Zeus Sainz’s family has operated restaurants in Nogales, Mexico, for 20 years so he knows a thing or two about food.
He and his business partner Jesus Ramirez are bringing that knowledge and a sense of culinary adventure to downtown late this summer when they open Tabu, a Latin-fusion restaurant that will feature live and DJ music and a mixology program that Sainz said they hope will convince younger Tucsonans to skip the trip to Phoenix.
Jesus Ramirez, left, one of the owners of Tabu, talks with Oscar Ramirez inside the Gus Taylor building at 128 E. Congress St., as work is underway to bring the new restaurant to life.
“We’re trying to do something different in Tucson,” said Sainz, a Tucson native. “We want to bring what Tucson does not have yet. Tucson is growing but it’s growing to the capacity where it’s still the same type of music, the same type of drinks, the same type of food. The new restaurants aren’t bringing the new kind of music and food and drinks.”
Tabu’s menu will borrow from Mexico City and other culinary destinations in Sonora, Mexico, including buñuelo chicken (or duck) with molé and chile en nogada, stuffed chiles swimming in a rich cream sauce.
Sainz said the menu, being curated by Tabu’s classically-trained chef Gabriel Gerardo, will take a gourmet approach to most dishes.
Construction has started on a new restaurant called Tabu, in the Gus Taylor building at 128 E. Congress St. The Mexican restaurant is expected to open in late summer.
Tabu will take up the 3,300-square-foot Gus Taylor building at 128 E. Congress St., next to the old Chicago Music Store. Sainz said work on the interior has begun and they are awaiting permits for exterior work, which will include a new facade.
The restaurant, which can seat as many as 170, will feature a mixologist-driven cocktail menu and live music. Plans include having a DJ spin house music with a musician playing violin, saxophone or other instruments alongside recorded house music.
But Sainz said the idea is not to create a night club.
“We still want to have our customers be able to have conversations,” he said. “It’s not a night club where you can go and dance. It’s a place where you can listen to music and have a nice meal and wine or cocktails.”
Saenz and Ramirez, who own Top Gear Auto Sales on East Prince Road, had been scouting locations for Tabu in 2020, but COVID-19 put the brakes on their plans, Saenz said.
When things started reopening late last year, the partners circled back to the project.
