Los Potosinos Opens in King-Lincoln; El Carajillo Mexican Cafe & Bar Joins Italian Village

Yesterday, Los Potosinos Mexican food truck opened its first brick-and-mortar location at 695 E. Long St. in the King-Lincoln Bronzeville district. The storefront was most recently home to What the Waffle, which quietly closed last year. After debuting more than 10 years ago on the West Side, Los Potosinos reappeared in King-Lincoln, settling into a new spot in the district last summer. It’s known especially for its pollo al carbon.

Also yesterday, the owners of the Trading & Coffee food trailer opened a new spot in Italian Village called El Carajillo Mexican Cafe & Bar at 851 N. Fourth St. It replaces Woodhouse Vegan, which consolidated the cafe with its bakery space in the Short North. El Carajillo is testing hours this week but will eventually settle into all-day service, from coffee and pastries to lunch, dinner and a full bar. The Trading & Coffee trailer continues operating every Saturday during the German Village Farmers Market.

Over the weekend, Homestead Beer Co. said goodbye to its original taproom in Heath, Ohio. The brewery first opened its production facility and taproom there in 2013. It has since expanded to locations in Marysville and Canal Winchester. Earlier this year, Homestead announced that it acquired Heart State Brewing and would move production to Heart State’s facility at 750 Cross Pointe Road in Gahanna. The owners shared plans to convert the Gahanna location into a full restaurant and taproom, as well.

A second Central Ohio location of Caribou Coffee debuts on Wednesday, May 8 at 1752 Columbus Pike in Delaware. Caribou had a steady presence in the region until roughly a decade ago, when it closed all local stores. Local franchisee Mike Mariola Restaurants (which owns the Rail burger restaurant) is bringing them back, starting with a Reynoldsburg location that opened last August.