The familiar aroma of sizzling fajitas, steaming peppers and fresh queso wafted through the air inside a yellow building along Flat Creek, Dec. 3, as a popular Black Mountain restaurant returned to its longtime location, 14 months after being displaced by Tropical Storm Helene.
The grand reopening of Ole’s Guacamoles, celebrated by the family who founded the local restaurant in 2007, loyal supporters and the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce, included a symbolic ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the newly remodeled business.
The tranquil creek flowing behind the patio of the authentic Mexican restaurant, which was originally established by Ole and Elena Delatorre in a small building on South Ridgeway Avenue before relocating to its longtime home, rose drastically in late September of 2024. The natural disaster, which led to widespread flooding across the Swannanoa Valley, inundated the structure at 401 East State Street with up to 4 feet of water, according to Elena…