South West Mexican Grill comes to Northwest Corner

LAKEVILLE — Picante’s South West Mexican Grill, has moved into the Main Street building that used to be occupied by Burgers & Frites.  Even though the sign for B&F is still up on one end of the circular driveway, most people seem to have already noticed the change in ownership (the brightly colored, fluttering pennants and the large Mexican flag are clues).

What most people probably don’t know is that it almost didn’t happen that way.

“In the beginning,” Jose Reyes, co-manager of Picante’s, said during a recent interview at the restaurant, “we tried to open up where McDonald’s used to be in Millerton. We were ready to sign the lease. But something in the back of my head said, ‘Don’t take it.’”

Reyes has been in the restaurant business for 10 years. For the past three, he’s run a Mexican restaurant in Bellmore on Long Island. So how did he find himself in the Northwest Corner? That’s where co-manager Fernando Galicia comes in. He worked for Reyes on Long Island, and the two became friends. When Galicia moved to Millerton and took a job at the Irving Farm coffee shop, he saw an opportunity.

“He was always pushing me,” Reyes said. “‘Listen, if you start that kind of place up here — that type of menu, that type of cuisine — you will do well.’”

Surprisingly, perhaps, neither man is from Mexico. Galicia is Guatemalan, and while Reyes is of Mexican and Salvadoran descent, he moved around a lot as a child. 

“I can’t remember all the places I lived while I was growing up,” he said with a laugh.

Still, he certainly seems to know his Mexican cuisine. His recipes are, as the restaurant’s name implies, from southwest Mexico. 

“Sometimes people say something like, ‘Oh, you don’t fry the burritos.’ But that’s not southwestern, that’s Tex-Mex.”

Many traditional Mexican dishes are offered, from quesadillas ($6 to $12) and burritos ($7 to $10) to flautas ($10), tacos on soft tortillas ($9 to $12) and enchiladas ($14 and $15). There are also some non-traditional items, such as hamburgers  ($13 to $16) and a variety of pasta dishes ($13 to $23) and salads ($5 to $18).  

Two more unusual items are molcajetes (chicken, steak or seafood with salsa, beans and rice, cactus, queso fresco and more, from $15 to $25) and sopes (handmade corn tortillas with beans, lettuce, crema, queso fresco and avocado, $11 and $12).

The other point Reyes emphasizes about the food is that it is fresh. 

“You don’t want to serve something you got by opening a can. No way. The salsa is homemade. The guacamole is homemade from real avocados, not avocado pulp. If I wouldn’t serve something to my family, I won’t serve it to your family.”

Picante’s doesn’t have a liquor license yet, but Reyes and Galicia expect to get one within a few weeks. Once that happens, they plan to start serving brunch. 

Until then, the restaurant is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Take-out orders are also available. For information, call 860-596-4269. South West Mexican Grill is at 227 Main St., next to the Inn at Iron Masters.