Southern Arizona's first free-standing food court will open late next month in a former south side meat market.
American Eat Co.'s opening comes 15 months after the developers, Common Group, announced plans to put eight restaurant concepts, a bar and a butcher shop in the former American Meat Co, 1439 S. Fourth Ave. The meat market closed in 2015 after 62 years in business.
Inside the sprawling 8,000-square-foot building, diners will be able to sample ...
— inventive sliders from longtime Tucson chef Larry Salina at The Bite
— familiar Greek fare from Andreas Andoniadis's popular North Campbell Avenue restaurant Opa
— Chicano comfort food like deep-fried hamburger patty tacos from Aaron Cornejo's maiden restaurant venture Avenues
— A second location of the Grant Road pizzeria Upper Crust Pizza, specializing in slices
— AZ Rib House, serving ribs and handmade chicken tenders
— Poke and rice bowls from a restaurant called Dumb Fish, operated by the project's developers
— Tucson craft brews and Arizona wines from Market Bar, also operated by the project's owners/developers
— Dos Amigos, a butcher shop and market with prime meats, housemade chorizo, tortillas and more
— A second outpost of Isabella's Ice Cream sharing a stall with Sam Waters and Joseph Ontiveros's Cafe con Leche coffee stand. American Eat Co. owner Jesus Bonillas said the coffee shop will serve traditional pan dulce pastries from a local baker.
“It’s not your everyday restaurant that you envision,” says Jesus Bonillas, left, with partner Guillermo Gallegos.
"The No. 1 reason we're down here is because we love to eat," Bonillas' partner Guillermo Gallegos said Wednesday as the partners led a couple of neighbors on a tour.
The pair's development company Common Group, which over the past several years has bought and restored several distressed commercial and restaurant properties on the south side, invested more than $1 million into the project and since they bought the property in November 2016.
The plan was to open by spring, then summer 2017. But drawing up the designs to create eight restaurant stalls complete with individual kitchens and counters, the bar and the butcher shop/market proved far more challenging than they had anticipated. Getting liquor licenses and other permits required jumping through a few more hoops, and signing up the mix of restaurant concepts took a bit more persuading than they bargained for.
"It's not your everyday restaurant that you envision" Bonillas said. "There were challenges and roadblocks we had to navigate. But I'm very excited. It was one heck of a process, but I’m happy with the result. The time doesn’t even matter to me. Now that I see how this thing came together I wouldn’t do anything different. The finished product is exactly what we envisioned.”
What they envisioned was a place where cuisines and cultures would come together under one roof, with customers sitting in a common dining room that can seat about 250; there's also an outdoor patio.
A lounging area is one of the seating options at Great American Eat Company on 1439 S. Fourth Ave.
Each fast-casual concept has its own fully-equipped kitchen and work space and each has a unique design, from corrugated industrial metals to brick and wood paneling. A hostess will greet customers near the front door and service is at the counter. American Eat Co. staff will be responsible for bussing tables and maintaining the dining areas.
General Manager Daniel Gutierrez, whose AZ Rib House concept is next to Market Bar, will manage the dining room including overseeing hiring as many as 50 employees in the next few weeks for all the concepts and the dining room. (They are accepting applications at americaneatco.com)
"We can't wait to start this amazing dream," he said Wednesday, noting that there will be a dozen TVs throughout the building, all of them tuned to sports when the University of Arizona Wildcats football and basketball teams play.
Bonillas said they have a few finishing touches left to tend to, including finishing the counter tops and installing the kitchen equipment, before they can open, and Chris Pavlov and his partner Nicholas Heddings could not be more excited.
The pair signed onto the project in the early days to bring Heddings' popular Grant Road pizzeria Uppercrust Pizza to the south side.
Photos by Ron Medvescek / Arizona Daily Star/
Upper Crust Pizza will offer pizza by the slice, adding this location to its original Grant Road spot.
"We thought this was a super cool idea," said Pavlov, who has worked with Heddings for several years and is a partner in the South Fourth Avenue project, which is one block north of the City of South Tucson limits and a mile from downtown Tucson.
Across the building in a dark wood paneled corner, Cafe con Leche owners Waters and Ontiveros excitedly ticked off plans to share their love of all things coffee while Kristel Johnson sized up the small space where she and her husband/business partner Dominic will open the second outpost of their popular Isabella's Ice Cream.
"I love the feel and the enthusiasm," Johnson said, explaining plans to include a machine that would allow them to create treats similar to Dairy Queen's popular Blizzard. "I love the look. I love that they have this passion for the area and the vibrancy. It's so cool. I'm really excited about it. I feel like it's a privilege to be a part of this."
Andy Arias is leaving real estate sales to open Dos Amigos market and butcher shop, modeled after the south side meat market his father Armondo ran for 29 years on West Drexel Road and South Cardinal Avenue.
"I couldn't pass it up," said Arias, who worked alongside his father for years before the senior Arias closed Dos Amigos Meat Market two years ago. "They have a good concept here."
Arias said he will sell prime meats as well as his father's popular chorizo. The market will offer a limited selection of grocery items, including sauces, tortillas and chiles.
The butcher shop was one of the first ideas that came to Bonilla and his partners when they were dreaming up plans for building, which was home to the Islas family's American Meat Co. from 1953 until late 2015.
Filiberto Islas, the last of the Islas brothers who ran the butcher shop, said he planned to donate some old family photos when American Eat Co. opens.
Islas, 82, said Bonillas gave him a tour of the building, and he was pretty impressed by the makeover.
"They spent a lot of money renovating that building and it looks great to tell you the truth," he said. "I think they may make a go of it.”
One of Islas's nephews, who had worked in the family market for years, is opening a meat market at 702 W. Irvington Road in a plaza owned by Common Group.
