HARLINGEN — The second Vermillion restaurant will open at its renovated West Harrison Avenue location on April 6, owner George Perez said today.
Perez’s iconic Brownsville eatery known as “The V” is for the first time establishing a second location which will be named the Vermillion Restaurant and Watering Hole. It replaces Pico de Gallo Cocina Tex-Mex at 1601 W. Harrison Ave.
“Next Thursday we’ll be ready to go,” Perez said. “We’re waiting for the permits tomorrow — the city’s going to come over and do a final, and I’ve got a couple of days to whatever they want me to fix, repair or change.
“But next Thursday for sure — we’re ready,” he added.
The remodeling of Pico de Gallo has been extensive, with new sepia-toned photos of old Harlingen on the walls.
“Over here it’s from the 1950s, ’40s, ’20s, so all are different and we put them all in the collage,” he said.
Perez says there will be a bar in the restaurant, but it will be small, which will help maintain the family atmosphere he wants to present to customers.
The menu will be exactly the same as the restaurant in Brownsville.
A second entrance and exit has been established from Tyler Avenue as well.
The original Brownsville restaurant was built by Fred Vermillion at Boca Chica Boulevard and Paredes Line Road in 1934, a small ramshackle affair which was replaced and upgraded by subsequent owner G.L. “Gib” Davidson.
Davidson bought the Vermillion in 1953, and it remained in the family until it was sold to Perez last year.
