The Haría City Council agreed, in a plenary session held this Tuesday, June 5, to award Tito Dorta Caraballo and the Mesa Armas family, owners of the El Amanecer restaurant, the 'Haría 2018 Awards', intended for those people or institutions with an outstanding career and who have contributed with their work to the progress and development of the northern municipality.
Tito Dorta Caraballo, who at 87 years old continues to collaborate with the residents of Órzola, is recognized for his invaluable and selfless work in favor of the development of said town in the north of the Island, as well as his generosity and great human quality.
For their part, the Mesa Armas family has contributed, with their work for years in the renowned establishment located in the town of Arrieta, to the economic development and tourist promotion of the municipality of Haría at a national and international level.
The institutional event in which these awards will be presented will take place on Sunday, June 24, at 9:00 p.m., in the Auditorium of Jameos del Agua
Tito Dorta Caraballo
Social commitment and solidarity have been and continue to be two essential values in the life of Don Tito Dorta Caraballo. If we add to this the generous and human nature, which he displays daily, we can affirm that we are facing a good person in every sense of the word.
Don Tito Dorta Caraballo was born on April 14, 1931 in the town of Órzola. He is the fourth child of the marriage formed by Don Santiago Dorta de León and Doña Francisca Caraballo Luzardo.
He married Doña Piedad García García on August 7, 1960 in the Hermitage of San Juan de Haría. As a result of their relationship, Margarita and Luis Ramón Dorta García will be born.
The life of Don Tito Dorta Caraballo has always revolved around the town and the residents of Órzola. His childhood and adolescence take place within a humble family dedicated mainly to agricultural tasks. When he is barely 14 years old, his father loses his left hand when a grenade explodes on La Cantería beach. This unfortunate incident causes him to start working with his father in the fields.
Most of the working life of Don Tito Dorta Caraballo has always been linked to agricultural activity, although, at specific times, he combines it with other jobs that gave him experience and knowledge. He works as a sailor, guard, salt worker, burning lime with his brother José Manuel and as a laborer in construction, together with the bricklayer Julián Hernández.
For more than twenty years the Dorta Caraballo brothers dedicated themselves to burning lime in Órzola until the proliferation of the use of cement and synthetic paints.
From a very young age, Don Tito Dorta Caraballo actively and selflessly participates and collaborates in the activities of the town of Órzola. For many years he was part of the town's timple and guitar band.
His first collaboration in the Santa Rosa Festivities takes place when he is barely 15 years old. His task was to decorate the enclosure where the dance was going to be held. Year after year his involvement grew as the Santa Rosa Festivities grew in importance and participation.
For more than sixty years, Don Tito Dorta Caraballo has been an active part, together with other residents of the town of Órzola, in the organization of the Santa Rosa Festivities. His task has been multiple: in charge of decorating the festival grounds and the streets, throwing the firecrackers, organizing the barbecue (he looked for the wood, roasted and distributed the fish), making 'Queveo', a rag doll that is burned in the bonfire, organizing the fights, as well as many other activities necessary for the proper development of the festivities.
Over the years, Don Tito Dorta Caraballo has had to delegate many of the tasks carried out for decades to other people and it is here where his enormous generosity has been reflected, once again. At the age of 84, he teaches the younger boys how to make the 'Queveo' doll and throw the firecrackers so that these traditions continue to be maintained during the Santa Rosa Festivities.
But Don Tito Dorta Caraballo's commitment to his town goes far beyond his collaboration in the festivities. For years he was in charge, together with Julián Hernández, of spreading the earth on the old road, the only access road to the town of Órzola until the construction of the coastal road, so that residents could circulate with their vehicles without difficulty. He was also in charge of caring for and maintaining the Government's Cistern in optimal conditions so that the residents of Órzola could use the water when necessary until Órzola had a drinking water supply network. His job was to make the tests on the road to collect rainwater, take care that the cistern did not overflow, measure the water collected, make a list of the residents who needed water, ensure that the distribution of the water was done correctly, as well as transfer all the data to the City Council. Don Tito Dorta Caraballo also formed part of the group of residents who, selflessly, worked for many weekends for the construction of the Órzola church. They were in charge of making the foundations and raising the walls.
The knowledge accumulated and the experience acquired throughout his life have been key for Don Tito Dorta Caraballo to participate selflessly in the recording of a documentary about the lime burning process and in the realization of a gofio workshop, for more than a decade, at the Pardelas Park recreational farm in Órzola.
The town of Órzola, through the Festival Committee, recognized the work carried out for so many years by Don Tito Dorta Caraballo in an emotional tribute held during the Santa Rosa Festivities in 2012.
Mesa Armas Family (El Amanecer)
The start-up and management of the El Amanecer restaurant for thirty-three years by the Armas Mesa brothers has undoubtedly contributed to the economic and tourist activation and revitalization of Arrieta and, therefore, of the municipality of Haría.
The family atmosphere, the careful treatment given to customers, the use of local products, the quality and simplicity of its dishes, the stability of the staff, the location of the restaurant by the sea and the family management have favored the development and success of the restaurant.
Over the years, the Armas Mesa brothers have managed to turn the El Amanecer restaurant, not only into a benchmark of local gastronomy, but also into an example of entrepreneurship based on family management.
The idea of starting the restaurant comes from Manuel Felipe Armas Mesa. His experience as a waiter at the Mirador del Río, the desire for all his brothers to work on a common project and the incipient tourist development of the town of Arrieta, together with the unconditional support of his parents Felipe Mesa Romero and Aurora Armas Mesa, who did not hesitate to give them the family home to start the restaurant, were key in the development of said gastronomic project.
The brothers Antonio, Manuel Felipe, Trini, Tomás and Orlando Armas Mesa inaugurated the El Amanecer restaurant on September 24, 1985. A dream come true that crystallized over time into one of the most prestigious and nationally and internationally renowned local restaurants.
The family character of the restaurant is given, not only by the affability of its owners, but also by the human team that makes up the staff. In the beginning, Trina, Antonio and Tomás were in charge of the kitchen while Orlando, Manuel Felipe and his uncle Jesús Armas attended the dining room. As the clientele increases, it becomes necessary to hire more staff. Adán Méndez and Antonio Betancor were the first waiters hired outside the family. Currently there are thirteen people who make up the work team.
The success of the El Amanecer restaurant's cuisine emanates from the simplicity of its dishes and the use of quality local products, as evidenced by the numerous customers who frequent the restaurant.
Many have been the personalities from different areas of society, culture and politics who, attracted by the good culinary reviews of the restaurant, have wanted to enjoy some of its dishes. We can highlight the writer Antonio Gala, the actress and presenter Concha Velazco, the athletes Perico Delgado and Echevarría, the actors Gabino Diego and Edu Soto, the presenter Jesús Manuel Parada, the presidents of the Spanish Government Felipe González and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Argentine consul in Gran Canaria, Gustavo van Gelderen, the Cuban consul in the Canary Islands, Ulises Barquín, as well as the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jerónimo Saavedra.
Throughout its trajectory, the El Amanecer restaurant has been awarded several prizes, among which the National Gastronomy Award Golden Plate 2007 awarded by the Radio Turismo station in Madrid stands out, in recognition of the work and demonstrated professional career, and the Distinguished Tourism Award awarded in 2010 by the Cabildo de Lanzarote.
In the month of May of this year, the Mesa Armas brothers abandon the management of the El Amanecer restaurant to begin a new path in their lives. It has been thirty-three years of hard work where 12-hour days have not allowed them the rest and family life that they have always longed for.
