A Mexican restaurant called Lil Fiesta on Route 66 recently opened in the space that held Sonrise Donuts and its iconic sign for many years in Springfield, Illinois.
Lil Fiesta on Route 66 opened Friday at 1101 S. Ninth St. (aka Route 66) in a space that also held another Mexican restaurant, for a few years.
The restaurant’s owner told the Springfield State Journal-Register he’s playing up the site’s Mother Road roots.
“It is a great location,” owner Omar Hernandez said. “Route 66 is famous throughout the whole country, the whole world.”
Hernandez is leaning into that history with a mural that looks like a red fin-tailed Cadillac is cruising right from the parking lot onto the exterior walls of the building. The mural also captures the downtown Springfield skyline with the greeting “Bienvenidos a Springfield, Illinois. Bienvenidos is Spanish for “welcome.”
Hernandez said Lil Fiesta’s menu will carry some signature dishes found at its namesake at 2830 Adlai Stevenson Drive. But the lineup also will feature some more authentic Mexican dishes from his hometown of Jalisco, Mexico like the torta ahogada – a “drowned sandwich” that has a crusty roll filled with pork carnitas and red onions dipped in a red chile sauce.
Other selections will include authentic Mexican burgers and hotdogs seasoned with Mexican spices.
Sonrise Donuts closed there many years ago, but its 70-year-old, two-sided rooftop neon sign wasn’t removed until 2019.
One-half of the now-restored sign resides at Route 66 Motorheads Bar & Grill, and the other half at the Ace Sign Co. museum, both in Springfield. Both places are worth a stop for their neon sign collections.
(Image of the Sonrise Donuts neon sign at Ace Sign Co. by Visit Springfield via Facebook)