There’s bad news for those looking locally for potato balls filled with picadillo, a Cuban-style ground beef, or a “refugiado,” a puff pastry with cream cheese and guava.
Porto’s still has no plans for a Santa Clarita Valley location.
A confused member of the eatery’s guest service team quickly responded to an inquiry Monday, as did a local property owner who appears to have received more than a few questions about the incorrect social media post that falsely put Porto’s on a Centre Pointe property later this year.
“We currently do not have plans to expand to that area; we are going to look into this and make sure we are able to fix this issue,” the email response read Monday.
It’s not clear how the rumor about the family-owned Cuban bakery and deli got restarted, but the regular occurrence among locals on April Fools’ Day recirculated this past week.
That might have been part of the problem.
It appears the artificial intelligence in Google’s search engine is generating Porto’s as a result for a new business at Centre Pointe Village, at the location where a Joann’s previously stood.
At least one result Monday posted information from the April Fools’ gag, replete with phony slides that were shared, which was even forwarded to the newspaper from a city official as an anonymous tip.
The actual location in the fake post has been leased by Burlington Coat Factory, which took over for Joann’s after the company declared bankruptcy, according to Randy Wrage of Spirit Properties, which owns Centre Pointe Village.
Wrage said Burlington is in the process of working on its plans for tenant improvements at the location, which could be wrapped up for an opening by the new year.
Porto’s did not respond to a follow-up inquiry about when the eatery might be coming to the SCV.
