The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - John Ornelas Joined Keith Smith & Jerry Miller On "Real Talk With Keith Smith!"

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

John Ornelas, Owner of Mejicali, joined Keith Smith & Jerry Miller on “Real Talk With Keith Smith” powered by YES Realty Partners and Yonna Smith! “Real Talk” airs every Wednesday and Friday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Real Talk With Keith Smith” is presented by Charlottesville Settlement Company, LLC, El Mariachi Mexican Bar & Grill, Fincham & Associates, Inc., Free Enterprise Forum, Intrastate Service Co, Pearl Certification and YES Realty Partners.

Good Friday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on Real Talk with Keith Smith. Today's show, we are all very excited for. We have Johnny Arnalis in the house, this man, a savvy, talented, and experienced restaurateur, and the newest brand to open under his purview, Mexicali, on West Main Street. It's in the old World of Beer location. If you have not visited Mexicali, you're missing an experience. And I use the word experience because the food is absolutely off the chain. Delicious. The cocktails, River Hawkins, inspirations. The outdoor environment is as inviting as any outdoor environment in the city with a playground for kids literally on site. And one of my most

favorite aspects of Mexicali, the ambiance. I mean, you walk into the restaurant and you have some of the most beautiful murals and street art that is maybe the best I've ever seen in my life. And I sincerely mean that. Parking on site, easy to get to, fairly priced, just absolutely fantastic. Judah Wickauer, I can't wait to welcome Johnny Ornelas to the show. If you go to the studio camera, we'll welcome our star, Keith Smith, and a guest that, Keith, we have been anticipating for some time, and our friend Johnny Ornelas. We've been anticipating this. I've had the pleasure to, let's say, taste a couple of Rivers cocktails.

You need to go do this, and the food is off the charts. I mean, this gentleman to my right is a culinary phenom. I mean that. I'm not saying that because you're sitting here, because you mixed a couple of, you know, this is a fusion of a couple of uh you know this is a fusion of a couple of uh different let's say styles of food why don't you tell us a little bit what you did because it's pretty cool stuff yeah i mean well hey how you guys doing um yeah this is uh

you know i've constantly had the question of or you know people are trying to ask me what this is you know it's been it's been actually eight months of trying to fight and figure out because we don't have a category for this. This is not something. And if you go back to roots of where I came from and things like that, it's a hard definition. So basically, in reality, it's undefined. I mean, I can't define what we've done. So basically, in reality, it's undefined. I mean,

I can't define what we've done. But it has different influences, right? It does have different... So it has... The base is always, you know, it's our roots. It's Mexican. Yep. But it's not Mexican. So you've got to think, we've got some ingredients that haven't been used

in the area. And we've got fusions of different localities you know we got a lot of friends from Peru from Venezuela from Argentina and we have tried to immerse that into the business as well because that's us you know that's that's our friends it's dear to our hearts so it's trying to you know we can't directly make it authentic it's authentic to you brother but it's authentic to us you know it's authentic to our hearts, so it's trying to, you know, we can't directly make it authentic. It's authentic to you, brother. But it's authentic to us.

It's authentic to us and what we're doing. So it's hard to categorize it because it's us. Well, I mean, like I posted earlier this morning, you guys are like cutting edge. You know, El Mariachi. Look at me. Did it twice in a row. There you go. Twice in a row.

Good job, Keith. Ask me to say realtor. I can't do that yet. But, I mean, that's just an outstanding. And Beberdero, right? Because River is your partner in that. So we know we've got all these great influences in it. But Jerry kind of in his intro led into this.

And I'm going to see you tonight. I mean, you've got an 1,800 square an 1800 square foot right? Is that 1800 square foot? 1800 square foot patio. 1800 square foot. So you have as much outdoor space as you have indoor space. And there's a playground and I've got both my grandkids in from Connecticut

and if you don't think I'm going to let them run amok here today around 5 o'clock while Grandpa's going. And it's gated, so you don't have to worry about them getting out. You worry about me or the kids? Or you. So, yeah, I mean, you know, this locality, we've, it wasn't, the craziest thing is we didn't have a plan for this. You know, we had an idea, which got turned around you know very quickly and but the one thing has been is we're

trying to take you not that charlottesville is not a great place to be at but literally we're taking you out of charlottesville absolutely you walk in the door and you're not in charlottesville 100 where are you though where do you you're somewhere in Charlottesville. 100%. Where are you though? You're somewhere in California enjoying the West Coast out there. The art, I don't want to give it away too much because you really need to see this but the artwork that

River has done and the decoration that you guys have done in that is 100% right. We've already had people from, I had a guy from Harrisonburg. He wants me to bring it up there. Had people from Richmond come up. And it's just like it's hard to explain to them that there is no base to this.

You're not going to get the same thing. But you've got a little bit of that street food vibe too. We do have the street food. So that's one of the things. We're more top of base. We're not a big platter sit down type. So we veered off from that. You know, we're more tapas.

