Restaurant report: Agave Fresh Mex & Cantina to open in Ormond Beach

Ormond Beach Observer
Business

Keep it in the family: Restaurateurs from Mexico will start serving next week in Ormond Beach.

BY WAYNE GRANT | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

After running Mexican restaurants throughout Florida, a family from Vero Beach are looking to Ormond Beach for their latest venture. Agave Fresh Mex & Cantina will hold its grand opening July 10, in the Publix shopping center, at 1474 W. Granada Blvd.

The new restaurant will be managed by Jose Nevarez, cousin of the founder and owner of the restaurant chain, Pedro Nevarez.

“We like to have family members manage the restaurants to make sure everything is done right,” Jose Nevarez said. “It’s a large family.”

Pedro Nevarez and his wife, Gloria, started the chain in 1997, in Vero Beach. The family had owned restaurants in Mexico for “many generations,” Jose Nevarez said.

The Nevarez family owns seven restaurants in Florida, scattered throughout Vero Beach, Sebastian, The Villages, Clermont, North Palm Beach and Wellington. Each establishment has a different name, but their menus are almost identical.

The Ormond Beach eatery will offer “very authentic” Mexican food, Nevarez said, as well as Tex-Mex, which uses more tomatoes to cut down on spice.

Because of the rich heritage of Mexican cusine, which includes influences of the Spanish, French, Mayan and Aztec, the Nevarez say their menu will be hefty, giving customers "lots of choices."

“That’s why there is such a variety in our food,” Jose Nevarez said, explaining that items from northern Mexico (which emphasizes meat as its main ingredient, on corn tortillas) and southern Mexico (where seafood, on flour tortillas, is emphasized) will both be featured.

Only fresh ingredients will also be used, he said.

After going 10 years without opening a new location, Nevarez says his family decided on Ormond because it's a "nice, growing town," an ideal place to raise his three children.

Nevarez. 35, came to Florida in 1995, from Mexico, and worked his way up in the family business from dish washer to manager, including stints as cook and waiter.

“People will find a friendly atmosphere (here),” he said. “You’ll feel like home. We do our best to provide the best service and food quality.”

Call 677-7779.