MISSOULA — The popular Missoula restaurant El Cazador overcame a major setback and is opening its second location on South Ave.
The restaurant had been hoping to expand prior to the pandemic. They had even already secured the second building.
But due to the challenges of operating two locations with COVID-19 business restrictions, owner Alfredo Hernandez could not open the doors of El Caz number two.
On Presidents Day, after a year of waiting, the location is open for business and hopping with customers.
Hernandez says the wait has been difficult.
“It’s been hard with this pandemic. You know, we got this restaurant before this thing happened. We’ve had it a month before—we bought it a month before," Hernandez said.
The reason Hernandez cites for the second location: customer demand.
"The reason I did it is a lot of my customers wanted us over here. It was hard but we did it. I got a lot of happy people, we got a lot of comments that people are very happy and excited that we’re here, and we’ve been really busy,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said the City of Missoula and County Health Department worked with him so he could open the new location safely.
