilango hater, and his wife were across the street a bit south. We did
not think the area could support two eateries then. Haha we were so wrong and Mustafa was so right.
I spent a lot of time at Mustafa's back in the day. You never knew who was going to walk into the bar down step from the main restaurant but you could
be sure somebody you knew would and they always did. It was the only bar in the area in those days and thus became our meet and greet place.
Local expats, ranchers, farmers, business folk from Ensenada with weekend ranchitos for their family or girlfriends, would pop in and out often. You
met so many good and fun people there. The bar was often a serve yourselves, last one out please lock the door kind of place. keep a tab please and
pay up next time. But mostly Ali was always there with us, with you, making you feel like family.
Larry and Raquel had a ranch just up the dirt road towards El Tigre. Next to them were Ricardo and Teresa, Sal Fish used Ricardo as his fixer. Mike,
el sherif and Martha were the next ranch over, Pelayo of se vende chorizo fame is just up the road on Hwy 3.
Don Alex Samarin my grumpy amigo Russo, business partner on our infamous chile growing venture during the nuevo peso debacle, also gone. Fernando
Choi, El Chino of the El Sauzal SuperMercado long ago,where you bought beer on election days, both gone now too. Eddie of Sordo Mudo, who is neither,
who built and ran an Edsel in the Baja 500 and the Baja Mil and never brought another Baptist to the bar with him.
Ed, el nariz de coliflor who built the adobe house on the hill above Natalies El Mogor which is now a brewery/winery hybrid. Met John there too. He,
the expat pottery maker, drawn to the area by the clay and climate, WW2 B-17 pilot, shot down twice over Germany, escaped from one POW camp, flew
again shot down again, second time in the POW camp the war ended and they just opened the gates and walked away into blissful chaos. Baja Bill, fellow
fisherman,,,geeze the list goes on and on of the fun and fine people I knew and called friends back in those days.
Our children were kids then and we thought we were too. Just a few months ago at that table Ali pulled up a chair and we visited as if the last 35
years were as fresh as now.
I am going to miss those visits with Ali.
Ali, his family and Mustafas are a part of my Baja experience that will always be with me.
DEP Don Ali!
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
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BajaBlanca
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Posts: 13165
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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Sounds like he was a wonderful human and a big part of your Life.
May he RIP.
Sorry for your loss.
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thebajarunner
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Posts: 3687
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Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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Have had many great meals there
Drove by last week, but it was not on the schedule for eating
Always a friendly place
and generally some really cute waitresses.
I actually prefer Correcamino, across the street, but Mustafa is always a good alternate choice.
Will miss seeing the old gent when we return.
RIP
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Whale-ista
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Posts: 2009
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Location: San Diego
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Sad to read this- end of an era.
I have fond memories of visiting that place, when we would visit Natalia and her family.
A true landmark... the only place to eat "back in the day"- and they had wonderful food.
DEP Mustafa- thanks for the delicious meals.
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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Don Jorge
Senior Nomad
Posts: 638
Registered: 8-29-2003
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Quote: Originally posted by thebajarunner  | Have had many great meals there
Drove by last week, but it was not on the schedule for eating
Always a friendly place
and generally some really cute waitresses.
I actually prefer Correcamino, across the street, but Mustafa is always a good alternate choice.
Will miss seeing the old gent when we return.
RIP |
The lamb supper dish was delicious. a real Moroccan delicacy!
Ah, the cute waitresses. Lupita, cutest of them all, an absolute sweetheart of a woman, started there soon after Mustafa's opened. I believe she was
sixteen then. She is still there, a mother of two young men now. She is still the kindest, sweetest, most cheerful person in any setting and of
course still cute, still beautiful inside and out. There was not a man in the room who did not want to marry Lupita and all were sad but not
surprised when she chose another.
Ah, Correcaminos...Going down memory lane here indeed.
Pancho, founder of Correcaminos, originally had a llantera at that location. It was the best llantera in the valley. Pancho used all the passed down
techniques I had never seen Before Mexico, BM. These methods were spawned in necessity by a lack of pesos, parts and time.
He was the first person I saw use pieces of junked tractor tires to cut up as patches as needed. A cut out piece was bolted on to another tractor tire
to "patch" the rubber which had a gaping hole or slash. He would then lay some more donated tire parts and or thick duck canvas inside as anti-chafing
gear, grind, melt, grind some more, tube it and bobs your uncle. It was very impressive and further elevated my awe Mexican culture.
Correcaminos of course is a road runner but many of us thought of Santiago "Jim" Bibayoff, father of David Bibayoff, when he put that name up. Jim
was forever driving around in his pickup truck. Daily he traversed the valley, checking up on one and all. We never saw Jim in Mustafas but David
would pop in out regularly. Jim's nickname was Corecaminos.
Glad to see there are still a few around this board who knew Ali. He was a good mate.
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13165
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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So sorry for you loss Don Jorge. Your heart must be so heavy right now and I wish you and his family peace.
Your writing is so vivid and detailed, when you feeling up to it, please share more stories of back in the day with us.
RIP Don Ali.
EDIT I just realized the original post was from 2003!
[Edited on 4-11-2020 by BajaBlanca]
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vacaenbaja
Senior Nomad
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Registered: 4-4-2006
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And as the night comes to its end we must lift a glass to absent friends
SALUD a todos!
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