We're more kind of street food. You know, we have taken things that we are used to, you know, typical things and we put a twist on them. And they're heavily seasoned. You know, a lot of love goes into this stuff and a lot of work. I know you put a lot of love into it. But we've given it to you in a small bite where you can actually really enjoy it and taste multiple items. And what I love about the vibe, because I've been in there a few times since you started just soft open, and your grand opening is coming up soon, right?

Yeah, next week we're doing a week long grand opening And then you've got some bands coming in We've got music tonight Cindy Lopez giving them some props right now Family right there, right? Yeah, that's my sister-in-law Eva Rivera giving them some props

Steven Rutherford giving them some props A bunch of restaurant owners watching the program. You want to give us the flip book of this experience, of this journey for Mexicali? It's been a long time coming. And it's been something

you know, like I said, it's something this is us. This is me and River. You know, we literally poured our heart and soul into this restaurant from the bottom of our hearts. Because you can walk in there, you see that location, that's us. There's nothing that's going to veer you off. That's one of the biggest achievements that we both have done is that we are completely content with the location of what it turned out. We had no plan for it. There was no sketching, no drawing. It was basically on a day-to-day, hey, what if we do this?

And there was no conflict. It was just like, all right, I'll be back. I'll figure that out. We can do this. So it's been a constant thing. So it's been one of the hardest and one of the easiest projects for us to do because it's so easy to just say, let's do this. Okay, we got it.

When you've got a good partner, that always makes life so much easier. Yeah, it does. It makes it a lot easier. And River, he poured his heart and soul into all that artwork that he's been producing. And we've already got some local schools, like for art teachers and things like that, that are already trying to bring in their students to see that you can actually do something else with art, something business-wise, not just art that's not doing it. It doesn't just have to be conservative, traditional, center aisle. I think that was what struck me when I visited your location,

is the restaurant has personality like you don't see in other restaurants. And I'm not trying to throw shade to anyone. But he and Judah's showing off. Fantastic work, Judah. He's showing photos of the restaurant right now on the show. Folks, look at the screen. I mean, everywhere you look in your restaurant is a different art masterpiece. I've been there for eight months.

I'm still finding new stuff. Right. And I found myself there for eight months. I'm still finding new stuff. Right. And I found myself, like, it was compelling. I found myself magnetized to the walls, to the columns, to the bathrooms. You have a, what's the exact terminology here? What's the type of bike that you would call it? Oh, the lowrider bike. You have a lowrider bike hanging from a ceiling.

Yeah, a literally tricked-out lowrider. It is so dope, hanging from the ceiling. And you mentioned the columns. The columns has been an homage to family. Right. You know, so, you know, River has his column where he's got his son and his fiancé and himself that he has tagged. He did one column for me where it's all my family, my two daughters, my son, my wife. And then he had designated a column for me where he had just tagged my name around it. And then I was like, you know, it's missing something. Can you add these people that have actually helped this journey without knowing that they did,

which were my grandparents that have, family members that have passed, both my grandparents, great-grandparents, and an aunt of mine. So the columns are very special to us, but it's family and it's who we are in general. Questions coming in for you. Yeah.

Holly Foster. She says, I hope to try this when I'm up for the long weekend and Labor Day. She lives in Henrico, routinely comes up here once a month, if not more, to Charlottesville. She asks, is it patio pet friendly for a five-pound poodle? Oh, yeah. Or do I need puppy sitting? No. Yeah.

We're animal friendly in the patio and kid friendly. This restaurant is very I guess you can say it's going to be very diverse. We're not hitting on just a certain type of customer base.

We want everybody to come in. It's a bar. It's a bar but we're not categorizing just as a dive bar. You know, it's for everybody. And that's where I wanted to jump in. You know, it appeals to so many different people. When I was there a couple of times, you had families. You had, you know, the guy at the end of the day having a drink at the bar.

But, you know, when you get in there, because of the ambiance and because of the day having a drink at the bar but when you get in there because of the ambiance and because of the artwork, like Jerry was saying, you don't want to leave. I've left, gone home, come back and I'm like they're still here. You don't want to leave because you get so absorbed into it to your point

where eight months, I've eaten about a half a dozen times and constantly finding new things and having a conversation. You're not rushed. You're treated like family. The food is off the charts. The cocktails are off the charts. And if you don't want to go that way, you go out to the patio, which, my God, the weather is perfect for it right now. You've got a playground over there.

And you've got an outdoor stage, right? We do have an outdoor stage out there. So talk about that. What are your plans for that? You know, plans for that is we're planning on doing outdoor music during the days. You know, we're trying to make this into another local venue for Charlottesville. And I think after COVID, a lot of restaurants have veered off from doing certain. A hundred percent.

You can't go out and drink somewhere. The day we went somewhere, six of us, 930, we got kicked out. And it's just like, wow. You know, as a New Yorker, that's like hard to comprehend. So, you know, we have our extended hours Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We're going to eventually be open until 1 or 2 a.m., you know. And then the patio, our vision for that is trying to do like a market, a local vendor market on Saturday mornings. You know, you can have live music, have somebody playing something.

