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ENTERTAINMENT: DINING
Rancho Nuevo serves up traditional Mexican fare
SOUTH POINT, Ohio -- If South Point's Rancho Nuevo familiar, it's for a good reason.
The restaurant is owned by Renaldo Aguirre who also owns the Huntington locations of Rio Grande.
The menus of both restaurants are virtually identical but manager Edward Diaz claims savvy palates can taste a difference in the food.
"We bring in some spices from California, we figured this would make the place in South Point a little more unique," Diaz said. "We get them from a couple of distributors from California. I came here about two years ago when the location first opened in December of 2007. My father, Pablo Diaz, is a business partner with the owner."
Some changes to that menu are on the way.
"We're currently adding some new menu items, and tweaking some recipes to be a little different Rio Grande's. One of the new items we are adding to the menu is going to be a cheesecake chimichanga for dessert."
Like Rio Grande, the restaurant is best known traditional Mexican fare such as burritos, enchiladas, and fajitas.
One of the unique specialties is the "Hawaiian Fajitas" filled with shrimp, chicken, pineapples and bell peppers for $11.50.
Another popular item is the Special Dinner featuring a chalupa, a chili relleno (stuffed pepper), a beef taco, an enchilada, a tamale, rice and beans for $8.50.
There is also a variety of dinners served each day for $7 to $7.50.
The restaurant also serves an assortment of Mexican sodas, most notably the Jarritos brand which comes in a wide assortment of flavors including strawberry, fruit punch, watermelon, mandarin orange and guava. They sell for $1.50 a bottle.
"It seems like we are consistently busy throughout the week, but our busiest day is on Sunday," Diaz said. "People often come for lunch right after church and sometimes we have a 10-minute wait on tables. We have a ton of loyal customers consisting mostly of families with kids, mainly from South Point and Chesapeake. "
Lunch hours are from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. and an assortment of special items are served at prices starting at $4.25. Lunch items include the Huevos Con Chorizo ($4.75) which are scrambled eggs with spicy Mexican sausage and the Jumbo Burrito for $6.25. All lunch items are $1 extra on Sunday.
There are also an assortment of vegetarian platters ranging in price from $5.75 to $6.50.
Dessert items include Mexican Fried Ice Cream ($3) Sopapilla ($2) and Flan ($2.50.)
One way the restaurant sticks out in it's field is in it's rather unique decoration.
"My father likes to hang balloons in front of the building," Diaz said. "He thinks it helps attract attention from people as they drive by."
Rancho Nuevo is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Cash and all major credit cards are accepted.
To place a carryout order or for more information call 740-894-4394.
