The restaurant Mexican-themed opened “softly” last weekend, Sept. 7, in the former Club 55 Bistro & Bar space in Troy, which shut down in 2014 after operating for six years.
La Catrina’s founders said last month the 5,000-square-foot restaurant would seat more than 200 and would employ about 15.
***Original Story (Aug. 14, 2019)***
A new Mexican-themed restaurant is gearing up to open in the former Club 55 Bistro & Bar space in Troy.
"We are hoping to open by the end of the month," Stephania Villalpando, co-founder and co-owner of La Catrina Street Tacos & Tequila, told this news outlet late Tuesday. "We're almost there, just a couple of weeks away. We are hoping to open on a Saturday, so we are shooting for Aug. 31, or maybe the first Saturday in September."
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The 5,000-square-foot restaurant at 845 W. Market St. will seat more than 200 and will employ 15 or 16 initially, Villalpando said.
The space previously housed Club 55 Bistro & Bar, which shut down in 2014 after operating for six years. It shares a street address and a former retail building with The Crystal Room, an adjacent banquet and special events facility.
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Members of Villalpando’s family operate restaurants in the Akron area, but La Catrina represents “a fresh new concept” and will operate under its own LLC, its co-founder said.
“The menu is not what you would find in a typical Mexican restaurant,” Villalpando said. “We will focus on more traditional Mexican dishes, with fresh ingredients, made on-site.” And La Catrina will work with local businesses and purveyors, and plans to use bread from The Bakehouse for its tortas, or Mexican-style sandwiches, she said.
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Villalpando said she has been looking for the right space to launch the new restaurant, and liked the West Market Street location immediately.
“We came to Troy and fell in love with it,” she said. “It’s just a perfect location for our new concept.”
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