Before COVID, I was very intrigued. There was at the farmer's market downtown, they used to have, it was coffee and congas. Yeah, yeah. And they used to gather. I mean, why is that, why has that disappeared? You know, you have a lot of local artists that just want to come out and have fun, you know, and then families are going to enjoy that fun as well so we're trying to schedule and get things going so we can bring that to Charlottesville and you know what better place and like you said 1800 square foot patio it is uh you have to see it you have to experience it it's got a beautiful stage it's got a little sitting area where if you just want to sit down and have a have a conversation and then there's a small area for the chitlins to run around

and get into trouble, and mom and dad can have a thing. The other thing I was going to sneak in my post this morning, for those in the business world and real estate agents and all that stuff, you're open for lunch. This is a great environment for a business lunch, right, particularly outside, out on that patio. And this time of the year, you can have a great conversation, meet a client, have a business conversation, not be too overly loud, and not be rushed out.

I hate being rushed out of a restaurant or an eating establishment. So if you want to do a little business, and what you're trying to do, and I think you're achieving it, is kind of hitting all these things, making this welcome to everybody kind of like a cheers a little local you know charlottesville's version of cheers no yeah we're not even with our music you know we're we've been contacting a lot of uh bands and djs and local you know we're uh just talk a little bit about next week for a grand opening. We got, I'm going to mess up her name, Tina Heshme.

She's a jazz vocalist. She's going to be in on Tuesday to start everything off. And then we got Adriana and Meredith, which they're like a rogue folk music group, on Wednesday. We've got Ken Matthews with the Haywood Gills Quartet. They're like a blues quartet. They're going to be in on Thursday. Friday, we're still trying to kind of situate Friday's music. Then on Saturday, we we got DJ Sawyer.

And then on Sunday, we have DJ Reggie Watts that's going to be doing kind of our Memorial Day bash and like an all-white bash before Labor Day Monday. So we're trying to get a diverse amount of bands. I'm hearing jazz. I'm hearing jazz. I'm hearing blues. My ear's perked up. He's got a DJ tonight. I think one of the things to highlight of Mexicali is as much a restaurant as it is a bar,

as it is almost a street art museum, as it is outdoor space, as it is playground for kids, as it is music venue. There's many different faces or personalities or evolutions of Mexicali depending on the time of day. Correct. And I think it's beautiful. It's dynamic. You can go into Mexicali at lunch and see folks conducting business. You go into Mexicali at lunch and see folks conducting business. You go into Mexicali 3, 4, 5 o'clock, people enjoying a happy hour. Kids start coming in with their parents for dinner. Then you have date night crowd. Then you have the late night crowd with people getting after it. Put that in perspective.

And that's what we're seeing. I mean, we're literally seeing that. And actually, even the dinner families that are coming in with their kids that they're playing, they're staying later into the night. It's not like they're just eating dinner, okay, we got to go. Because of the

playground, because of the patio space, they're actually able... The playground was genius. I mean, that's a genius idea by you. Seriously. Yeah, we know. We're seeing a lot of friends. Copycats. Friends started to do that.

No videotaping me today with the grandkids because they make me go on the slides and stuff like that. I've got cameras all over the place. I got cameras all over the place. He thought that slide would be hilarious. Yeah, yeah. It's going to happen. Trust me. Yesterday, I mean, we had, it was two families, you know, and they were locals.

And they were there for three hours, you know. And it wasn't like, Mommy, I want to go home or all this. You know, there's plenty of space where they can play around. And the atmosphere has slightly changed. But they were on the patio. It did not affect anything you know whether it the mood might change slightly on the inside but if you're out there or you can walk out there and transfer your transfer your tab you know we over to the outside there's

no big issue there you know and we're not there's no we've also made it to a way where there's no point in a day where we're actually making you feel that you're being pushed out. You know, because the ambience is slightly changing. This time of year, you've got that one wall that opens, right? It's like, what, 20, 30 feet? Yeah, so we do have that. It's a six-door glass panel that actually accordions, and we've been opening it. I mean, with this type of weather, it just changed. I mean, so now you have an indoor-outdoor space. So what time is everybody going? Folks who want to stay for music,

what time does music typically go on? So right now, I think the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday events is 6 to 9. So more of the local, like jazz, blues, and all that. Right now we kind of have more of a dinner ambience. The DJs will be more late night. Probably from like 10 to 12. Wait past my bedtime. I can give you access to the video.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Put in perspective the cocktail menu. River's influence. He's known in the community as one of the best cocktail and mixologists out there. You have a bartender that was, I believe, just best of Seafield? Yeah. Mandario. Yeah.

He's a known commodity. Put it in a perspective of the bar, what we can expect from the menu and the creativity. Yeah. The creativity is, it's, it's kind of been an immersion. The cocktail.

