Matt Gayton Martinez Sr.: Pioneer of Austin's Tex-Mex Cuisine and Restaurateur (1917–2003)

Matt Gayton Martinez, Sr., restaurateur, was born on June 4, 1917, in Texas. He was the son of Delfino Martinez and Magdalena (Gonzalez) Martinez and grew up in Austin. According to family history, Delfino Martinez had fought in Pancho Villa’s army and later fled to Texas where the family eventually settled in Austin, and he opened El Original restaurant, credited as Austin’s first Tex-Mex restaurant in 1925. While the restaurant opened, young Matt Martinez was already involved in the food business and sold tamales along Congress Avenue near the state Capitol. As a youth, he also operated a paper route.

Martinez began boxing as a young man after an incident in East Austin where he was bullied. To train, he practiced hitting filled burlap sacks with sand. Nicknamed the “Battling Newsboy” by the local sports press, he was boxing in the Golden Gloves amateur boxing organization by the mid-1930s and achieved success in the lightweight division. A district winner in Golden Glove tournaments, he competed for the state title several times and in 1938 represented Texas in the national Golden Globe tournament in Chicago. Later that year he turned professional and had won fifteen straight matches before the year was over. Martinez was proud of his boxing experience, and a photo of him from his boxing days was always displayed in his restaurant.

On September 18, 1940, Martinez enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army, and during World War II he served as a machine gun sergeant and mess hall cook. He was stationed in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, where he also served as a boxing instructor, and later the South Pacific. He married Janie Gaitan on July 27, 1944, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Austin. They later had a son and three daughters. After his discharge in July 1945 Martinez returned to Austin and waited tables before he opened a new restaurant, Matt’s El Rancho, in 1952 at 302 East 1st Street.

Matt’s El Rancho began with only ten tables. Martinez served as host while his wife Janie prepared the food. Over time, the restaurant developed some of its own unique dishes, such as Bob Armstrong Dip, named after a former Texas land commissioner who was a regular at the restaurant. The dip includes taco meat, avocado, and queso, and remains a popular menu item. Matt’s El Rancho became popular locally and provided food for reporters covering University of Texas home football games. President Lyndon B. Johnson and University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal were regulars. Other luminaries and celebrities visited the restaurant, with some leaving autographed photos in the bar area. Matt’s El Rancho grew, as did Austin itself. In 1986 a Dallas investment firm bought the land on which the restaurant sat, and Matt’s El Rancho moved to 2613 South Lamar Boulevard, which was still its location in the 2020s.

Martinez continued as the restaurant’s host during El Rancho’s growth and relocation. “I’m here every day to greet them when they walk through the door,” Martinez said. “Folks who ate here when they were kids now bring in kids of their own. That’s the nicest part.” In 1968 he was named Austin Restaurateur of the Year. He was inducted into the Texas Restaurant Association Hall of Honor in 1986. Martinez was a member of the Texas Restaurant Association as well as the Austin Chamber of Commerce. He was also a longtime member of San Jose Catholic Church.

Matt G. Martinez, Sr., died of Parkinson’s disease on November 27, 2003. His wife Janie died in 2013. Both were buried at Assumption Cemetery in Austin. Their three daughters and daughter-in-law took over the restaurant’s operations, and other family members have also worked at the restaurant. Meanwhile, their son Matt Martinez, Jr., became a Dallas-based Tex-Mex chef, author, and restaurateur before his own death in 2009. Matt Jr. was inducted into the Texas Restaurant Association Hall of Honor in 2000.