Ever since the September closure of Walnut Creek’s El Charro, the Mexican restaurant with a 73-year history in the East Bay, locals have wondered what will take its place on the downtown corner of North Broadway and Lincoln Avenue.
The answer: Another Mexican restaurant.
Shannon Orr, the chief operating officer of 1100 Group, the Oakland-based restaurant group that owns the restaurant, told The Mercury News that the new restaurant, Bar Camino, is slated to open for lunch and dinner service at 1470 N. Broadway sometime in mid November. The restaurant group also owns Polanco, a contemporary Mexican cantina in downtown Sacramento.
The Bar Camino menu will feature both traditional and modern reimagined Mexican dishes, with everything from tacos and enchiladas to sustainable seafood and gluten-free desserts. The bar program will include large format cocktails — think palomas by the bucket — mezcals and house-infused tequilas. It’s not an El Charro reboot: the menu, team and look are all new.
El Charro closed just nine months after 1100 Group owner Ben Seabury bought the original El Charro out of bankruptcy court and reopened it in Walnut Creek as a modern homage. From the start, the restaurant faced challenges — the most significant being that it did not meet the expectations of customers who frequented the Lafayette original — and closed after less than a year.
“A breakdown is a breakthrough,” Orr says. “What it did for our team is create a passion project. We want this space to appeal to our own demographic, families with kids, and offer them good food with great service and the vibe.”
Creating that desirable vibe starts by giving the “old hacienda that’s been three different Mexican restaurants” a makeover. Those dark dining rooms will be brightened — maybe a turquoise or orange wall, maybe both — and the standard tables on the front and side patios will be replaced with community tables. Also, Bar Camino will offer not one but two happy hours, from 3 to 5 p.m. daily and from 8 p.m. to close Thursday-Saturday.
The new executive chef, Andrew Vaisman, is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and has been cooking professionally for 11 years, most notably at several restaurants in Los Angeles, including Wolfgang Puck, Michelin-starred Vespertine and Broken Spanish, where he developed a passion for modern Mexican cuisine. This is his first stint as an executive chef.
“I’m excited about the group I work for and the team I’m putting together,” says Vaisman, who lives in Antioch with his partner and new baby. “They have the greatest attitudes, and we’re creating our own kitchen culture that has nothing to do with any restaurant that has been in this location.”
Vaisman says he likes to inspire his cooks with high-quality local ingredients, so expect line-caught fish from the Farallon Islands, masa from Concord’s El Molino and fresh-baked breads from Antioch’s Cielo Supermarket. Opening dishes will include carne a la tampiqueña alongside Southern grits-style shrimp diablo and roasted salmon with piloncillo-candied sweet potatoes. And for dessert: Gluten-free chocolate cake with housemade honeycomb ice cream.
Check back for updates.
Source: www.mercurynews.com