LES Classic El Sombrero Makes a Comeback, With a Few Nods to the Original Mexican Dive

Longtime Lower East Side Mexican staple El Sombrero is rising from the dead this week. EV Grieve reports that the restaurant will soft open tomorrow night, but Bowery Boogie spotted some diners there last night (though they may have been friends and family). Either way, the classic is back with inexpensive Mexican food.

The restaurant's story had a bunch of twists and turns over the past year or so. It was supposed to get the boot to make room for an Artichoke Pizza, but that fell through. Still, it closed its doors on March 22. Father and son duo Jose Almonte and Jose Almonte Jr., who are related to the people who ran the restaurant for 30 years, later signed on to fix up the space and re-open the restaurant. Their new space gives plenty of love to its predecessor, with a large print of the old exterior and a bar made out of the old signage. But a few key things are new: there's a more modern feel to the design, hats hang in neat little rows in the window, and a blazing neon yellow sombrero now dangles from the corner. And most importantly, the menu's gotten an update. It still promises to be cheap, to be Mexican and have frozen margaritas, but it's not clear yet how cheap or how big those margaritas will be.