El Charrito Expected To Reopen Today In New Location
Lazaro Cortez takes a break from work Monday to examine the new menus at El Charrito Restaurant and Grill. If everything goes right, the restaurant will open at the new Main Street location Wednesday afternoon.
El Charrito Expected To Reopen Today In New Location
By David Howell
Editor
WATER VALLEY – After almost a year-long renovation, El Charrito Restaurant and Grill is scheduled to open Wednesday afternoon in its new Main Street location. Victoria Gonzales told the Herald the final obstacles include a follow-up visit from the Mississippi Department of Health to inspect several new pieces of equipment along with minor detail work and cleanup inside the building.
Formerly named El Charrito, the business closed Sunday after operating for 16 years at the Railroad Street location for the move into the larger building. Gonzales said the restaurant will utilize approximately 4,400 square feet of the row of connected buildings with additional space for growth in the future. The larger building is more than double the size of the Railroad Street building, creating more seating capacity and an open atmosphere for the customers.
Gonzales also said the new menu will be familiar for the regulars and there are even a few price reductions. She also said there are no plans for a lunch buffet at the new location. The new restaurant will be totally smoke free. The drink menu for adult beverages will be the same and there will not be a bar.
“There is no sit down bar, this is a family restaurant,” she told the Herald.
Gonzales said everything inside the building had to be updated, and much of the work was done by local contractors with the help of the employees at the restaurant and a sister restaurant in Charleston.
“A lot of the crew worked on their days off, they are excited,” Gonzales said, explaining that all of the crew are from either Mexico or Guatemala. “Many were masons back home, they are skilled laborers.”
Gonzales and her husband, Lazaro Cortez are minority partners in the Water Valley restaurant, sharing ownership with Fidel Cubillo of Tupelo, and Fidel’s daughter, Blanco Cubillo. Cortez and Gonzales also own and operate a Mexican restaurant in Charleston. The couple lives in Water Valley.
The Water Valley Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors have scheduled a ribbon cutting at the restaurant Thursday at 10 a.m. The public is invited.
