Local Mexican restaurant to add drinks, wine after city approval

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A Flandreau restaurant has purchased the on-sale liquor license from the owner of the former Wind Street Liquor Store.
The purchase by Itzel Graham, co-owner of El Rinconsito, from Kyle Haug, who owned The Liquor Store and had an accompanying on-sale license, means Graham will be able to sell margaritas and specialty wines, at her restaurant at 200 E. Second Ave.
Until this point, Graham, who opened the restaurant in March of 2019, has had a malt beverage and South Dakota wine license. “With this license, now we could actually get the good kind of wines. We’re going to make sangrias,” she said.
She will have regular and blended options for margaritas and plans on having flavored and original choices. She also will have the ability to expand her beverage menu to serve mixed drinks in the future.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a lot more people come in. Who doesn’t like tacos and Mexican food with margaritas?” she asked. The business is seeing more guests from out-of-town, especially Brookings and Pipestone.
She will be able to serve the drinks once the license has been approved by the Flandreau City Council and the state. The council will hold a public hearing on the license at the July 6 meeting.
Haug also plans to sell a second license, his off-sale liquor license, with his closed liquor store, which will be put on the market in the next few weeks, he said. In the meantime, he will be restocking the store and getting it ready to be a turn-key sale.
Haug, who will continue to own the building, will sell only the business, which will then lease the space from him.
“We’re still putting a lot into this property. There’s a lot to do yet,” he said. He hopes to have the building completed by the end of the year and plans to lease out the space for retail and office, which is needed in Flandreau, he said.
He is glad the underused on-sale liquor license will be put to use.
“It will be nice to see the bar license getting used and generating revenue for the city,” he said. He used the on-sale license only a few times, including during the city’s Sesquicentennial street dance last July. His original plans included a bar or restaurant that would sell drinks in space next to the liquor store.
Haug bought the building, which had been closed for years, in 2018 and renovated it, bringing back its more historic look and opening the liquor store in December of that year. He closed the business in August 2019 and shortly thereafter, the business was broken into and items were taken. Now he’s back at putting it together again.