Friday, October 14, 2011

New tapas come uptown

Updated: Longtime Charlotte restaurateur Augusto Conte, saying he wants to stay innovative and relevant uptown, will change his Coco Osteria to a Spanish tapas restaurant after the holidays, probably in the first weeks of January. The restaurant at the Hearst Plaza, to be called Malabar Spanish Tapas, will offer traditional Spanish small plates for about $4 to $10, with a few reaching $14. Chef and collaborator Gabriele Grigolon will lead the kitchen, and the two have been working on the concept for about six months, said Conte.

In turn, in early January, Conte plans to open Trattoria Antica in the former Marino's spot in Waxhaw. Expect Italian "comfort food" in a relaxed atmosphere and entered in the $11 to $20 range.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there anything in this town that is good enough to last?

John said...

Anon. 5:51:

I would say complaining about everything seems to have legs.

Anonymous said...

Notice all these new restaurants always open in someone else's old spot. They all last a year and close shop.Bad management,no customers,bad location,bad concept,or just keeping all the cash and saying they didn't have any business? There has to be a reason!

Anonymous said...

This is unfortunate, Coco Osteria has always been one of my favorite spots in Uptown.

The quality of Luce w/ much better service and a great view of Tryon St.

Will be sad to see it go.

Anonymous said...

Augusto is a god!

Anonymous said...

Augusto is a god!

Anonymous said...

I thought Coco Osteria was doing great business as-is but maybe some of the newer mid to high-end Italian spots have encroached on them (Aria, Vivace). Spanish sounds good though and at least with the same management we can expect the same quality.

Anonymous said...

Restaurants come and go. It's how the industry works. There are plenty of great places in town that have stuck around for a while.

Anonymous said...

To who wrote...."Notice all these new restaurants always open in someone else's old spot. They all last a year and close shop.Bad management,no customers,bad location,bad concept,or just keeping all the cash and saying they didn't have any business? There has to be a reason!"

Did you even read the article?? It is the same owner in his own spot.