Start of everything was an immersion of both. So it's kind of both kitchen and drink. You know, we've crossed ingredients from both. We have one of my favorite drinks is a cane toad. It's a mezcal and grapefruit lime-based drink. But we've also taken ingredients. There's a salsa that's called salsa matcha.

It's an oil, peanut, dry pepper base, kind of like an Asian oil chili sauce. But it doesn't have a big kick on it, but it has a lot of robust flavors from the nuts and from the smokiness of the peppers and all that. And we've actually extracted the oils from that to where now River is using it as a dripper on the drinks. Wow. And as a rimmer, too. So you've got food and drinks that are paired together. We've got food and drinks that are paired together, Kylie. And also Takis is one of the biggest things that we've been using.

I use them in the kitchen. One of our biggest, you know, items that has been coming out is our esquite bombs so esquite is a base of corn and mayo and cheese in Mexico you get a little cup in the street and you're just kind of scooping it up

with a spoon but we have made it like a fritter but we have coated that in takis like crushed takis, in cheese and different things. And now River's also using those ingredients in cocktails as rimmers. We've got, going back to friends and things and family, from Peru, there's a drink called chicha morada, which is

a purple corn-based drink that they use it kind of like lemonade type thing. It's a daily drink. I made that base for him, and he's turned it into it's called chicha gimlet, which we actually serve in a bag.

So, if anybody's been to Mexico and gotten one at a taco joint, you know, a food truck, over there it's recyclable. All the glass is recyclable, and it all has to be returned or else you pay a fee. So what do they do? They take the glass bottle, they flip it over into a bag, put a straw in it, tie it, and they give it to you. I love it. So our Chicha Gimlet, that's what it is. We're putting the cocktail in a bag, drink for you with a straw, and a little flower to make it look prettier for you. It's genius.

And so Chicha, he's used, we've been connecting on different items to get food and drink with a twist. And it's, like I said, I've been there a bunch of times, and you have to kind of work yourself through the menu, right? You do. Right? You have to work yourself through the cocktail thing, and if you sit down at the bar and you look at the bar and say, you know, this is the cocktail I want to have,

then they'll make a recommendation of the food that matches it or that assimilates it. But that's what you do. And I won't leave the name, but there was an elected official and I was sitting at the bar one day and we were going through the thing. But that's what you need to do. You need to sit there and go through the drink menus and try this. Yeah. Each drink is unique in itself and each food item is unique in itself. And you have people, sometimes it's like, hey, try this, hey, try that.

And everybody keeps asking about certain items. It's like, yeah, we can get it done for you. So we've been alternating menus some, just with the soft opening. We had to 86 a lot of stuff, and we've been introducing stuff back into the menu. you're tweaking the menu as we're still tweaking yeah we're even still tweaking we're tweaking the kitchen i just pulled in a uh a sandwich prep table into the kitchen last night um god bless their souls they're probably trying to set it up

right now of course me i had to bring it in on a Thursday night for a Friday. See you later, guys. I'm going to go do a talk show. No, he was there until 1 a.m. last night. He was doing AV stuff, right? Yeah, we were doing AV stuff, trying to get them ready for tonight. Yeah. Well, it's a great spot, and I'm going to take a little moment and personally thank you. I know this has been a lot of hard work. We've kind of been not necessarily side by side. That's us, though.

Everything we've done has been a challenge. It's been a challenge, right? But the tenacity and the belief in you and your vision and your family, I'm flatly just honored to be part of it and to walk along however close to you I can be. But your family is unbelievable. And I just wanted to say that out there publicly. You know, I get chills thinking about it. The fact that you've kind of brought me and my wife into it, it means a lot. Well, I brought your wife.

Logan Waltz Playlow. Me and my big mouth. We've got comments coming in. Trying to give you some credit. Go ahead. I'll shut up. This is from Mr. William McChesney over there. Any mariachi band plans?

You know, that's one of the things that we're probably not going to do. But you can go to El Mariachi. You can go to El Mariachi. You know, we're not, so the restaurant is not a typical Mexican restaurant. And that's one of the pushbacks that I've kind of gotten a lot. You know, we've got customers that, you know, this is, like I said, this is totally something different. So we've got customers showing up. I want this, this, this.

I'm sorry, you know, we don't do that here. You know, can we add this? No, we I said, this is totally something different. So we've got customers showing up. I want this, this, this. I'm sorry. We don't do that here. Can we add this? No, we don't have this. We don't have certain items. But, you know, they're leaving happy because you're getting a burst of flavors that a lot of people want to come back and try again. So we are different. It's not, again, we're not categorizing ourselves because there is no category to put ourselves in. It's fusion, man.

It's fusion. Yeah. And every day is different. It's fusion. I think it's genius. I can't emphasize enough to the viewers and listeners that are watching and listening to the show, when you walk into this restaurant, it's a destination. It's an experience.

