El Mexicano opened Friday at 503 Riverstone Parkway, Suite 201, in Kankakee.

The restaurant is in a strip mall between Walmart and the Hilton Garden Inn, both of which are part of the RiverStone development at Exit 308.

A Best Bites reader named Terry emailed me last week with the tip that the long-awaited restaurant would be opening soon. On Saturday, Terry sent me another email saying, “I went last night!  It was very good!!!  You gotta go!”

I did go on Saturday afternoon. I was expecting something like Burrito Loco, but instead discovered that it was a sit-down restaurant with a full bar and colorful, charming decor. I posted several photos below.

I spoke with two other customers who were in there at the time, Stan and Sarah, and they commented on the ambiance. It even extended into the women’s bathroom, which Sarah pointed out had beautiful decorative sinks. (Taking a photo of a restaurant’s bathroom is a first for me!)

I didn’t have time to sit down and eat, so I ordered some food to go. I tried the tamales, which were excellent.

I spoke with Luis Covarrubias, one of the owners, early last week. He told me this is a family business, with his brother-in-law, Tommy Lopez, being the other owner. They own two other El Mexicano restaurants, one in Fairfield, Ill., and one in Kentucky. I asked how they ended up in Kankakee, and he told me that they had previously done business with the company who built the RiverStone strip mall, and that’s how they learned of the opportunity.

Hours for El Mexicano are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Their phone is (815) 933-5426.

(Thanks to Terry for that tip.)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 4:11 pm and is filed under Restaurant news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.