What makes this new Mexican restaurant in downtown Myrtle Beach ‘crazy’?
Hipolito Ponce has a definition for crazy as it pertains to business, and he is trying to follow the description and be a wild and crazy guy at his new restaurant.
“Only the crazy try to make something different,” Hipolito explained. “Everybody is the same, same, same, but not me. I want to put something different.”
So this summer Hipolito opened the Crazy Mexican Restaurant & Bar on Broadway Street in Myrtle Beach, which features among other things karaoke, randomly discounted meals, odd decor, extended hours including breakfast, and Mexican drinks and menu items that are traditional cultural favorites not always found in area restaurants.
Hipolito and his brother, Isaak Ponce, who serves as the general manager and head chef, operate the restaurant. Several family members and friends are employees, and the business is looking to hire more people.
Isaak, a Mexico City native, has been in the area just three months and recently worked as the kitchen manager and sous chef at the Sugar Factory restaurant in Florida.
But he is excited to get back to making the food he first cooked as a pre-teen in his mother’s restaurant hut in Mexico. “My mom taught me how to cook,” Isaak said. “I love it.”
Hipolito, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico, has lived in Myrtle Beach for 18 years and has been a cook at several area restaurants including Bonefish Grill, Phillips Seafood Grill and Mr. Pit Bar-B-Que.
He became a partner in a South American foods restaurant on Broadway Street, purchased the building, became the sole owner and changed the business to the Crazy Mexican.
“It’s my dream for a long time to open a Mexican restaurant, and not Tex-Mex,” said Hipolito, who is also the owner of the Cables Connected LLC electrical wiring company.
The Crazy Mexican is awaiting a liquor license to serve beer, wine and liquor, so for now alcohol is not available.
What makes the Crazy Mexican different?
_ The Crazy Mexican is open 14 hours per day, seven days a week, so it’s open both for breakfast beginning at 9 a.m. and late-night diners with a closing time of 11 p.m. He points out that most Mexican restaurants are open only for lunch and dinner.
“A lot of people say I’m crazy because I want to be open from 9 a.m. and close at 11 p.m. Being open longer and closing late makes the difference,” Hipolito said. “A lot of times Mexican restaurants [in the area] don’t have breakfast. This is the first. We’re trying it.”
_ He is offering karaoke to any customer who wants to sing, and will bring a microphone and computer monitor to a table to enable it. “It’s fun because people like it,” Hipolito said.
_ He will offer tables free or discounted meals randomly at his discretion. Sometimes it will be a percentage off the bill, sometimes it will be free, and he will make the announcements on his microphone, he said.
_ Rather than serve chips and salsa to arriving diners, the Crazy Mexican begins each meal with a pasta soup of the day.
_ The menu features Mexican favorites prepared daily that aren’t always offered at Mexican restaurants in the area.
Those items include discada, a mixture of ground beef, ham, sausage, chorizo, onion and cilantro that can be placed in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc., and conchinita pibil (baked pork).
Special drinks include horchata, a sweet rice milk with cinnamon and vanilla; tamarindo juice composed of tamarind, water and sugar; Jamaica water made with an infusion of hibiscus flowers; and mango juice. Two or more will be offered each day.
Items such as tostadas and corn tortillas are made fresh daily.
_ Hipolito painted his ceiling to resemble multi-colored Pac-Man figures against a black backdrop.
Hipolito said he hopes to one day open two connected restaurants, one serving Mexican food and the other American food. “That’s why I put [the name] the Crazy Mexican,” he said.
Alan Blondin writes about retail businesses for The Sun News. Have a tip to share about a retail store or restaurant opening or closing, or see new construction you’d like us to check out? Please let us know at ablondin@thesunnews.com.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 3:39 PM.
