The anticipated Cosecha Cocina, Grow Restaurants’ leap into Mexican cuisine, will celebrate its grand opening next Friday. Following their other ventures, Harvest, The Sycamore, and the recently closed Salt & Pine, Cosecha aims for upscale, yet authentic south-of-the-border.
During a quiet preview on Thursday night, some got a privileged peek at the place, a former barn that had lacked purpose for decades. Sipping signature cocktails, snacking on chips, dips and salsa, project contributors and partners mingled with guests in what recently looked more like a hoarder’s garage.
After a thorough housecleaning, and some reinforcing and extending, Cosecha came into form. Guests can park in one of the roughly 70 spots between the front and back, and enter by passing through the large patio facing North Fourth Street. Inside, weathered bricks stack up for 36 feet in the main room. Tiny windows dot the wall behind the bar with tinier succulents placed inside. Tall tables line the dividing wall, leaving shorter tables with more seating in the neighboring room.
Local interior designer Adrienne Consales, from black ink, worked to establish the atmosphere, an overall yellow glow illuminating the bricks, concrete floors and wooden accents.
It all took longer than planned. Grow Restaurants Founder and CEO Chris Crader originally set a December opening. Though it’s three months late, now that it’s finally here, it’s like a dream come true.
“I’ve wanted to do this for 10 years,” he said.
In that decade Crader launched Harvest, leading to his realization that he could, in fact, open a successful restaurant. He also met chef Silas Caeton, and after waiting for “the right synergy with the right chef,” Caeton turned out to be a perfect fit.
“When Silas and I met, I asked him, I said, ‘If you could open any restaurant, your own restaurant tomorrow, what would the cuisine be?’ “He said ‘Mexican,’ didn’t even hesitate. “I said ‘Let’s do it.’”
Their menu of small plates and entrees are a spin on Mexican dishes. Finding specialty items from each region, particularly Oaxaca and Yucatán, Caeton finds ways to “take them up a notch.” Part of that is making their own corn tortillas and using seasonal produce for their salsas. Their bar menu shares ingredients, combining them into odd cocktails that will change with the food menu.
As a Mexican restaurant, the bar’s main focus is on agave distillates. A full mezcal service incorporates traditional Mexican drinking practices, serving the mezcal out of clay copitas, or shot glasses, with a slice of orange and sal de gusano, which is salt made from worms, adding an earthy, even smokey element.
Cosecha’s grand opening is next Friday, March 10. They’ll be open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
For more information, visit cosechacocina.com.