Photo by Eric Ayres - Carlito’s Soul Kitchen is taking shape at 753 Main St. in North Wheeling at the former riverfront site of Uncle Pete’s. Jeramie Alvarado, owner of the site, said he hopes to open the new soul food restaurant by mid-summer.

The table is being set for the planned opening of a new restaurant at a Wheeling location that formerly had been a familiar favorite for many food-lovers in the Ohio Valley.

On Monday night, members of the Wheeling Planning Commission granted a request for a special use permit in order to open a restaurant with a lounge at 753 Main St., the former riverfront site of Uncle Pete’s. Applicant Jeramie Alvarado, who owns the building and the adjacent apartment buildings, said if all goes as planned, Carlito’s Soul Kitchen will open its doors by mid-summer.

“It looks amazing in there so far,” Alvarado said, noting that new paint, a new deck on the back and new signage have already been installed. “We’ve still got a few things to finish up. It’s going to be a soul food place, so it’s going to have a rustic, bluesy kind of feel. I’ve got four local artists involved, so there will be some artwork in there. It’s going to look really cool.

“I don’t want to give too much away, because when you go in, you’re going to be amazed.”

Alvarado said Uncle Pete’s was still in operation there and the tenants were already occupying the apartments when he and his mother acquired the properties about six years ago. Uncle Pete’s has since relocated to its new location in Elm Grove. Shortly after the riverfront restaurant space was vacated, Big Shot Bob’s moved into the site and operated there until the pandemic left the space vacant once again.

“It sat empty for a while,” Alvarado said. “Due to COVID, no one is really renting restaurant spaces. Still to this day, it’s risky if you don’t really know what you’re getting into.”

Alvarado, however, does know the restaurant game. He and his wife, Rachel, own and operate the popular Rachel’s on 16th in East Wheeling.

“I had to talk my wife into it, but I said ‘I have an idea about what we can do with this location,'” Alvarado said. “We’ve been working on it, and we want to open up for lunch and dinner, and have a bar. We’ve renovated a lot of stuff inside. It looks amazing in there so far.”

The proposed menu items include everything from “soul wangs” to short ribs, crab cakes, Carlito’s stuffed peppers, salmon cake sandwiches, ham po boys, catfish, collard greens, fried okra, peach cobbler and much more.

No one came to speak Monday night during the required public hearing on the request for the site’s special use permit, which was unanimously approved. Alvarado is scheduled to appear before the Development Committee of Wheeling City Council today at 4:45 p.m. on a request for development or redevelopment at the Main Street property in North Wheeling.