Marisco Centro is coming to town, and spicing up the Gateway Center at the Bronx Terminal Market with Latin seafood.
The popular seafood eatery and market is set to open up its third borough location at Gateway at 560 Exterior Street in either September or October.
According to head chef and owner Zolio “Chelo” Ramirez the restaurant will “provide customers with an escape from their day-to-day activities and urban surroundings while offering healthy seafood with a Latin twist.”
The goal of the restaurant is to make patrons feel as if they are stepping into a fish market or onto the beach in the Caribbean. In addition, the restaurant will provide its customers healthier eating options by offering a wide array of fresh fish. The most important part of it all is to add a Latin restaurant to the shopping center.
“I think it is going to bring a Latin flavor in terms of seafood and culture to the mall,” said Bronx Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Lenny Caro. “They are going to have all types of Spanish dishes.”
According to Related Properties spokeswoman Joanna Rose, Marisco Centro will be located on the south side of Exterior Street, near where the mall’s Subway sandwich shop is located.
Jose Cepeda, financial advisor for Zolio Ramirez, said that being at the mall will draw a diverse shopping crowd that should include those coming to shop at Gateway’s many anchor stores, and others who get off the highway to make a special trip just to the restaurant.
“Being at the mall, we expect to get shoppers from the other businesses,” Cepeda said.
“This spot is central and in the middle of all the action. Chelo saw this as an opportunity because we are so close to the highway and to Yankee Stadium, with lots of new business coming into the area,” he added.
The site at Gateway, which will soon join its peers at 1160 Castle Hill Avenue and 123 West Kingsbridge Road, will be more upscale, though like the other spots the theme is escapism with Dominican-flavored seafood.
In addition to operating two locations in the Bronx, there are also several in Manhattan and the Dominican Republic. Chelo himself started out as a co-owner and then full owner of several Caridad restaurants in the Bronx and upper Manhattan.
According to Cepeda, there are few other full-service restaurants in the area.
“At Marisco Centro you are escaping the city; it is like stepping out of New York City and the Bronx,” Ramirez explained. “The restaurant in the Gateway will still feel like you are eating at the beach, but the style is more urban, upscale, and modern, with a nice bar.”
