New Joliet Restaurant Replacing Tony's Place Mexican Food: Photos

JOLIET, IL — Joliet's West Jefferson Street restaurant corridor suffered a tough setback to start the year when a long-time small family-owned business at 2141 W. Jefferson St., Tony's Place Mexican Food, called it quits. Tony's Place was known as "casual Mexican counter serve, providing a familiar roundup of tacos, burritos and fajita plates.

Now, there's good news on the horizon.

Just weeks after the Joliet City Council approved plans for a new Bisa Lina recreational marijuana dispensary store to open at the old NAPA auto parts store building, Joliet Patch spotted activity on Tuesday at the empty Tony's Place. We now know that the Tony's Place won't be sitting empty for very long.

A brand-new sign and logo for the Carnitas Moroleon De Don Jose Mexican Restaurant was installed Tuesday afternoon by the Joliet sign company, Premier Sign Solutions. Carlos Tinoco's sign company is located behind the U.S. Post Office in the industrial park behind McDonough Street.

The name of the strip mall where the new Carnitas Moroleon De Don Jose restaurant will open is called West Jefferson Point.

Employees with the sign company said they had not been told how soon the Carnitas Moroleon De Don Jose restaurant was expecting to open.