By: Deborah Johnson Wood
“Pinch me, I’m dreaming” is a phrase Robert Bellgraph must be using these days. After 20 years of working toward opening his own restaurant, he’s nearly ready to welcome his first customers to Taquitos Mexican Grill at 327 S. Division Ave. in Grand Rapids — part of the historic Herkimer Hotel building owned by Dwelling Place.
As a teen, Bellgraph worked for his cousin, the owner of Palermo Pizza, and that's when the “restaurant bug” bit.
“I love the restaurant business,” Bellgraph says. “I enjoy the service part of it a lot. I have a passion for service. I know it sounds weird but I generally like to pick up after people, it’s nice to see people’s faces when someone takes care of them.”
Bellgraph and the restaurant’s manager, Joe Martinez, have done the renovation work themselves, sprucing up the old bar and kitchen on the corner of Division and Goodrich.
Martinez was born in Mexico and the menu items—carne asada (marinated grilled steak), barbacoa (slow roasted shredded beef), chicken mole, burritos, tacos, whitefish and taquitos--are made with his family’s traditional recipes.
“We want to make the taquitos famous,” says Bellgraph, whose goal is to create a franchise and expand it to every major city in the United States.
The history of the 2,300-square-foot space includes time as a bar and as a restaurant. He repainted the walls rich shades of brick red and Sahara yellow.
“There hardwoods throughout the whole place,” Bellgraph notes. “Dark oak trim, oak on the walls, crown moldings, beams across the ceiling. We cleaned up the oak booths that are about 40 years old and put new seats on them.”
Bellgraph estimates a $20,000 investment. He plans a February 2 soft opening, with a grand opening in March.
Source: Robert Bellgraph, Taquitos Mexican Grill; Heather Ibrahim, Dwelling Place, Inc.
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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