MEXITALY RESTAURANT

When the owner of Mexitaly learned that PennDOT was taking his restaurant by eminent domain to make improvements to an interchange along Interstate 83, he engaged CDA to design renovations to a suite at a nearby strip mall.

At three times the size of the existing restaurant, CDA’s design looks to salvage the worthwhile existing components and lose much of the pre-existing visual clutter. A new bar area largely defined with walnut cladding is the springboard to changes that make the space warmer and more inviting while affording patrons a number of seating options. Commissioned artwork provides pops of color to the space as a nod to the bold colors used at the original Mexitaly location. The design is purposefully flexible to accommodate how service might evolve at the new location, and the process was driven by a tight budget and schedule working around the fabrication and installation of a new brewhouse component and PennDOT’s schedule.