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D8 SATURDAY, August 18,2012BusinessTHE GARDEN CITY TELEGRAMTequilas moving locations, new restaurant to take its placeBy DEREK THOMPSONdthompson@gctelegram.comBusiness has been good for Medardo “Meda” Munoz at Tequilas Mexican Grill.The business, located at 519 W. Mary St., Suite 111, opened in October 2011. Since that time, business has boomed, forcing Munoz to expand his operation. The longtime Garden City restaurateur is moving his eatery to a new, more visible location in the former Peking Garden building, 1715 E. Kansas Ave., with an estimated opening date of the first week in September.“When I opened this one, I never thought it would be this much business. Now, on the weekends, we’ve got like 40 people waiting in line, waiting for like an hour.... It’s bigger, a better location. It’s going to make everything better,” Munoz said.The current location holds 108 people. The new location will accommodate up to 150, with 17 more tables in the restaurant,plus another six in an outdoor seating area that currently is being added to the Kansas Avenue location.A major perk of the move for Medardo is the new “professional, allchrome” kitchen, in addition to the exposure on a busy street.“You have 100 cars on Kansas Avenue going by. Here, you only got like, maybe 10. I’m going to get my locals, plus people from out of town,” he said.The new location will mark the third Tequilas restaurant that Munoz has opened. Munoz was a part owner of the now-shuttered El Camino for seven years before branching out on his own in 2010 with Tequilas in Liberal. That location was short-lived, however, as only three months after opening, someone entered the building after hours and set fire to the restaurant, resulting in a total loss, Munoz said.The restaurant owner rebounded by moving the business to Garden City, and it has flourished ever since.Becky Malewitz/TelegramConstruction workers from Diamonds Construction work Friday on the interior of the new Tequilas Mexican Grill location at 1715 E. Kansas Ave.Though Munoz wants a larger, more visible location for his restaurant, he’s not giving up his spot on Mary Street, which he says has been “super.” “This one, I’m going totry and turn into a steak-house. It’s either going to be a steakhouse or a buffet,” Munoz said, adding that if he goes with the buffet idea, he’s going to have different themeseach night, from Mexican, Italian, seafood and more.The restaurant will open under a different name, if things go according to plan. If he opens a steakhouse, Munoz isconsidering taking over the adjacent suite, formerly the site of Granny and Granddad’s Brick Oven Pizza, and expanding his restaurant by removing the dividing wall and converting the space intoci bar“We’ll have like another — a nice sized bar — and like another 12, 15 hight-ops. If we have it a buffet,this will be big enough,” he said.Munoz plans to have his new restaurant, either a steakhouse or buffet, open in mid-October, he said.Munoz doesn’t just have his pulse on the Garden City dining scene, either. About four months ago, he helped open Tres Amigos, a Mexican restaurant in Dodge City.For more information on Tequilas Mexican Grill, cafl 275-4362, email tequilasmexicangrillres-taurant@yahoo.com or search the business name on Facebook. Hours at the restaurant are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
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Garden City Telegram
Garden City, Kansas, US
Sat, Aug 18, 2012
Page 30
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USA 23 Mar 2020
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