Just seven months after opening at the River Center Shopping Center, El Minuto's Foothills location was shuttered on Tuesday. And another longtime restaurant on the South Side will close on Sunday.
Larsen Baker, which manages the mall on East River and North Craycroft roads, locked El Minuto's doors and posted a "Notice of Landlord Lien" on the front door, right next to a sign that declared "El Minuto Since 1936." The notice cites the Arizona law that gives property owners the right to reclaim property due to unpaid rents.
The leasing agent listed for the shopping center, Andy Seleznov, did not return phone calls seeking comment on Wednesday. El Minuto owner Teresa Shaar also could not be reached for comment.
El Minuto was the latest restaurant casualty in the second-floor space, Suite 201, directly above the Dusenberry-River Library. The spot was once home to the much-loved Bistro Boccata, but since then it has been the site of a succession of short-lived ventures, including Rio Grill, Casanova, Ragazzi, Italiani's Ristorante, the Phoenician and most recently, El Patron.
When Shaar opened shop in January, she was determined to beat the odds.
"I think I can make it work," she told the Star.
Dusenberry-River branch manager Kathleen Dannreuther said she was sure that if any restaurant could survive there it was El Minuto, whose Downtown location has been a fixture in Tucson's Mexican restaurant scene for decades.
"I thought if El Minuto is moving in, it's going to be good," said Dannreuther, who ate lunch there a few times and was struck by how empty the restaurant was. "If they can't make it, nobody can."
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, another longtime Mexican restaurant, Cora's Cafe on the South Side, will serve its final meals on Sunday.
Owner Arturo Sanchez said he is closing because he can no longer afford rent on the small building. He said his landlord has doubled the rent, beginning in August.
Cora's, a modest diner near the corner of West Irvington Road and South Sixth Avenue, has a loyal neighborhood following, from cops and firefighters to a lunchtime crowd drawn from nearby businesses.
Sanchez said the restaurant has been around 50 or 60 years; he has owned it the past six and has leased the property. Cora's is open now through Sunday for breakfast and lunch only.
