Tex-Mex restaurant to open

Banditos Margarita Factory to open by May 1 in South Brunswick Square Mall.

By: Joseph Harvie
   Margaritas and food with a Tex-Mex flair are going to be on the menu of a new restaurant opening in the old Rumbleseats building in the South Brunswick Square Mall.
   Daljit Bais, Woody Patel and Jimmy Allen are planning to open Banditos Margarita Factory in the mall by May 1. The location was home to Rumbleseats, and then the Ground Round before closing in 2004.
   Mr. Bais, who has lived in town for 20 years and is the chairman of the Planning Board, said the three got idea to offer a variety of margaritas after Mr. Allen and Mr. Patel took a trip to Sante Fe, N.M., to look at restaurants.
   "(They) went to Sante Fe and found 60 different kinds of margaritas," Mr. Bais said. "Especially for ladies, we want to offer a variety of them."
   Mr. Bais said there also will be outside seating in a patio area.
   "We will fix it, so customers can sit on the patio have a drink and have some food," Mr. Bais said.
   Mr. Bais said the store will offer a variety of dishes for both meat eaters and vegetarians.
   "Woody and I are vegetarian so there will be a lot of vegetarian dishes," Mr. Bais said. "We will offer good steaks, good food and fun and music at least three days a week."
   He said the music will cater to whatever the community wants to hear. He said the whole idea of the restaurant was to add something he thinks the community is missing, "a good restaurant."
   "We want to make our community better," Mr. Bais said. "We don’t have any good restaurants in town so we thought to offer something. We are very open and we are talking to a lot of people and friends and those who live in the community to get ideas."
   The owners are working on giving the eatery a facelift. Mr. Bais said they are busy doing some cosmetic repairs to the outside of the building and putting new tiles inside and replacing the kitchen equipment.
   "The plumbing, air conditioning and electrical is functioning well so we are not changing any of that," Mr. Bais said. "The signs are changing. Of course we need new signs."
   He said since there will be no new work done to the electrical and plumbing, he is not anticipating a delay in receiving permits to open the store.
   This will be the first time the building will have been occupied since the Ground Round abruptly closed down after its parent company, American Hospitality Concepts of Massachusetts, filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 20, 2004.
   The restaurant is hiring and those interested should stop by the establishment. Mr. Bais said it is open during the day. He said they have already received 100 applications and they are looking to hire at least 100 people.