A new interior Mexico restaurant based on stews and sauces from casual neighborhood cafes will open in the First on 7th tower downtown, partner Adrian Burciaga announced.
Michelin-starred chef Rodrigo Rivera Río is writing the menu for Almacén El Gallo (a store named ”the rooster”), a bodega-like restaurant in a former grocery at the north door of the tower, 500 W. Seventh St.
El Gallo will bring contemporary style to the traditional cooking of Mexico’s fondas and cantinas, according to the announcement by Burciaga Hospitality Group.
Rivera Rio, a product of Hidalgo, is known for his KOLI restaurant in Monterrey, described by Michelin Guide as “the new face of norteño cuisine.”
El Gallo promises homestyle cooking with contemporary style.
(Courtesy of Burciaga Hospitality Group)
An announcement describes the El Gallo menu as “a journey through Mexico” with grilled meats, barbacoa, moles, adobos and stews
The restaurant will be designed for the downtown lunch crowd and evening dinner, according to the announcement by Burciaga and co-owner Martin Quirante.
The restaurant actually faces the West Sixth Street side of the First on 7th tower, behind the 61 Osteria Italian restaurant facing Seventh Street. El Gallo and 61 Osteria offer a rarity for downtown restaurants: free parking across Sixth Street.
The owner of 61 Osteria, Dain Adam Jones, said he looks forward to the new neighbor.
Burciaga is an excellent restaurateur and El Gallo will “bring energy to the building” and more customers to 61 Osteria as well, Jones wrote.
Chef Rodrigo Rivera Río is writing the menu for El Gallo in Fort Worth.
The same partners have taken over South Main Village anchor Tinie’s, 115 S. Main St., and reopened it with a more upscale menu by “Top Chef Mexico” celebrity chef Ix-Chel Ornelas Hernández.
Burciaga is a co-founder of James Beard Award finalist Don Artemio. He left Don Artemio in October, and it continues under chef and co-founder Juan Ramón Cárdenas and his son, Rodrigo, who also opened the adjacent Dos Mares seafood restaurant.
The First on 7th tower