New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
North Haven to get a taste of Mexico with Torito
NORTH HAVEN — Having successfully opened a half-dozen Mexican restaurants in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Ramon Michel now is taking aim at the Connecticut dining market.
The 56-year-old Michel, who got his start in the restaurant business as a dishwasher at the age of 16, is opening his first Connecticut restaurant Tuesday, when Torito debuts at 150 Universal Drive North in the North Haven Pavilion shopping center.
North Haven is the first Torito location in Connecticut, and Michel expects to open locations in Shelton and Waterford in the next six to nine months.
“People are really welcoming here and they appreciate good service,” Michel said of Connecticut’s dining public. “I operated restaurants in the Indianapolis area and out there, it’s all about price, how much of a discount they can get on their meal.”
Torito is one of three brand names under which Michel operates the restaurants he co-owns.
His two Rhode Island restaurants are named Cantina Del Rio, and he operates two Torito locations in Worcester and Danvers, Mass. Four other Massachusetts restaurants operate under the name Casa Vallarta, he said.
Michel spent the last several month renovating the space formerly occupied by a Ruby Tuesday restaurant, one of 150 that the casual dining chain closed in summer 2020.
Michel said he prefers renovating former restaurant locations rather than building new ones.
“I tried doing it from scratch and it was more expensive than the renovations I’ve done,” he said.
The North Haven location will employ about 30 people, Michel said.
Torito’s menu has an extensive selection, including:
Five different types of guacamole, including one infused with bacon and another with mango or strawberry.
Cocotel, which Michel said is shrimp or octopus cooked in a clam juice.
Cochinita Pibill, a marinated pork dish slow roasted in banana leaves with sweet plantains, queso fresco and pickled red onion.
Parrillada de Mariscos, a seafood dish made with fish, crab meat, mussels and clams, octopus and shrimp cooked in special sauce, served over a bed of white rice and avocado.
North Haven long has had a demand for a Mexican restaurant, said First Selectman Michael Freda.
“I’ve had request for that for years and when that space opened up I worked with Jack Baker, the chief executive officer of National Realty (which owns North Haven Pavilion),” Freda said. “We formulate a plan on what I’d like to see and what kind of tenant he can deliver.”
Freda said he and Baker are looking to find a restaurant to move into the the space formerly occupied by Panera in the shopping center. Panera will open a new location farther north on Universal Drive on one of the vacant pieces of property in front of the Cinemark movie theater.