I mean, I have not seen an inside to a restaurant like this in maybe ever of my life. And I sincerely mean that. I found myself looking at the walls, the columns, looking at the restaurant, and seeing, as Johnny said, something different every time I looked. It was incredible. Juan Sarmiento, I believe you owe him a drink there. I do. My wife and I had a great time when we went. We tried a bunch of different drinks and food. Look forward to the next time johnny was a gracious gracious host i owe him a drink i was deeply in a conversation and flaked out so i owe him a drink maybe two on that end of it you know as you guys were talking the best way to describe and as judah's

running through the pictures of the inside the menu and the drinks and the artwork all come together because what you see inside as far as the artwork really ties together the culinary experience that you're going to have there and the drink experience that you're going to have there. And it all kind of comes together nice and neatly. And one of the biggest points that we haven't pointed out yet, we are the only place probably in Virginia, I could probably say, that has liquor on tap. That's unbelievable. Talk about that.

Yeah. Liquor on tap. Liquor on tap. So that was a long-drawn project that went back and forth just to make sure that we were going through the right channels to try to Is that like a regulatory thing? We all know ABC Things are so but we have we put four

Four bottles on tap so they're chilled they're chill shots basically not watered down you get the straight product they're on tap handles and we've got four vendors on there now and I just got back this week and the first conversation

that I had with River is like any chance we could change the whole front that we got beer in change it all to liquor because we've got vendors trying to what what do you have on top now right now we have espalon which is tequila mi campo um del maguey which is a mezcal and casa doris so and it's quick and easy. You grab a shot glass and pull them. It's cold as heck.

That makes the difference. It's cold. You go somewhere and you ask for a chill shot. They're going to throw ice in it, shake it, and then strain it out. You have a watered down liquor. You've muted the flavors.

Now you have it straight out the bottle. I have to make a note about that for tonight. Yeah, straight out the bottle shot. And like I said, I just got word that I need to fab up some more stands for the rest of it because we've got vendors. Now that they've seen that, the liquor vendors have seen it. We've got Grey Goose on us, Fireball. Did you patent this for the state of Virginia

maybe? I'm working on that. I'm working on that. I am working on that. Because I think you just let the cat out of the bag. That's genius. That's genius. More viewer and listener comments coming in. This is from Lauren. Top selling items on the menu. What are Johnny's favorite

items on the menu and any plans for happy hour specials? Three questions there. Good one. So we can start with the happy hour. Happy hour, there is plans on happy hour. This is new to me as far as working in a bar atmosphere. Now I'm realizing that a lot of the local reps actually help out with a lot now. I guess with the ABC regulations changing. So happy hours are going to fluctuate depending on where to take their lead on those because they bring in souvenirs, they bring in, you know in shirts and things like that for happy hours. So happy hours are going to be posted most likely on social

media as far as how they go. We probably are going to have a set kind of like one hour power hour during a week. We are trying to hit, we do have 650 units above us for students, so we're probably going to be hitting like a once a week, you know, UVA power hour where they come in and have fun, but also for the community as well, we'll have a regular happy hour. And going back to the food items, you know, one of the, surprisingly to me, and it's bar food, but, you know, wings have just blown me out of the water. You know, we're not doing typical sauces. We don't have anything that's typical there.

You know, we have an adobo and mezcal marinade that we grill for wings. We have a, going back, you know, tapatio was a childhood, you know, bottle salsa you put on everything. So we made a tapatio was a childhood bottle salsa you put on everything. So we made a tapatio wing sauce. We also have a mole sauce that we're trying to be a little bit traditional on that. But one of our biggest sellers, I would say, is Esquite Bombs, which I talked about. And also, to put a twist on birria, you know, birria has been blowing up the last couple of years. But we're actually doing birria. Birria has been blowing up the last couple years, but we're actually doing birria egg rolls.

We're basically taking an egg roll wrapping and we're doing our blend of birria and items in there. It's a handheld item. Instead of a taco, you've got an egg roll. Those things are just... We can't keep up in the kitchen with those items.

Then again, also one of the hardest items is the fresh tortillas. know, we can't keep up in the kitchen with those items. And then again, also one of the hardest items, you know, is the fresh tortillas. Yes, we couldn't get the tortilla machine just because of time and other issues and space, but we are doing handmade tortillas every day. That's nice. All our tacos and everything. And that makes a difference. And that does make a difference. That makes a huge difference. What is your favorite meal?

My favorite, I would probably say the Esquita Bombs. The Esquita Bombs, it's been a big seller. It's been a big thing. Every time I turn around, I see it on tables. I get comments about it. What's your favorite drink?

Favorite drink is going to be the cane toad. I have to try that today. Jesse Rutherford watching the program. Jesse, we love you. Questions are coming in. Dan Pettit says, this man is making me hungry. Mexicali guys in the old World of Beer location on West Main Street. Let's talk about parking.

I was just going to say that. Let's talk about parking. Let's talk about parking. In Charlottesville, we're going to talk about parking. He's got signs. I Let's talk about parking. In Charlottesville, we're going to talk about parking. He's got signs. I was there two days ago. He's got signs that clearly identify where the parking is. You have 50 spots.

