Looking for a bite to eat before or after a shopping trip?

The Shoppes at Yorktowne, a strip center nearing completion within a cluster of big-box retailers along Dunlawton Avenue, will add a half-dozen more food and beverage choices to the area in the coming weeks.

The tiled and turreted row of Mediterranean-style shops at 1665 Dunlawton Ave. shouldn’t have any trouble pulling in customers, said Richard Barker and Brendan Galbreath, lead developers of the complex. Located east of Interstate 95, the strip center sits within a few hundred yards of such retailing giants as Lowe’s Home Improvement, Super Target, Home Depot and Wal-Mart Supercenter. Traffic counts show an average of 33,000 vehicles passing by the complex each day.

A new branch of the Tijuana Flats Burrito Co. chain, operated by Orlando franchisee Les Brotman, will launch retail activity at the 13-unit plaza with a tentative opening date of Dec. 11. Other tenants will move in as their individual spaces are completed. By next April, five more eating and drinking places are scheduled to be in operation.

“We could have made the whole thing a food court but we didn’t have enough parking to support that,” said Galbreath, whose family operates Aunt Catfish’s on the River, another eatery across town.

The developers positioned the restaurants carefully to get maximum use out of the strip center’s 113 parking spaces, said John W. Trost, a Prudential CRES Commercial real estate agent handling the plaza’s leasing.

Tijuana Flats and Godfather’s Fish House, two fast-casual dinner restaurants, were placed at the east and west ends of the strip center where parking is most plentiful, Trost said. The other establishments — smaller shops catering to a quick-visit lunch crowd, with less need of parking — have been sprinkled in between. They include Marble Slab Creamery, Firehouse Subs, Wine Styles and Smoothie King.

Nonrestaurant tenants include a pool supply store, kitchen cabinet shop, nail salon, cosmetics studio and an insurance office.

Godfather’s Fish House, a brand-new restaurant, has no connection with Godfather’s Pizza, despite similarities in their names and logo designs, said Bruce Cannon, spokesman for the Omaha-based pizza chain. The restaurant also has no connection with Aunt Catfish’s, Galbreath said.

“They will be a little competition for us, but that’s OK. Competition is good,” Galbreath said.

Trost marketed the new space at an Orlando convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers. That helped draw attention from national chains willing to pay the project’s pricey annual lease rates — $21 to $23 per square foot, with taxes, utilities and insurance extra. Tenants willing to commit to leases before construction began got discounted rates in the $15-$17 range.

All units have been leased except for an 1,100-square-foot second-floor space, Trost said.

Construction of the $2 million, 26,000-square-foot plaza by GBP Investments began about a year ago after Barker and a partner drove around the Orlando area to pick up some architectural ideas. Developer Paul Holub’s Tuscany Shoppes in Ormond Beach also provided inspiration, Galbreath said.

Five ornamental towers, plus various arches, columns and wrought-iron window grills, were blended together to simulate a European street of individual shops, rather than a row of identical units. Storefronts were painted in contrasting colors of claret, tan, dark green and cream.

Outdoor dining in front of Tijuana Flats will add another festive note, said Terry Bowman, superintendent of the restaurant’s construction.

Partner Jim Paytas came up with the idea of adding a second story to the plaza’s midsection to boost revenue. That’s where his home design center will be located.

The east end of the retail center is nearly finished. Construction workers were rushing this week to complete the interior of Tijuana Flats so 25 restaurant employees can begin training Monday.

The west end, however, is still mostly at the shell stage, lacking floors, partitions and fixtures.