Downtown Me and Ollie's to Become New Restaurant

Roger Elkus is always looking for ways to offer his customers at Me and Ollie's Bakery and Cafe things that are fun and festive, which is why he has decided to transform his Pleasant Street eatery into the new Ole' Burritos and Beer.

On Saturday at 3 p.m., the current Me and Ollie's Bakery and Cafe will close its doors for about a week so the staff can roll up their sleeves and renovate the restaurant that has been a fixture for 14 years. When Ole' Burritos and Beer has its soft opening on June 8, customers will enjoy a completely different experience that is riding the same Mexican wave that is sweeping Portsmouth and the Seacoast region.

So how did Elkus come to this decision? According to him, it happened while he was driving in the Arizona dessert north of Phoenix earlier this year. He was traveling in an area near Sedona and encountered different communities like Carefree where they had very neighborhood-oriented taco and burrito shacks that served amazing, flavorful Southwest-style food.

"I was about to run out of gas when I came to taco stand.  It was clearly where the townspeople ate and I can tell you why… the food was the same as the landscape: big and pure.  That was when I had my moment of dessert-clarity… sure, I wanted this food and this experience back home, but, it's more than that, it’s how I want to live everyday.  It sounds cliché but it really changed my life so much, I was even tempted to stay there!" said Elkus in a prepared statement.

It was at that moment that Elkus knew what he wanted to do with his downtown Portsmouth restaurant.

Elkus said he also has the right person to lead the new restaurant in Curtis Thistle, who used to be the general manager of the Chipotle restaurant in Newington next door to where Elkus opened another Me and Ollie's Bakery. Elkus said Thistle has already created an exciting menu of unique tacos and burritos will set set the new restaurant apart from other Portsmouth eateries like Dos Amigos Burritos, Poco's Bow Street Cantina and Agave and Vida Cantina that recently opened at the former Friendly's restaurant on Lafayette Road.

"We're going to exercise some creative license in terms of what we do with tacos and burritos," Elkus said.

Thistle said that they understand why some people may think there are starting to be too many Mexican-style restaurants popping up all over the city and the Seacoast region. But Thistle said the key questions that people should ask themselves when they patronize those establishments are: "How is the customer service? How is the food?"

When they come to the new Ole' Burritos and Beer, Thistle said they will notice a difference in those two areas.

Elkus said there is also no real ceiling when it comes to the demand for Mexican and Southwest-style food in the Portsmouth area. "People are asking for it, they are calling for it and they are buying it."

Elkus said his business has changed a great deal since he first opened Me and Ollie's in downtown Portsmouth. He noted that the city sees the most people in the evening when the current eatery is closed after doing a brisk lunch business. He believes the new Ole' Burritos and Beer will help him capture some of that business by providing them with affordable quality food before or after they go elsewhere to downtown bars to enjoy live music.

Elkus said the new restaurant will serve a wide variety of local craft beers and wine, but will not serve alcohol outside to patrons who choose to dine at the restaurant's outdoor seating. He said they will close the downstairs family room and the restaurant's new decor will feature tables made from barn doors and a beer door made from a large barn door that will display many of the bottled beers that will be sold there.

Ole' Burritos and Beer's hours will be on Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Elkus said he has no plans to change any of his other Me and Ollie's Bakery and Cafe's in Newington, Greenland, Exeter or at Philbrick's Fresh Market in Portsmouth.