ABOVE: Owners of Plaza Jalisco, which will open in Fairmont later this year. Form left: Virginia Avila, Lalo Madallanes, Carlos Rios and Diana Alvarado. Not pictured: Gonzalo Magallanes and Patricia Lopez.

FAIRMONT– A new restaurant, Plaza Jalisco, is coming to Fairmont. The Mexican restaurant will be located at 1153 Highway 15 S.

The owners, Lalo Magallanes and Virginia Avila, Carlos Rios and Diana Alverado and Gonzalo Magallanes and Patricia Lopez took possession of the building on Sept. 12.

Lalo worked at a Mexican restaurant for several years in Mason City, IA and while doing that he decided that he’d like to open a restaurant of his own.

The owners have two other restaurants by the same name. The first opened in St. James in 2016 and another opened in 2018 in Windom.

Amanda Lopez, a friend who helps manage the restaurants, said they were looking for a bigger town to open a third restaurant in.

“We were looking in the St. Peter area but I mentioned Fairmont and we came and looked in the area. We were originally going to look at the (former) Lamplighter, but the realtor showed us this spot,” Lopez said.

Lalo said he’s excited that the restaurant is located right along highway 15 which makes it both visible and easily accessible. He also likes that there’s a good-sized parking lot.

The building has a history of housing restaurants. Many may remember it as Godfather’s Pizza, which opened there in 1997. Then in 2014, it opened as Asian Palace, which served Chinese food.

The owners would like to open Jalisco Plaza in early December. However, as the building sat empty for several years, quite a bit of work and cleaning needs to be done first.

Lalo said he plans to clean up the space and make it aesthetically pleasing for patrons to enjoy.

As for the menu, the restaurant will offer tradition Mexican dishes like fajitas, enchiladas and nachos. They’ll also have Mexican pizza and several egg dishes.

Lalo said that Fairmont’s El Agave also has great Mexican food but noted that the menu at Plaza Jalisco is different. It includes a namesake signature dish, the Plaza Jalisco special, which features 12 shrimp wrapped in bacon with Carne Asada, rice and beans and pico de gallo.

The menu will also feature an assortment of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks like margaritas, beer and mixed drinks.

Lalo said at the moment he has all the staff he needs but as they get closer to opening they may need to hire a few more staff members.

“We’re looking forward to working very hard to provide everyone with good service,” Lalo said.