Zacatecan-inspired fare meets an evolving neighborhood
Los Tres Hermanos Bar and Grill might sound like a catchy name, but there’s a family story behind it. Founder Magdalano Gutierrez, who had been making his living working shifts at El Torito, opened his own independent restaurant in 1988, naming it after his three sons — Jose, Orlando, and Omar. With time, his hearty Zacatecan-inspired recipes won a loyal following, and the family business grew into multiple Valley locations. Each son, raised chopping onions and waiting tables in their father’s kitchen, eventually took up the trade themselves. “This is what we know,” says Omar, the youngest. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
A new culinary venture
Today, Omar owns two restaurants on Van Nuys Boulevard. The first, Los Tres Hermanos, has been around since 1997. (There are other Los Tres Hermanos locations in Chatsworth, Sylmar, Northridge, and North Hills, which are operated by his brothers.) A few doors down is his second venture, Farm Table Coffeehouse, a bright, laptop-friendly breakfast and lunch café where the most popular orders are steak and eggs or matcha pancakes. “Farm Table was all about good timing,” Omar says. “I wanted to try a different concept, and the landlord of the space was a regular at Dos Hermanos.” That kind of serendipity is typical here. Van Nuys is still a small town at heart.
Yet owning a business on Van Nuys Boulevard hasn’t always been easy. Growing up, Omar remembers gang violence and a large homeless population. “The City has done a lot to clean things up,” he says, “but there’s still work to do.” Once considered the beating heart of the San Fernando Valley, Van Nuys today struggles to define itself as a destination. Between Sherman Way and Burbank Boulevard, Los Tres Hermanos is the only sit-down restaurant open for dinner service, let alone the only one with live music every Friday evening. “Northridge has restaurants, Encino has nightlife,” Omar says. “Here in Van Nuys, we’re stuck in the middle.”
The boulevard’s next act
Running a restaurant isn’t a walk in the park — and Omar has had his share of challenges: a pandemic, soaring food costs, labor challenges, immigration crackdowns. Yet he remains optimistic. “I’d like to see more restaurants on the boulevard,” he says. “It’s not about competition — when one of us does well, we all do well. I’m happy to be the guinea pig. I grew up in Van Nuys, and I want to see it succeed.