LOOKIN' GOOD. Almost good enough to eat – but you'll have to head inside to get a bite. Mancino's Grinders & Pizza is a longtime Eau Claire staple, and it just got a mural makeover. 

Jaden Flores, the artist behind JayFlo — known for numerous color-drenched murals throughout the Chippewa Valley — recently unveiled his latest collaboration with a place close to home: Mancino’s Grinders and Pizzeria (2295 Brackett Ave., Eau Claire).

If you have stepped into the restaurant along Brackett Avenue — beloved for its hot sandwiches and Italian flare for cuisine — you wouldn't be the first. Flores, for example, has been going there his whole life, he said.

Since the restaurant’s relocation back in 2021, he noted the new space was in need of some color, saying “I have always been drawn to the more bleak landscapes as they shine the brightest after.”

"(Public art) helps strengthen the community's pride in itself, by helping remind people that people still care deeply about it enough to put the time and effort into things like this."

jaden "jayflo" flores

muralist

The visual art installation features all of the best menu items Mancino’s has been known for since its initial opening in 1997; it showcases a crowd-pleasing pizza pie as its backdrop. Flores said one of the first design ideas he had for the mural, the “big grinder,” was his favorite element to shape and illustrate.

The chef, adjacent to the restaurant’s door, is intended to be both friendly and welcoming — mirroring the thousands of experiences customers of Mancino’s.

“In areas with more public art it helps strengthen the community’s pride in itself, by helping remind people that people still care deeply about it enough to put the time and effort into things like this,” Flores said.

This art piece will undoubtedly help folks discover – or rediscover – the wonder that is Mancino’s. And for those curious (as I was during the interview), of Flores’ go-to order? “Definitely the Chicago steak grinder, full size!”

Stop by the new mural by JayFlo at Mancino’s Grinders and Pizzeria (2295 Brackett Ave., Eau Claire). Mancino’s is open for dine-in and takeout from Wednesday-Monday from 10:30am-8pm, closed on Tuesdays. 

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