This popular Country Club Plaza restaurant is closing after nearly a dozen years
Zócalo Mexican Cuisine & Tequileria on the Country Club Plaza is closing.
The restaurant, at 620 W. 48th St., opened in September 2011. It is scheduled to close at the end of business Jan. 29.
“Our lease is up at the end of this month and the space needs a lot of infrastructure work. That was an unknown, how much it would cost,” said owner Chris Ridler. “But the Plaza has been great to work with.”
A Plaza spokeswoman confirmed the closing and said, “Our team will surely miss the fresh Mexican cuisine and delicious cocktails.”
Alaskan Fur and Gourmet Grocer had operated on the site before Tex-Mex restaurant Mi Cocina took both spots in 1998. It closed a decade later. The space was dark for three years before Zocalo took over.
Ridler and a former partner gutted the space, starting fresh with glass walls that slide open to two outdoor patio areas.
The goal was to take some traditional Mexican dishes and give them a contemporary twist.
Menu items include jalapeno crab cakes, ceviche, carnitas nachos, chicken tortilla soup, shrimp and goat cheese salad, lobster and crab quesadillas, Nashville hot chicken tacos, slow-roasted pork empanadas, chicken and chorizo burritos, fajita platters and specialty cocktails. It also has happy hour specials and weekend brunch.
“It’s hard not to go back and think of 12 years ago when we first signed the lease and how much is different,” Ridler said. “COVID also changed a lot of people’s habits. Coming in earlier and going home earlier. They also realized they could cook at home and have friends over and enjoy it just as much. So sales were down in 2022.”
Buildings across from Zocalo along Jefferson Street were torn down to make way for a new Nordstrom. But in April, Nordstrom said it no longer planned to open on the Plaza. No replacement has been announced.
Two other restaurants along Jefferson also are dark. The Oliver closed in October 2019, blaming construction issues related to Nordstrom, and Parkway Social Kitchen closed at the start of the pandemic.
