El Beso is Greenfield's Newest Mexican Restaurant

El Beso co-owner Andreas Bouraxis would have liked to have opened his family’s new restaurant a bit sooner, but he was at the mercy of an artist who hand-painted the interior of the location formally filled by Champps Americana, 5030 S. 74th St.

The vivid colors of the beautiful and meticulous murals, and a menu that is equally bold and varied, were worth the wait.

The restaurant debuted both to city and school officials and fellow business owners with a formal blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning. El Beso opens to the public at 4 p.m. Monday.

“This has been an eight-, nine-month journey,” Bouraxis said. “Everything is hand-painted; we didn’t want to rush the artist. It took a little longer than expected, but the place turned out beautiful. It’s a wonderful atmosphere and hopefully we get a good response from the public.

Stepping into El Beso, whose sister restaurant is El Fuego in Milwaukee, is like stepping into an establishment south of the border. And that’s the point, according to Bouraxis.

“I hope (customers) experience Mexico,” he said. “When they walk through the door, I hope they take whatever’s on their mind and it goes away, kind of like a mini-vacation. Get away from their day-to-day things they’ve got going on. They come here and enjoy themselves.”

And it’s not all about ambiance and atmosphere.

“We have a lot of wonderful (food) choices,” Bouraxis said. “It’s not one or two things. Our chefs prepare many different things, different things that he had to go and find recipes for and put them together. The whole menu is great across the board.”

Up Next: A sneak peek at the Community Center's construction progress.