Augusta Eats: After Embers cooled down, new Grovetown restaurant brings the heat

Another Grovetown restaurant has risen from the Embers.

Since late March, owner Buddy Johns has operated the Mexican-inspired restaurant El Gringo at 313 E. Robinson Ave.

It had been Embers Grille. Danny Durham Jr. bought a former barbershop in late 2017 to move his burger restaurant out of its cramped quarters next to a convenience store on Baston Road in Martinez. Durham tore down the old shop and built the current 2,000-square-foot structure.

Johns bought the property from Durham in April 2023.

"Gringo" is a Spanish-language term for a foreigner in general and an English-speaking American more specifically. Its use and level of offensiveness is often disputed. More than 1,000 comments were traded back and forth on an anonymous local Facebook post in February from commenters who sparred over whether the proposed "El Gringo" restaurant name was offensive.

Don't pass El Paso: New downtown Mexican place is where the familiar meets the authentic

More people seem united in agreement over the quality of the food; fresh Mexican flavor with an American flourish.

"By far my new favorite Mexican," a reviewer posted on the crowdsourced business review site Yelp. "Thirty-minute drive for me but well worth it!"

El Gringo's birria pizza stuffs large tortillas with shredded cheese and stewed beef, with cilantro, onions and consomme broth.

Choose steak, birria or chicken for the restaurant's flavorful street tacos, on corn or flour tortilas.

Seeing the "gringo" term added to several of the menu items will lead customers to the restaurant's most original dishes.

You can almost hear the Gringo Monster Burger groaning under the weight of its other ingredients ? grilled onions, grilled pineapple, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and mild, buttery Menonita cheese on a potato-flour bun.

El Gringo is open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta Eats: El Gringo's grilled flavor pops in its favorite entrees