Donate to Help El Zarape Melrose After Vandalism

On Monday morning of February 26th, Beto Mendez found his regional Mexican restaurant on Melrose Ave in the East Hollywood area burglarized, vandalized, and mostly destroyed. The walls spray painted, counter tops and window smashed, his equipment and office looted, including his safe.

This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, being that just two weeks prior the mother of his two girls passed away. “I’m sad, I don’t know how I’m going to do it,” Beto tells L.A. Taco.

By his own estimates, Beto believes he’ll need between fifty to eighty-thousand dollars to repair and reopen his restaurant. Unfortunately he just learned that his insurance will only cover up to twenty thousand. “It’s my own ignorance,” he admits, “I don’t know how to read these policies or coverages. I should have understood them better.”

Security cameras show one individual walk in with a white hooded fleece. His face is difficult to make out before he spray painted the cameras black. Beto has filed a police report, but no arrests have been made or suspects named.

According to Beto, he doesn’t know if this was personal or just a delinquent act by a stranger.

El Zarape on Melrose opened seven years ago and has been a neighborhood favorite since day one. With their spicy micheladas, crispy chilaquiles, and regional taco specialties like cochinita pibil and chicken mole, this little restaurant on Melros was a destination not just for locals, but for anyone in search of a good taco.

With your help Beto and his girls hope they can get the restaurant quickly get back on its feet despite these devastating moments that they’ve experienced in these couple weeks.

You can find the full video and article on lataco.com