WILMINGTON — For Gustavo Ibarra, breakfast has always been his favorite meal.
It’s also been the case for many locals over the last three years who have frequented his Castle Hayne eatery Buen Dia. Ibarra — a partner in Mayfaire’s El Cerro Grande and Pointe at Barclay’s Zocalo — is opening a second location of the breakfast and lunch spot in the Target shopping center.
Ibarra said he conceptualized the idea for Buen Dia years ago, after considering his favorite family memories in a countryside village outside of Mexico City.
“We had cows and chickens and goats,” he said, from where fresh eggs, cheese and milk was procured daily.
“Grandma cooked, mom cooked — homemade tortillas, fresh coffee,” he remembered. “Breakfast was always full of flavor. Every time I go to Buen Dia and have breakfast with my guys, it reminds me of my hometown in Mexico, my childhood.”
His grandmother’s favorite item was chilaquiles — translating to “chilis and greens,” first introduced by the Aztec people. It became popular in central Mexico at the end of the 19th century and consists of fried corn tortillas, softened from being smothered in chile sauce — green, red or both — served with eggs, cooked any way, and sometimes added-in proteins, such as steak or chicken, topped with queso fresco.
It’s often plated with beans, rice or home potatoes. There is also a “tortas” version, substituting bolillo bread — crusty, oblong white bread, similar to French bread — instead of tortillas.
Chilaquilas remains Buen Dia’s most popular dish, as are the molletes, offered both as sweet or savory items.
The latter consists of two 6-inch pieces of bolillo bread smeared with refried beans and cheese, crisped in the oven and topped with pico de gallo.
The sweet edition, “dulces,” consists of the bread topped with butter and sugar, toasted in the oven and served with a smear of caramel and fresh fruit.
Traditional egg dishes — such as con chorizo, spicy Mexican sausage — cozy up beside fresh omelets and breakfast burritos. Pancakes are upgraded with a soak of tres leches.
Opening a second location came about after Ibarra was contacted by Ben Avalos, owner of the former Las Margaritas. The Mexican restaurant closed last month after being operational for two years.
“Things just never were right after Covid,” Avalos said.
Avalos’ family has been in the Wilmington restaurant business for three decades, once running El Vaquero. Avalos operates Carneceria Jalisco (4330 Market St.), a Mexican meat market and grocer, and started Las Margaritas during a second wave of the pandemic. Mask-wearing was still at its height and restaurateurs could open with social-distance measures in place; however, finding dependable staff continuously proved difficult.
Once Avalos decided to close Las Margaritas, he said there were a few options on the table as to what to make of the space, but he kept thinking about Buen Dia. Avalos had been to the restaurant numerous times, supporting Ibarra and his Buen Dia partners, Yesenia Ibarra, Sandro Ventura and Marcos Cruz.
“They’re humble, hard-working people and they love what they do,” Avalos said. “And I believe in what they do. Buen Dia is really family-oriented and I like that.”
He suggested to Ibarra they partner on a second eatery.
New to Buen Dia 2 will be a full cocktail menu; Castle Hayne only serves beer, wine and mimosas. There will be expanded flavors of mimosas and sangrias, and other specialty drinks, such as various Mexican hot chocolate flavors, including strawberry.
Overseeing the bar program, Avalos plans to bring some of the popular margaritas from his former eatery, though it won’t be as expansive as the 20-plus served at Las Margaritas.
There will be special tequilas and mezcals, as well as a fresh-squeezed juice bar to complement the food, plus a nearby homemade tortilla bar, so folks can see them being made.
Avalos is looking forward to devising more specialty coffee drinks to accompany new sweet items coming on the menu, such as Mexican cookies, breads and even tamales.
“It’s still a base of corn but it includes raisins,” Avalos said, as well as brown sugar and cinnamon, sometimes other fruits.
He said it’s a great pairing to be dunked in freshly ground coffee, also sometimes served with cinnamon and raw dark sugar. Known as cafe olla, it is something Ibarra said his grandma used to make over a wood range or grill.
The New Centre location will also allow customers to add shots of liqueur, such as Kahlua, or one of many brands of tequilas.
Ibarra said the team is currently fleshing out the cocktail menu.
While Avalos will oversee the cocktails, Sandoval runs the front-of-the-house and Cruz keeps the kitchen and food coming out consistently.
“Marcos is always excited and he has such great energy he brings to his employees,” Avalos said. “He makes a great environment for people to actually want to be in the kitchen. Sandro is calm — the one that holds the floor down and makes sure there is great communication with Marcos.”
Avalos met the guys and Ibarra years ago after working at El Cerro Grande together.
Ibarra emigrated to the states in the early aughts to work at El Cerro Grande in Jacksonville; the goal was to learn English and move back to Mexico. But he acclimated to his new surroundings quickly, first working as a dishwasher, then moving to the floor as a waiter when his grasp of English snowballed. He became manager and eventually partner in some of the Ibarra family restaurants.
“I had this idea for Buen Dia a long time ago — even before we opened the Castle Hayne space,” Ibarra said. “It helped me being in the restaurant industry here and I always wanted to help somebody else that wants to do something for themselves.”
The team is shooting for an August opening for the 3,200-square-foot space, which needs little upfitting — a coat of paint here and there, cool blues representative of the oceanside and yellow to emulate the sunrise. Avalos said they’re looking into a sunrise photo along Wrightsville Beach to take up one wall.
Buen Dia at 5512 Castle Hayne Road is open Monday through Saturday at 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. and closed Sunday. Both locations will have lunch as well, featuring tamales, sopes, and street tacos.
“But it’s authentic Mexican — not Tex Mex,” Avalos said.
Buen Dia 2 will operate at 4719 New Centre Drive; there will be both indoor and outdoor seating.
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