Lewisport restaurant scene, heating up

The restaurant scene in Lewisport is heating up as two Mexican restaurants and a tavern are set to open in the city soon. Los Amigos restaurant plans to open a grill in the old Goal Post location in downtown Lewisport, and Los Nopales Mexican Grill plans to open in the old salvage grocery store building on U.S. 60 beside Poole’s Pharmacy. In addition, the Blue Agave Tavern, located at Fourth Street and Pell Street, plans to open soon.

Los Amigos announced plans to open a restaurant in Lewisport approximately two years ago, and started to remodel the building. Vanessa Romo, one of the owners of Los Amigos, discussed the progress of the new location Tuesday afternoon.

“It has absolutely taken longer than we anticipated,” Romo said. “COVID has set us back on a lot of dates.”

In addition, the nationwide shortage of workers also continues to create a problem for the business finding quality staff for the restaurant. She said the shortage not only makes it hard to find workers for the Lewisport store, but the Tell City, Ind. location also struggles to find quality employees.

“We just don’t want any person working for us,” Romo said. We expect quality; we expect when people come in they feel like part of the family. For that to be able to happen we have to have people working for us that are going to treat our customers like they are part of their families.”

Ms. Romo said they do not plan a different menu for the Lewisport store, but plan to offer the same items on the menu in Lewisport as the restaurant in Tell City, Ind. She said many people from Hancock County already frequent the Tell City store, and like the food. She did point out two popular items from the Tell City menu.

One item is called Juan’s Special. It is a plate of grilled chicken, rice and cheese.

“It is a pretty basic plate,” Romo said.

She also said a plate called a Totonaco Special is very popular. It is basically a fajita with bacon and pineapple as extra ingredients.

“It is a really good dish,” Romo said.

Romo said they hope to open the restaurant soon.

Los Nopales Mexican Grill

A few weeks ago Sulie  and Edimar (Eddie) Villanueva announced plans to move their restaurant from Owensboro to Lewisport. The restaurant offers Mexican cuisine with a southern Mexico style as Eddie hails from that area of the country.

“We plan to offer a couple of family recipe items,” Mrs. Villanueva said. “We also offer authentic Mexican tacos with corn tortillas and Mexican sandwiches called tortas.”

She said the restaurant plans a menu with a variety of items to appeal to a wide range of appetites. In addition to the Mexican cuisine, which includes fajitas, the store plans to also offer hot wings and hamburgers.

The name of the restaurant comes from a type of cactus plant found in Mexico called Nopales. Villanueva said they chose the name because it represents Mexico. The décor includes Mexican style paintings as well as Aztec art.

“It is a little piece of Mexico,” Villanueva said.

They continue the process of renovating the building beside Poole’s Pharmacy. They expect an opening of the restaurant soon.

“Hopefully we open by the beginning of September,” Villanueva said.

Blue Agave Tavern

In addition to opening the Los Amigos restaurant in Lewisport, the Romos also plan to open a traditional style tavern called Blue Agave. Though the tavern does not plan to offer food items, the owners do plan to offer snacks such as pretzels and peanuts, and maybe even chips and salsa from Los Amigos.

“It is a stand alone bar,” owner Jose Romo said. “People can come in, sit down and drink.”

He said the establishment features a 30-foot long bar made from Walnut trees cut in Philpot, KY. He said the bar will have a live edge on it, meaning the bark from the trees will be on the wood forming the bar.

Romo said the bar plans to offer traditional beers such as Miller and Dos Equis, as some craft beers. In addition the tavern plans to offer six beers on tap as well as bottle beer, hard liquor and wines.

“We hope to offer wine slushies,” Romo said. “We will also offer beverage catering for weddings and family events.”

Down the road Romo said he hopes to be able to bring in live bands to the tavern; he wants to tavern to be a draw to bring people to Lewisport.

“I am really appreciative of my customers from Hawesville and Lewisport,” Romo said. “They have supported my business and I want to do something for the community.”

By Ralph Dickerson