In the corner of La Casa de Luchita’s dining room is a table set for two, complete with a white tablecloth, a bowl of dried black beans, white rice and a pitcher of water. Colorful calaveras — Day of the Dead skulls — are surrounded by bowls of dried beans and rice, flower vases and flickering candles, which shine on portraits of mother and son: Jorge Galindo and Maria de la Luz Galindo, aka “Luchita” herself.

The duo originally opened Luchita’s, a successful Mexican restaurant which ran for 40 years on West 117th Street in Cleveland, with a couple of other locations opening and closing over the decades. Luchita died in 2016; Jorge died in 2018.

Luchita’s flagship on 117th closed in 2022 .

Reynaldo Galindo, Luchita’s youngest son who worked in the restaurant and currently helms Coyoac

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