Los Cabos marks 15 years in Bellefontaine
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ABOVE: Cocinero José Xacallo prepares a fajita plate in the kitchen of Los Cabos, which marks its 15th birthday this weekend. HOME PAGE SLIDESHOW PHOTOS: The bar area of the Los Cabos restaurant has recently been repainted by Queretaro, Mexico, artist Rodrigo Oñate in a style known as alebrije, which includes bright colors and fantastical animals. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | REUBEN MEES) |
In Mexico and other hispanic cultures, the quinceañera is a pretty big deal. It marks a girl’s transition to womanhood and it always includes a grand fiesta.
So as the local Mexican restaurant Los Cabos prepares to celebrate its 15th birthday, the owner wants it to be equally festive.
The official opening of the restaurant was June 18, 2001, in the former Holiday Inn, but the owners are planning to celebrate the anniversary Monday with music, 25 percent off food specials, discount drink prices and giveaways at their 125 Dowell Ave. location, that owner Tony Avalos said will be “better than Cinco de Mayo.”
“Ever since we opened our restaurant 15 years ago, it has been booming,” Mr. Avalos said. “I feel very proud to be in Bellefontaine and I don’t regret anything. The community has been very good to support us.”
Mr. Avalos, now age 38, has worked in restaurants since his early teens and was newly married to his wife Ana when they began discussing the possibility of opening their own restaurant.
It was a fortunate accident, however, that brought them to Bellefontaine.
Working at a restaurant in Lancaster at the time, Mr. Avalos said he was looking to locate a restaurant further east along the U.S. Route 33 corridor, either in Logan or Athens.
The real estate agent, however, found him a spot along U.S. 33 in the wrong direction.
“When I got there, I called and asked where the building was and he said it was here in Logan County,” Mr. Avalos said. “It was on the same 33 but over this way.
“I made a U-turn and followed my heart. I came the same day all the way to Bellefontaine and Doug Zimmerman took me to the current site of Lee’s Chicken. We went then to the hotel that used to be Holiday Inn.
“I saw a place empty and dirty and saw it very dark. But I closed my eyes and saw it full and booming with people,” Mr. Avalos said.
He talked with Ana and three days later he signed a lease on the hotel space. About three months later, the Avalos’ first restaurant opened under the name Los Cabos, which is Spanish for “The Keys” and the collective name of the islands south of Baja California, Mexico.
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
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