The new year will welcome a new downtown boutique hotel and wine-tasting room and the laid-back punk-rock cousin of Tucsonβs popular Bayou-inspired eatery The Parish.
They will be in good company with La Chingada Cocina Mexicana, which moved from its year-old home at 31 N. Scott Ave. into the old CafΓ© Poca Cosa space on East Pennington Street in November.
The trio will join downtownβs bustling and ever expanding entertainment district, which includes its marquee concert venues Fox Tucson Theatre, Rialto Theatre and Club Congress, as well as a smattering of bars and casual dining options including the months-old Little Love Burger at 312 E. Congress St.
Hereβs what you need to know about the new ventures and what else is coming to downtown.
The Citizen Hotel, 82 S. Stone Ave. (thecitizenhoteltucson.com), is set to open Jan. 16 β the same day it will host βArpeggio: Jazz. Dine. Wine.β in conjunction with the HSL Properties Tucson Jazz Festival. That event will feature jazz performances by guitarist Howard Alden and flamenco-inspired Tucson trio Andaluz with Nathaniel Burnside, Pete Swan and Evan Dain, as well as casual bites offered on all three floors of the 10-room hotel.
The Citizen Hotel is the second boutique hotel venture for Downtown Clifton Hotel owner Moniqua Lane. Willcox winery Sand-Reckoner Vineyards has set up a tasting and barrel room in the hotelβs sprawling 5,000-square-foot basement.
The building housed the Tucson Citizen news operations from 1914 to 1940, when the paper joined forces with the Arizona Daily Star under the nationβs first federally recognized joint operating agreement. The agreement allowed the two independently owned newspapers to share advertising, distribution and publishing operations.
La Chingada Cocina Mexicana, 110 E. Pennington St. (lachingadacocina.com), opened in its new digs in November, paving the way for owner Manuel Daniel Cordovaβs plans to turn the Scott Avenue space into a marisco/oyster bar that is expected to open in early January.
Cordova, who owns the popular south-side sports bar The Neighborhood on East 29th Street and South Alvernon Way, also plans to open the Neighborhood DWNTWN in the old H20 dance and nightclub, 61 E. Congress St. The bar/grill will have a pop-up opening on New Yearβs Eve and Cordova said he hopes to have it open in early February.
The Delta Bar & Grill, 135 S. Sixth St. (thedeltatucson.com), could open in early January in the space that was home for 10 years to Janos Wilderβs Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails. Wilder closed the restaurant in October 2020. The Delta is the βrebellious punk rock cousinβ to owners Steve Dunn, Bryce Zeagler and chef Travis Petersβ Bayou-inspired The Parish, 6453 N. Oracle Road. The trio say the Delta will be a βlibation and culinary thrill rideβ that will borrow some of the favorites from The Parish and feature mostly small-plate dishes inspired by the ownersβ roots in Arizona, Texas and Louisiana.
