GIRARD, Ohio (WKBN) – A Mexican restaurant with a twist is coming to Girard.
El Hefe is going in on North State Street.
Owner Jorge Carrano also owns Margherita’s Grill up the street.
Chairs are going in and Remix, a muralist from Mexico City, is putting the final touches on several murals inside and outside of the space.
Remix’s work is known and Carrano reached out to him on Instragram about doing murals for his restaurant, never thinking he would reply.
“Like all the walls are painted in Mexico City, right? And it’s such a beautiful way to do it,” Carrano said.
Now, all the walls in his restaurant are painted in Mexico City graffiti style.
High school students from McDonald got to meet with Remix and learn from the artist who said he wants to show kids a different image than the starving artist stereotype.
“They can see life. They can see that now I travel all around the world. I get invited to different places,” Remix said. “
Art teacher Melissa Mills said meeting Remix and viewing his art is a great chance for the kids to get out of the classroom and learn about different types of art.
“A lot of times, you drive by art, especially graffiti art on large buildings like this, and you don’t ever get to see the person creating them,” Mills said.
The new business restaurant ties in cuisine and culture from Carrano’s mother’s home in southern Mexico, while still offering some familiarity to the locals.
“We want to stay with the concept of the Tex-Mex because that’s what the people are used to but at the same time, we want to give that twist,”
The restaurant is slated to open by the end of October.