Sous chef Pablo Flores sets out a couple of plates hot out of the kitchen at Wild Garlic Grill's former location, 2530 N. 1st Ave., Tuesday, August 1, 2017, Tucson, Ariz.
You know you’re onto something special in the ever-challenging restaurant universe when you find that you have more customers than tables. That’s the dilemma Wild Garlic Grill owner Maudi Gourdin and her chef-husband Steven Schultz faced in August. There were lines to get into their 5-year-old hidden culinary gem at 2530 N. First Ave. — squeezed into an old drive-through burger joint — night-after-night.
The couple decided in August that they needed more elbow room in the dining room and wiggle room in the kitchen. They signed a lease last summer for the 3,700-square-foot space at 2870 E. Skyline Drive vacated in February by Shlomo & Vito’s New York Delicatessen & Pizza Kitchen and began a renovation project that stretched out through early fall. They continued serving their menu of French and California-inspired garlic-centric fare out of the First Avenue location until October, when they turned on the “Open” sign for the new digs.
