Mexican restaurant in Peters coming off heart-warming start
Courtesy of Adi Karamcheti
La Calera Mexican Bar and Grill is striving to gain a foothold in Peters.
Courtesy of Adi Karamcheti
A colorful decor, enhanced by hand-painted murals, greets guests at La Calera Mexican Bar and Grill.
Courtesy of Adi Karamcheti
La Calera Mexican Bar and Grill has stepped up to the plate with a wide range of selections.
Courtesy of Adi Karamcheti
The interior of La Calera Mexican Bar and Grill has a chic, colorful look.
Courtesy of Adi Karamcheti
La Calera has joined a grouping of Mexican restaurants along or near the Washington Road corridor in Peters.
Courtesy of Adi Karamcheti
La Calera Mexican Bar and Grill opened on Valentine’s Day in Peters Township.
This is a hearts and flowers story – and why not? It begins on Valentine’s Day.
Business partners Adi Karamcheti and Fidel Valdovinos were preparing for a soft opening at La Calera Mexican Bar and Grill that day. “We wanted to work out the kinks,” Karamcheti said. “My wife (Erenia) was really nervous,” and the co-owners were a tad antsy.
They were anticipating a modest crowd at the Peters Township location, without realizing that a five-second video posted on social media would create a rush to the doors – which, under regular circumstances, is a great thing in the food industry.
“It went viral,” Karamcheti said. “We did not have the people. The bartender had quit the day before and we had two servers – usually there would be three or four.”
La Calera may have briefly resembled La Chaos, but the owners and staff diligently persevered and saved the day. And likely fostered love among some customers at an appropriate time.
Four weeks later, a stepped-up staff continues to prepare and serve tacos, nachos, enchiladas and margaritas seven days a week. The restaurant sits at 94 Center Church Road, off Route 19, where Open Table German Italian restaurant previously operated. Open Table, Karamcheti said, shut down during the pandemic.
“Things have worked out pretty well so far,” he said recently.
The interior of the new dining destination merits a rousing ole. It is chic and colorfully adorned, featuring 10 bright, hand-painted murals. Eight are by Jose Manuel Torres Naranjo, whose artwork includes street scenes from the small Mexican town of La Calera, where Valdovinos once lived. The daughters of La Calara manager Luis Mejia, Jackelin and Sherelyn, drew the other two.
“Jose put the Taj Mahal in the background of a Mexican scene, in my honor,” said Karamcheti, who was born in India and moved to Washington with his family when he was 2 months old.
This is his first restaurant endeavor. A longtime city resident, Karamcheti is a consultant for professional services at Shipware, a San Diego-based transportation company. In his new pursuit, he is leaning heavily on the experience of Valdovinos, owner of the Old Mexico restaurant on Murtland Avenue in Washington.
“I am not an expert on Mexican food,” Karamcheti said, laughing. “Fidel and I are very good friends. He approached me last April about buying the building, which was in pretty good shape.”
The property includes a residential site, where a couple of employees live.
The owners now have a staff of 12, and if anyone takes a sick day, Karamcheti will enlist one or both of his two high school-age sons to fill the void. The owners and employees are facing a challenging time for a restaurant that is trying to gain traction – with supply chain delays and runaway inflation exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The price of food is kind of high now. It’s a little trickier,” Karamcheti said. “The customers have been incredibly nice and kind, though.”
He added that he and Valdovinos are planning to tweak the menu, adding dishes from other Central American nations.
For Karamcheti, this is another interesting chapter in an interesting life. He is a native of India, son of Anand Karamcheti, a well-known Washington surgeon who died this year, and his wife, the late Rama, a longtime Citizens Library employee in Washington.
Adi is bilingual (English and Spanish) and married to Erenia, who was born and raised in Nicaragua. She left that nation during a civil war to attend college in Honduras, where she earned bachelor’s and law degrees.
After returning to Nicaragua, she met Adi on New Year’s Eve 1998, when he was in the Peace Corps. They eventually married. Erenia, who also is bilingual (English and Spanish), is a CCD teacher at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Meadow Lands.
Hours at La Calera are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
La Calera is the fourth Mexican restaurant in operation in the township. All are situated on or near the Washington Road corridor.