Travelers looking to eat hearty Mexican food before their flight from Reno get a new option starting this week.

Mari Chuy’s Mexican Kitchen will celebrate its grand opening at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 12 at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. To celebrate the opening, the airport will host a mariachi band and folk dancers will join in the festivities.

The Mari Chuy airport location will be the family-run Mexican restaurant’s fourth branch in the area. The company’s origins can be traced to husband and wife Mari and Chuy Gutierrez’s Fresh Mex restaurant on West Fifth Street.

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The couple then moved the restaurant to the popular Midtown area of ​​Reno in March 2012 and renamed it Mari Chuy’s. The restaurant was the first tenant in the Stix Mall on South Virginia Street and Saint Lawrence Avenue.

The business would get its second location in 2019 when Mexican restaurant and rotisserie Mari Chuy opened in Victorian Square in Sparks. This would be followed by the restaurant’s third location at the Village at Rancharrah, Mari Chuy’s Tequileria & Botanas, which added an additional emphasis on tequilas and small plates in addition to the restaurant’s usual Mexican fare.

The addition of Mari Chuy’s comes at a busy time for Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Reno Airport recently shared plans for an ambitious expansion as it tackles increased demand resulting from the region’s growth.

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Reno-Tahoe International also set new highs with 13 carriers and 27 nonstop destinations, both of which are a record for the airport.

This year’s numbers compare favorably to Reno-Tahoe International’s last full year before the pandemic, said Hasaan Azam, air services and cargo development manager for the airport.

“There are still a lot of unknowns as to what tomorrow will look like (due to the pandemic),” Azam said. “But we currently tend to be better than in 2019.”

Jason Hidalgo covers business and technology for the Reno Gazette Journal, and also reviews the latest video games. Follow him on Twitter @jasonhidalgo. Do you like this content ? Support local journalism with an RGJ digital subscription.