Adelita Mexican Restaurant is leaving its cramped 765-square-foot storefront on Frankfort Avenue in Clifton for a 4,300-square-foot space in Butchertown, taking over the building that housed Chik'n & Mi until the beloved fried chicken spot closed in February after nine years in business. The family-owned restaurant plans to open its new location at 1765 Mellwood Ave in early October, adding a cocktail menu along the way.
The relocation was reported by Louisville Business First and later detailed by WDRB, which reports that Alexander Gomez opened Adelita with his mother and brother. Now 21 and serving as manager, Gomez told the station the move represents a new chapter for the family business. “It's a big step,” he said, according to the outlet's report.
Gomez said the current Frankfort Avenue location has simply run out of room. “We've reached the limit of our current space, and we need an expansion,” he told the station. He and his brother handled much of the design work themselves at the new site, including building the restaurant's new bar by hand, and the family has already sunk about $100,000 into renovating the bathrooms, kitchen, and bar area inside the former Chik'n & Mi building.
A Kitchen Built Around Grandma's Mole
Whatever changes come with the bigger space, Adelita's menu backbone isn't going anywhere. The restaurant makes its mole in-house, based on a recipe from Gomez's grandmother, and the family plans to keep serving what Gomez described as homemade Mexican food, recipes, and love while growing into the larger footprint. The restaurant is also adding a new cocktail program. “Authentic Mexican food and cocktails will bring people in,” Gomez said, per the same WDRB account.
The scale of the jump is hard to overstate: going from 765 square feet to 4,300 square feet expands Adelita's physical footprint by more than 460 percent, according to WDRB. Gomez said the family is eager to show what the restaurant can do with more room to work. “We're excited to show our capabilities in a bigger location,” he said.
What Happens to the Original Clifton Spot?
Adelita will close its Frankfort Avenue location once the Butchertown restaurant opens, but the family isn't necessarily done with the Clifton block. The restaurant is considering launching a different concept in the existing space, though no details on what that might look like have been finalized.
The Clifton storefront sits along Frankfort Avenue in Clifton. Adelita is leaving that location for its new space in Butchertown.
Filling the Shoes of an Award-Winning Tenant
The building Adelita is moving into carries some history of its own. Chik'n & Mi closed for good on February 28, citing skyrocketing food prices, inflated operational expenses, and lingering financial strain from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to LEO Weekly. The closure came not long after the Asian-fusion chicken spot had been named Best Fried Chicken in Louisville Magazine's 2025 “Best of Louisville” awards.
Following the shutdown, the restaurant was no longer operating. Before settling at 1765 Mellwood Ave, Chik'n & Mi had originally launched in 2017 at 2319 Brownsboro Road in Clifton. The building itself has served as a multi-concept restaurant site for years, having also once housed Hearth on Mellwood Eatery, and features a spacious patio.
A Neighborhood on the Rise
Adelita's move lands in Butchertown, a neighborhood established in the early 1800s as Louisville's original meatpacking district, according to the Butchertown Neighborhood Association. The move brings the family business to a new neighborhood.
Butchertown is a working-class residential neighborhood that co-exists with industrial and commercial buildings. A Louisville Metro Council voting record dated 25 Feb 2022 lists an expense related to developing a neighborhood plan for Butchertown and Phoenix Hill.
Adelita's move puts the family business in the space formerly occupied by a shuttered restaurant. For Adelita, that means turning a family recipe built in 765 square feet into a restaurant approximately 5.6 times the size, with the doors expected to open in early October.
