Blanco Tacos & Tequila coming to downtown Phoenix in 2019
The popular eatery is the first restaurant tenant announced for the high-profile Block 23 development.
Lauren Saria
- The downtown restaurant will be the seventh location for the brand and is expected to open by the end of 2019.
- The development also will be home to downtown's first grocery store by Fry's Food Stores.
- Called Block 23, the development also includes an office building and approximately 330 apartments.
Downtown Phoenix will soon have another destination for tacos and tequila. Blanco Tacos & Tequila, a full-service Mexican restaurant from Valley-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, will open by the end of 2019.
It's the first restaurant announced for the high-profile Block 23 development, going up on property bounded by Washington and Jefferson streets between Second and Third streets. The mixed-use project also includes the long-awaited first grocery store in the area. Blanco Tacos & Tequila will be on the ground floor.
A bigger, brighter Blanco
The downtown Phoenix location will be the seventh Blanco Tacos & Tequila. There are three others in metro Phoenix, including at Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, The Borgata in Scottsdale and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport inside Terminal 4.
Fox Restaurants Concepts also operates The Arrogant Butcher across the street in CityScape.
According to company founder Sam Fox, the downtown location will be "bigger and brighter," as well as "specifically created for Phoenix's downtown life." The restaurant will include a full bar and the menu will feature new items not found on current Blanco Tacos & Tequila menus.
"We are thrilled to open this new Blanco as a part of the Block 23 project and join The Arrogant Butcher downtown," Fox said in a statement.
Block 23
RED Development leads the Block 23 project, named for its place in Phoenix's original townsite. The company, which also developed CityScape, announced the development's first office tenant, Ernst & Young, last month.
In addition to Blanco Tacos & Tequila and the urban Fry's grocery store, the project includes:
- A 230,000-square-foot office building.
- Ground-floor restaurants and retail space.
- About 330 apartments by StreetLights Residential.
- Above- and below-grade parking.
The company expects to complete construction by the end of 2019.
More Mexican food downtown
More than 100 new restaurants have opened in downtown Phoenix in recent years, part of the growth that also includes hundreds of new apartments. In particular, the number of Mexican restaurants has increased rapidly.
- Chico Malo, an edgy Mexican restaurant, opened in mid-2017 at CityScape as one of the few full-service Mexican restaurants in the area.
- Almost a year later, in May 2018, restaurateur Aaron Chamberlin and chef Suny Santana debuted Taco Chelo, a counter-service taqueria on Roosevelt Row.
- In October 2018, Paz Cantina also opened on Roosevelt Row. The sprawling restaurant, coffee shop, bar and event venue is almost directly across the street from Taco Chelo.
- In January 2019, Taco Bell opened the state's first Cantina concept inside the Collier Center downtown. The upscale Taco Bell serves beer and liquor, as well as menu items not available at the fast-food chain's traditional stores.
LOOK: TACO BELL CANTINA IN COLLIER CENTER
Just outside the downtown core, diners can get their Mexican food fix at chef Doug Robson's Gallo Blanco. The full-service restaurant reopened in the Garfield neighborhood after its sudden closure in 2015 when it was in the Clarendon hotel.
James Beard Award-nominated chef Silvana Salcido Esparza's Barrio Gran Reserva is just a stone's throw from downtown in the Grand Avenue neighborhood. The highly regarded fine-dining Mexican restaurant was named one of the best downtown restaurants by Republic food critic Dominic Armato in 2017.
MORE RESTAURANT NEWS:
- Blanco Tacos & Tequila coming to downtown Phoenix in 2019
- Hot dogs and Cake Shakes are coming: Portillo's to open third Arizona location
- Taco Bell Cantina is now open — and serving alcohol — in downtown Phoenix
- Eat burgers with Batman at Phoenix's first comic book-themed restaurant
LOOK: WE CAN'T WAIT FOR THESE RESTAURANTS TO OPEN IN 2019