So we have 50 spots. So easy. So right behind us, connected to the building, which is actually under the building, there is a parking garage. And if you pull in between the flats in the Hampton, there's an alley. So you need to pull in there. It's your first left in there. There's 50 spots that are designated for us and any other retail spaces in there.

And because they're designated for retail, they're marked R. But we've also marked our logo on the columns. We've tagged them. We call them tagged. We've tagged it. We've also

in the parking garage, we've hung a banner and we're pointing you in the way. You don't walk to the front of the building. You walk around the back side to access us. You've got covered parking for 50 spots. No cost. No cost. Stay as

long as you want. It's an easy access in and out. As you walk in, you can open up the gate and put the kids in the playground. Close the gate and lock it and go to the bar. Not that I'm going to do that today, but I'm taking notes. I might just do that tonight.

I'll make sure. I'll keep an eye on you tonight. Parking guys, easy peasy, Sunday breezy. We've got questions continue to come in here. Mr. Rutherford says he loves the fresh tortillas. This question, and I'm not sure what this question is. Do you have Victoria on tap or bottle? Where's it going with that?

Victoria is a Mexican brand. Okay. It hit the market probably about six or eight years ago. Okay. We're still working through it. We don't have it on tap. We were planning on it. But, you know, it could be brought in as a bottle.

We have been trying to still figure out the area. So we've kind of kept, we didn't go crazy on stocking the fridges with every single bottle in the world. So we're not limited, but we are open to suggestions as far as what our customer base is going to turn into and what we are going to need. We've got a lot of reps, beer reps that are coming in that want to create a Mexicali brand beer. Really? Yes, we do.

Oh, wow, cool. So we are kind of working with a couple places that are going to be. Create your own brew. Yeah, create our own. Wow, good for you, man. And it might be something on tap. So, you know, we've got a very diverse line on tap, and some things might be hit or miss. But we will definitely be adjusting.

Nothing's going to stay. Nothing's going to be, you know, fixed. That's why, again, we went to the QR code at the table. You should talk about that. That's important. At the bar, we don't have QR. It's full service at the bar. We've got paper menus and all that. On the tables on the patio, we have

QR codes. You come in and you order what you want. You get your drinks. You get your food. You still get service. It's not like you're just walking around trying to figure out what you need. But also, if you want full service, we are accessing. We've got our staff with handhelds. They can come out there.

They can help you with the menu. They can help you understand the items. But also, that frees us up, especially me, if I want to come in. Right now I've got plans on putting a giant pretzel in, so I can just inject that into the system. You scan the QR code, it's going to show up right there. Giant pretzel will crush it. That will crush it.

I'm already working on that. That will crush it. But the thing is I'm working on a twist on it. Everything's a twist. You want to give us an idea? No, no, no. This is going to be a surprise. Everything's a twist. With it. Everything's a twist. You want to give us an idea? No, no, no. No, this is going to be a surprise. Everything's a twist.

Okay. With us, everything's a twist. There's items that I have 86 and that I've left for almost a month out of the menu because the ideas are there, but you need to make sure that you're different and that you give the customer some uniqueness into what they're not expecting. And you've got to make people try things that they haven't tried before. I want to jump in. You know why I love coming there? It's you.

You wander the space, and you talk to everybody at the table, and you give poor folks like me an education about, well, this is what you should try, and this is what you should do. But it is so obvious that it is all you, and you talk to these people and your customers, and you make them feel welcome and at home. But so you can just tell when you walk in on the love, you can tell by the love that you give the people out there, you guys are going to be super successful. Stephanie Wells-Rose watching the program on YouTube. Stephanie, love that you're watching on the YouTube channel. She's of the Interstate

Service Company family. Holmes' best friend is ISC. She says, this is absolutely beautiful. Our family cannot wait to visit this restaurant. And she says, we love everything the Ornalis family has provided our community so far. There you go. How does, this is an interesting question, the Johnny Ornalis role and how it may be different from the Johnny Ornalis role at Guadalajara, Jefferson Park Avenue, or what you do with El Mariachi, Zion's Crossroads? Yeah, you know, going back to the same thing, this role, it's me. It's an everyday me.

You know, this is, you know, when we went back, when we signed the lease back in August, I mean in October to get things rolling, I had to go back home. I had to go back to Cali. And it was like, you know, because that's what we wanted to bring to Charlottesville, you know. So going back there, every time I go back to Cali, it's one of those things, it's like there's no hesitation on anything. I can get in the car. Yeah, I don't know where places are, but I don't feel lost.

You know, you get in the the car you put things in GPS and you don't worry about you know Google or Siri yelling at you that you missed a turn if you missed it's like oh well you're not like oh you know so it's home you know and that's what this feels like walking in the door it's not like oh this is work well not yet anyways. But this is totally different. So my role as far as different from being in those locations, not that I don't love those locations, but this is, I guess, a little bit of peace and serenity for me because this is me and this is a way, you know, this is me and River.

