Vaquero’s Mexican Restaurant and Taqueria opening mid-July in Spokane Valley

The owner of Rancho Viejo Mexican Restaurant is opening a new establishment, Vaquero’s Mexican Restaurant and Taqueria in Spokane Valley.

Jose Rodriguez is renovating a 6,900-square-foot space at 16208 E. Indiana Ave. for the restaurant, which will share a building with Uplift Church, according to permits filed with the city.

“We noticed how the Valley is growing and we just think that’s going to be a really good area,” said Fernando Rodriguez, who is Jose’s son and manager of Vaquero’s.

The restaurant’s design will be cowboy-themed with a menu that offers burritos, fajitas and more than 10 various tacos.

“Right now at Rancho, we don’t have much of an authentic taco selection, so we are trying to see if people are willing to try new things out here,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said his father owns several businesses in addition to five Rancho Viejo restaurants in the region and wanted to try out a fresh brand.

He said they looked at a site in Liberty Lake for the restaurant about a year ago, but it would have been a larger project that had to be built from the ground up.

Then, the Rodriguez family found the site on Indiana Avenue, which formerly housed a Hooters restaurant.

“A lot of equipment was already there, so we didn’t have to do much,” Rodriguez said. “We are making one room into a bar and one into a restaurant and we found it to be an easier project to do.”

Construction cost is more than $994,000, according to the building permits.

Spokane Valley-based Four Seasons Construction is the project contractor.

Vaquero’s is expected to open in mid-July.