From dishwasher to restaurant owner, immigrant dreams come true at Milo’s City Cafe

Before Albert Escobar started bussing tables, he wasn’t sure he could do it.

Albert, who immigrated to Portland from Peru in 1995, was already working a factory job when he landed a side gig washing dishes at Sammy’s, one of a string of restaurants owned by chef Loren Skogland and Marianne Meskel. Each month, Albert sent whatever extra money he made, minus a humongous phone bill, home to his wife, Maria Elena Diaz, and son, George.

One day, a Sammy’s manager asked if Albert wanted to try his hand at setting and clearing tables. Albert’s English was improving, mostly through repeat viewings of “The Lion King,” but he was still anxious. Despite the lower pay, dishwashing offered one thing bussing didn’t: Dishes couldn’t talk.

“Well, do you speak English?” the manager asked.

“A little bit,” he said.

“If a customer asks for water, can you refill their water?”

“Yes, I can do that.”

“If a customer asks for a box, can you get a box?”

“Yes.”

“OK, then you start next Sunday. Bring a pair of black pants, a white shirt and a tie.”

During his first shift, a co-worker asked Albert to bring a tray of waters to a table. But he was so jumpy he dropped the drinks directly onto a customer.

“I turned red,” Albert said. “The (server) said, ‘That’s OK. Focus on that guy. Say sorry and make sure he has everything he needs.’ At the end of the meal, that guy gave me $20 and said, ‘That’s for you.’ ”

Albert found that not only could he do the work, he actually enjoyed it. Meanwhile, his bosses were learning to count on his punctuality. After his factory job shut down in 1999, Albert joined the staff at Milo’s City Cafe, the Skogland’s brunch restaurant on Northeast Broadway. There he made another leap, rising from busser to server. In 2001, Elena, the couple’s son and infant daughter joined Albert in Portland, moving together into an apartment at nearby Northeast Seventh Avenue and Hancock Street. Elena started washing dishes at Milo’s as well.

More than two decades later, Albert and Elena have added a new job title to their resumes: restaurant owners.

Despite its heyday resting in the past, when Milo’s City Cafe announced a temporary closure this spring, neighbors mourned the loss of a Northeast Broadway staple known for its eggs Benedicts, Monte Cristo sandwiches and signature Hungarian mushroom soup.

But at the restaurant, Alberta and Elena were learning that the closure was more permanent than advertised.

“The previous owners, Jeff and Pam (Munden), they just walked away,” Albert said. “I was like, ‘Hey, I thought we were going to be shut down for a month. I know a lot of people here, customers, the neighborhood, are going to be sad.’ In my heart, I didn’t want this to be over.”

Albert started making inquiries about taking over the business. His reputation for hard work was on his side, as both the Mundens and the building’s landlords, Tom Gustafson and Kathy Schroeder, decided to work with Albert to help him buy Milo’s and its lease without a huge down payment, Albert said.

When Milo’s reopened last year, Albert brought back some familiar faces, dusted off a few old recipes and brought new life to one of Portland’s oldest and best-loved brunch spots. But he also took time to reflect on the journey both he and Elena have taken from immigrants who once sold clothes and food on the streets of Peru to owners of a Portland restaurant where they got their start more than two decades ago.

For Milo’s regulars who have moved on from the restaurant, Elena might be the secret ingredient for its return, having spent 15 years working here as a dishwasher and “preparadora,” or prep cook, absorbing recipes she now recreates alongside longtime Milo’s cook Leovaldo Selvin.

“She is why the mushroom soup now tastes like it’s supposed to,” said Christine Gerry, the longtime Milo’s server that everyone around here knows as “Redd.” “Those things changed under the old ownership. Now the mushroom soup is spot on.”

After the Skoglands sold Milo’s, Redd moved to Zell’s, another beloved Portland brunch restaurant that closed last April after 40 years in business. So when she heard Albert and Elena were reopening Milo’s, she and Marianne had to be there for the soft opening.

And when a server didn’t show up for their shift that day, Redd walked up to Albert and asked, “What do you want me to wear and what time do you want me to show up tomorrow?”

“When I got back to the table, Marianne said, ‘Did Albert offer you a job?’ ” Redd said. “And I said no, I told him I work here already.”

For Albert, part of what made the original Milo’s so special was the restaurant’s willingness to make accommodations. If crab cakes were on the menu, why not allow a customer to add them to a Caesar salad, or use them as the base for an eggs Benedict?

But mostly, Albert wants to focus back on Milo’s regulars, ditching the sugary array of pancakes, waffles and French toasts that recently joined the menu in favor of familiar, consistent dishes that he thinks the neighborhood craves.

“The business has been here for more than 20 years,” Albert said. “Young people might come in once in a while, but they don’t necessarily come back.”

The Lloyd neighborhood has already shown its support, with residents of the nearby Holladay Park Plaza retirement community – where Albert also worked as a server – dropping by for breakfast, walkers and all.

“We’re a neighborhood place,” said Redd. “We want to be a place people come and eat three times a week and you can be part of their lives. And so consequently, we’ve raised all these children and now the children are bringing children in. The first week, we knew every single person who came just through word of mouth.”

Weekends have been busier than weekdays. But even on a recent Wednesday, several tables were full of folks happy to see Milo’s back open, and steered by familiar hands.

Among the early customers was Deborah Meyers, who estimates she’s been coming to Milo’s since around 2000.

“We’re so glad she’s back,” Meyers said of Redd. “She’s the reason I always came – she always remembers your name.”

Wine rep Carrie Anderson, who also dropped by Wednesday, had to stop and give Albert a hug.

“He’s the heart and soul of the place, Anderson said. “I was completely elated. He brings the personality and the heart. You can feel it.

Albert and Elena, who lived nearby for years, sending their kids to Irvington schools, have since relocated to Vancouver, where Elena still works a second job. For her, the afternoon commute is long, but Albert has a trick for beating the traffic: He gets to Milo’s at 6 a.m. each morning, and doesn’t leave until 11 p.m.

It’s the same schedule he’s had since coming to America 28 years ago, working three jobs.

Only now he’s his own boss.

“I feel so good,” Albert said. “I believe anything is possible in life. I started as a dishwasher, a janitor, a busser, a server, and now I own the place. Dreams really do come true.”