Tacos and burritos are wonderful foods, but when it comes to Mexican-based dining, there is more to offer.

A recently opened Mexican restaurant in downtown Kankakee is set to demonstrate that there is so much more to this style of food.

The restaurant, Cantina Del Mar, 239 E. Court St., the location of the former 8 One Five downtown bar, opened a week ago, and husband-and-wife owners Vicente Perez and Angelica Calderon are set to demonstrate this fact to the food-seeking public.

“People are surprised that Mexican food is a lot of seafood,” the 46-year-old Perez explained.

“Mexican food is so much more than tacos and burritos. In Mexico, seafood is a great part of the menu,” he said.

The 1st Ward restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

The menu will feature cooked shrimp and octopus served cold, butterflied raw shrimp cured in fresh lime juice with spicy salsa, raw oysters on the half shell, deep-fried whole tilapia, deep-fried whole huachinango and deep-fried snapper, just to name some of the dinner offerings.

Platters to share include crab legs, scallops, surimi, mussels and octopus. There are prawns butterflied and sauteed, as well as sauteed jumbo shrimp.

There is an extensive list of specialty drinks as well as a selection of imported beers from Mexico and several domestic labels.

And what Mexican restaurant would be complete without an extensive list of margaritas, tequilas, and mezcal? Mezcal is a distilled alcoholic beverage from Mexico made from any type of agave plant and is known to have a smoky flavor.

Many area Mexican restaurants serve imported beers and offer specialty drinks, but the offerings of oysters, octopus and red snapper are largely unheard of.

Perez operated the restaurant known as Tierra Mar, at 6070 Illinois Route 17, the current location for The Office, for only a period of a few months in late 2019 and into early 2020.

It was in that time frame that the world well knows that the COVID-19-induced pandemic hit and had a devastating impact on many businesses.

Restaurants were hit hard during the pandemic and Tierra Mar was closed.

After closing Tierra Mar, Perez, of Chicago, worked for Rosebud Restaurant Group in Chicago and waited for his time to re-enter the market.

When he saw the 8 One Five’s former location, he saw an opportunity. He looked over the Dustin Kooy-owned site and decided the time was right.

With seating for 60, a full bar and charm, the location provided the right mix for his restaurant.

“It’s a great location. I like what Kankakee is doing. We will start here and see where it takes us,” he said.