Chef closes one of his existing restaurants to focus on new restaurant, bar in Old Town
Fans of Abel Rodriguez’s original Uno Mas Fresh Mex restaurant — which six months ago moved to a space with a drive through at 1735 W. 21st St. — may have noticed that the restaurant is now closed.
But there’s a good reason for that, said Rodriguez, who also has Uno Mas Fresh Mex restaurants at 8641 W. 13th St. and at 3242 N. Rock Road.
Rodriguez, who said he’s long wanted to get into the bar business, has just taken over the recently vacated Headz & Tailz space at 301 N. Washington and is in the process of converting it into a new Mexican restaurant and tequila bar that will offer live entertainment geared toward the Hispanic community on the weekends.
He wanted to be able to devote himself to the new venture, he said, and since he was the main person staffing the 21st and Amidon restaurant, he decided it had to go.
“I didn’t want to spread myself too thin,” he said. “I want to concentrate on opening the bar and seeing how that goes and growing from there.”
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The new restaurant, which Rodriguez says he hopes to have open by early October if not sooner, will be called Cabron y Vagos. (The name is a Mexican slang term that Rodriguez says refers to someone who is wild and free.)
The new business will be open for lunch and dinner and will have a different menu from Uno Mas. It will serve Tex-Mex favorites like fajitas, enchiladas and molcajetes as well as appetizers like sizzling queso and Mexican short ribs. He’s planning elevated presentations for all his dishes.
The full bar will offer many varieties of tequila and mezcal, and customers will be able to order tequila flights and margarita flights. Rodriguez is also planning several eye-catching jumbo drinks in massive vessels that can be shared by several people sipping through straws.
He’s now remodeling both the interior of the restaurant and its big Washington-facing patio. Between the two spaces, he’ll be able to seat 90, he said. He’ll be removing the dark canvas covering now on the patio to make it more open, and inside, he’ll have metal art work and an eye-catching entry space with an Instagram-worthy background. He’s waiting on the delivery of two new garage doors that will open the inside of the restaurant onto the patio.
Rodriguez also plans to turn the restaurant into a nightlife destination on the weekends. After 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, he said, he’ll shut down the kitchen, put Mexican bands on the patio and offer a late-night entertainment option that caters to the Hispanic community.
During those late-night hours, he’ll put his Uno Mas food truck in the Cabron y Vagos parking lot and sell street tacos to after-hours crowds. He’s actually starting that up this weekend and will have the food truck open in the parking lot starting at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
He also plans to offer brunch on Sundays with 99-cent refills on margaritas.
Rodriguez said he’s had his eye on the building at Second and Washington for a while, and he likes that there aren’t many Mexican restaurants in the Old Town area. He thinks he can carve out a niche.
“There’s nothing in Old Town that can compare,” he said.
Ben Gartner at Weigand Commercial Real Estate handled the sale.
Stay tuned for updates on the restaurant as it gets closer to opening. Rodriguez also said he’ll soon start posting food pictures on Cabron y Vagos Facebook page.
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Chef closes one of his existing restaurants to focus on new restaurant, bar in Old Town."
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