This is a way that I can express for the, since I've been here since 1988 in Charlottesville, I can finally express how I am to the community and who I am to the community. Not that I didn't do it before, but this is in the fullest of what I can give back to the community. Fantastic answer, Johnny. Put in perspective being a part of the West Main Street culinary scene. I mean, a lot of people can make the argument, I've made this argument

before, from basically from Mexicali to what would you say, Tavern and Grocery. that strip, maybe the best strip of restaurants in the city. And here's the thing, Jerry. We're also, you know, like I said, we're trying to be as much community-based as well. We're trying to create an industry scene there. I have not had the chance to walk up and down West Main yet,

but we want to do a collaboration with all these restaurants into, hey, you want to come in, you can come into our location. Look, we'll give you a discount, an employee discount for being a business in this neighborhood with us. You know, let's join together. Let's do something together, whether it's advertising, cross-advertising with each other. And, yeah, at the beginning, you know, maybe they might not want to because we're the new people on the block. But we've already talked with Wahiros.

Yeah. You know, Harvey over there, he's a good friend. Good friend with River as well. But we want to create unity on West Main so we can all succeed. It's not just about us. Rising tide is good for all ships. Make a, create a restaurant owners association. There previously was one.

There really was? Peter led Castiglione Co., now the owner of Maya Restaurant. He and the Blue Moon team had a West Main Association there. And they had back-to-back years, this was in the past, did a West Main street fair. Yeah. Where West Main was closed down for like a street fair and parade. And it started at Mexicali and went to Tavern and Grocery. And it was awesome.

It was awesome. There was stuff for kids. It was pretty fantastic. Not that you've got anything else to do, but here you go. Elizabeth Chrismer watching the program. She says, we're coming soon. We love you so much, Johnny and Alice. Thank you. Folks, this is I cannot emphasize

this enough, how much Mexicali is a must-try. You guys will be blown away by this restaurant. And it's one of the things that Johnny and River have done in a competitive category that's restaurants in Charlottesville and Alamaro County is they've created something that's very unique and different from everything else. And that is a challenge to do. And they have absolutely absolutely absolutely done this this question's come in what's the favorite uh piece of art you see or you have in the restaurant

closest to your heart that's a tough one right there that's a tough ones but i mean close to my heart that's gonna be our columns i mean even even you know even riddler's you know there's so much meaning and representation in those columns that all three of them are special, even to me. I mean, River, we don't have a previous timeline. We knew each other. We knew of each other. Yeah, how'd you guys meet? I was just thinking that.

So we met. My wife gave me a mezcal tasting class for uh my birthday one year at the bab at the bab at the bab i had like four different friends with us you know mezcal tastings are usually about an hour i think from what i know we were there for like three hours with river nice um and it's just one of those things, you know, it's one of those unique things that, you know, when you meet people, it's that initial, you know,

hey, this person is somebody, you know, somebody really nice that I met and, you know, keep in contact with, maybe come back and, you know, and we had, not knowing, we had connections, you know, that now we know of the chemistry between you two when you sit back and watch him run the bar and you he talked to folks

at the bar which i want to talk about because you guys got a pretty large bar number yeah we do we got 20 seats at the bar which is pretty pretty large in in scenes. We've got 20 seats and we've got three stations behind the bar. So during the day we're running a couple stations, one to two stations, but at night we're running all three stations. So you can pick and choose. It's not a bartender that's running from one side to the other. You have access. So actually, if you think, it's kind of like an L shape, but it's got three designated areas where you can sit at. But going back to, you know, with River, it was just one of those things that we want to do this, let's do this,

and it was so easy to work with him. You know, there was not this back and forth, no, let's not do this, no, you know it was so easy to work with him you know there was not this back and forth no let's not do this no you know there wasn't a conflict and when we met it was actually I hit him up because of course going back I'm not a bar person you know I bartended but I mean I'm talking about what sex on the beach long line Teas, which everything is muddled together. But I had contacted him to come in and help me set the bar up. But after that conversation, it was just like, this doesn't make any sense. You know, this is not something that just to have somebody come in and then how am I going to manage this afterwards?

So, you know, it was like the following day, hey, you just want to come aboard? You want to come aboard? And, you know, let's knock this out together. You know, there's not, we're not the type of partners that's like, oh, this is, you know, you only have this or we only have this or this, that. No, it's just we're both partners in this and we're not. And you can feel that when you're there, the camaraderie, the friendship, the respect that you have for one another. You know that that's his space and this is your space,

but it comes together nice. And to have you walk the floor, the front of the house, and him the bar, it brings both of your personalities to the table. This place is really you, and I've known you for a long time, and I can't tell you how happy I am and excited for you. Thank you. And keep my fingers crossed. You mentioned earlier in the show Harrisonburg and Richmond,

folks interested in bringing Mexicali to Harrisonburg and Richmond. Is there any plans to? It's too early to tell. Yeah? It's too early to tell. Too early to tell. And it's early to tell. Too early to tell. And it's kind of hard to think of that.

