Friday, August 8, 2008
News Cantina Laredo and Casablanca Coffee Coming to Gulch
Posted by Carrington Fox on Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Cantina Laredo, the gourmet Mexican concept operated by Dallas-based Consolidated Restaurant Operations, will set up shop in the ground floor of the Icon building in The Gulch.
With 24 restaurants in eight states, Cantina Laredo serves a menu based on the flavors of Mexico City, with fresh fish and steaks accented by sauces such as chipotle-wine with Portobello mushrooms and sautéed artichoke hearts and roasted red bell peppers. The restaurant will occupy 7,900 sq. ft. to the left of the Icon's main entrance at the intersection of 12th Avenue South and Division Street.
Along with Cantina Laredo, locally owned coffee shop Casablanca Coffee will occupy 1,300 sq. ft. to the right of the Icon's main entrance. The aptly named Casablanca Coffee opened its first location in White House, Tenn.
Both restaurants are scheduled to open next spring.
Market Street Enterprises, the developers of The Gulch, recently announced that Urban Flats Flatbread & Wine Co. would open a store in the Icon by the end of the year.
Comments (8)
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I know, I know...but what local restaurateur could afford one of these condo spaces right off the bat? Give it a couple of years, and I bet you'll see some Nashville originals moving in.
Forgot Miro District (duh). If it ain't in Little Dubai over here in The Gulch, it doesn't exist in my pitifully narrow world.
A round of applause to Jerry Brown, who (with Dean Robb) did miro, and to the folks behind Adelicia, who deliberately sought a locally-owned restaurant for their fancy buidling. Prior to that, Brown sunk his deep pockets into Watermark, which remains the only independently owned restaurant in the busy core of the Gulch. (Shout out to Jason Brumm, whose less padded pockets sent him and his Radius 10 to the outer northern rim of the hood, and to the Scotts Sears and Atkinson, whose Flyte re-drew the boundary of the Gulch. Those two restaurants are real risk takers, drawing people to the darker edges of this now nearly unaffordable neighborhood) With the opening of Urban Flats and Cantina Laredo, that brings the inner Gulch chain restaurant tally to four (RuSans and Sambuca). Chain retail store Urban Outfitters coming soon! I see an unfortunate trend. Can Pei Wei, Puck Express and CPK be far behind? Beware the chain, gang.
I veer towards fanatical on the subject, I know, but someone has to be willing to rant.
