First Posted: 12/4/2009

FAIRMONT The towns newest eatery, offering a mix of traditional American and Mexican foods, celebrated its grand opening on Friday under new ownership.
The grand opening of Cielito Mexican & American Restaurant coincided with Fairmonts second annual Twilight Christmas Parade, and was the perfect time for new owner Mark Moreno to invite in new customers.
The restaurant is located at 1100 N. Walnut St., at the north end of town next door to McDonalds. The restaurant has operated at that location for about eight months, but changed hands in November when Moreno took over.
He made changes to the menu and the physical layout of the restaurant.
I did it by myself, Moreno said.
The restaurant reopened on Nov. 10.
A major change is the addition of breakfast and lunch buffets.
They say they like it a lot, the different food options … and for the restaurant itself, they say its much better than it was, he said.
Cielito Mexican & American Restaurant is now open seven days a week, serving both breakfast and lunch buffet favorites.
The buffets are proving to be popular, according to Moreno.
A lot of people like that most of the people head for the buffet, he said.
The breakfast buffet costs $4.99 Mondays through Saturday and $5.99 on Sundays.
Food choices include breakfast staples like pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs prepared several ways, bacon and sausages, orange juice, coffee and sweet tea.
The lunch buffet costs $5.99 Mondays through Saturday and $6.99 on Sundays.
Cielito also offers kids plates, vegetarian plates, a wide choice of appetizers, combination plates, seafood, salads and desserts.
Beef, pork and chicken dinners are available, along with an assortment of fajitas.
Moreno is from Mexico. Hes lived in the United States about 20 years. For 15 of those years Moreno lived and worked in New York City.
He worked in the food service industry, starting out as a dishwasher and working his way up from there, including stints as a server and cook.
The restaurant employs six people.
Cielito is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
The restaurant can be reached by calling (910) 628-9558. Take-out service is available.