See all that gray? That's just recent. Yeah, it's just recent grays. And it's hard to think of to do that because we know that it's not going to be the same. Because you won't have River and John. It's hard to split yourself up.

It's hard to split and maybe yes, we could do that, but this was kind of a release. That's kind of a way to explain it. This was a release. You're in there, you're doing things. Yeah, it was a lot of long days days a lot of sweat and blood and whatever but it was in a way it was a release to put this out for everybody when you walk in you can tell this is a project of love right you can see all the love that you and river and your family and everybody has put put into the home and and every time when time when you guys were getting it ready and I would show up and say hi, it was great to see the whole family there, right? And it's a family.

The family is part of this every way, dad, mom, all the way across the board. And it's just a true project of love. And when you walk through it, you just feel it. I love the location. I love the parking. I love feel it i love uh i love the location i love the parking i love that it's music i love the food i love the outside with kids the playground i love the bar scene um folks are asking could this be a home base for any of the sports teams around any anticipation or plans for soccer at all on tvs um i know there are no TVs now, but is that anything? There is no TV. So we are planning on we came

to think about putting so we're going to be doing probably a projector out in the stage inside. Love that. But we're trying to think again, it's one of those things that we a lot

of things that I do is like, okay's do this but then it takes like months for me to figure it out because we're also thinking that we can try to make sure we can get that projector something we can go outside as well. And you project it outside with the patio, and you have one of the old-school, horrible horror movies that people would sit around the fire pit and enjoy. So sports is going to be a thing, but it's not going to be our biggest. There's so much in the restaurant that, in reality, you can sit there and have a good time and not need a TV to stare at or your phone or a tablet. You know, that's one of the things I've actually noticed. You know, you've got the kids coming in special with the playground. Yeah. Kids are eating and kids are running or not eating and running and playing. But you don't see a lot of the electronics.

It makes me happy. You know, need of the electronics because there's so much. The kids love, they love the, I know you walked into a woman's bathroom. I saw you the other day. But, I mean, we've done so much. Did you see the key over there that they had put for me on that? Yes. We'll leave that for another show.

But we've done literally every square inch of that location to where your eyes are busy, the kids' eyes are busy. There's not that need of electronics. And TVs, I think, would take away from the experience. We're going to find out tonight because I'm going to bring my 5-year-old and my 3-year-old who, you know, they're in this age. Grandkids. Grandkids where they have, thank youkids where they have I got dishes in the back. So we're going to

test that. Keep them busy. We're going to test that. My grandpa name is Pop Dad. Pop Dad's at the bar. We'll put them Shelly watching the program. I believe the Bebedero family. You got some props earlier in the show, Shelly.

Close the show with the who, what, when, where, why of Mexicali for all those that are watching. Yeah. All I can say is come out and enjoy the experience. I mean, that's what we created, and that's what we want everybody to enjoy is come out, look around, enjoy the food, and come out next week. We've got the whole grand opening week. We've got something happening every evening of next week. It's free. There is no cover charge for anything.

Enjoy the music. Enjoy the atmosphere. Look up on Facebook, right? Yeah, we're going to have it posted. Like it on Facebook atmosphere look up on Facebook like it on Facebook like it on Instagram Mahikali Bar Seville and

put posts up we're very interactive with the Instagram page we got people putting reels of them all over the location. We're reposting that. Give us a hand. Give us a Google review. Add more people to the social media community for us.

We're trying to build this business and we're having fun doing it. We want you to come out and have fun as well. You've given me a hard time about the women's bathroom but check out the bathrooms the restaurant is ridiculous Eli Lopez thank you for watching the program folks it's in the old world of beer

location I can't emphasize enough how easy it is to park in a Mexicali restaurant parking spaces galore right under the building that are clearly marked for Mexicali. Family-friendly cocktails, liquor on tap. I mean, think about that, chilled liquor on tap. And some of the best food, some of the best street artwork that you're going to see. It is just absolutely a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece.

Mejicale. Thank you. I wanted to take a show to celebrate you and your family and the work and the love that you bring to our community. Absolutely. Between El Mariachi, Berberdero, and now Mejicale. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, guys.

Next week, we're going to get back into real estate. A little tease for next week. More data. It'll be the eight-month first year, but I've got a loan officer coming in, Jay Dominick. On the 30th of August. Exactly right. And our friend Woody Finchman is going to come in.

Very nice. And data, data, data. And we'll see what these two mortgage and appraisal geniuses have to say about the market. So I'm excited about it. Dan says have a great day, everyone. Fantastic show. Same to you. Judah Wachara, thank you for rotating those photos in.

Check the restaurant out, guys, on West Main Street for Johnny Arnalis and Keith Smith. This is Real Talk with Keith Smith, archived online at realtalkwithkeithsmith.com and click the partners tabs. You will see the trusted advisors in this game we call life. So long everybody and thank you kindly for joining us. That's fantastic, John. Thanks, Johnny. Thank you.