Shaun Doty going Mexican
August 15th, 2008 by Cliff Bostock in RestaurantsThere’s good news about the beleagured location of the defunct Sala:
The owners of Fifth Group Restaurants have joined forces with Executive Chef Shaun Doty, owner of Shaun’s, to create The Original El Taco in the former Sala space in Virginia-Highland. The new restaurant will open in mid-October. Doty is developing recipes for creative Mexican fare like tacos, tortas and salsas, and the Fifth Group Restaurants team is working with William Peace, Peace Design, to change the look and feel of the restaurant.
“The Original El Taco will be lively, bright, open, and - most of all - fun,” said Robby Kukler, co-owner of Fifth Group Restaurants. “We have known Shaun for years and when we found out he had been thinking about doing Mexican too, we knew it was a great partnership.”
“I love Mexican food and have wanted to do a restaurant like this for a while,” said Doty. “To have this opportunity to work with the pros at Fifth Group Restaurants is great.”
“We are going to create an easy, approachable destination for great Mexican food,” added Kukler.
Doty will work with a chef de cuisine at El Taco when the restaurant opens, while remaining executive chef at Shaun’s.
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August 15th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Why didn’t they keep the name Sala?
August 15th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Sala was a concept and “The original El Taco” is another. Sometimes its best to change the identification of a business so to fully engage the guests. In this instance, the change will ideally present a natural opportunity to create a new and different impression and experience.Id say its a good thing. Im excited to eat!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Good for shaun, he’s been “threatning” to do a mexican joint for some time.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Fifth group will have their hands full on opening day. They will have to make sure the new concept goes off without a hitch while a protest takes place in the parking lot. It’s a pity they couldn’t have just paid the former employees of Sala all the captured credit card tips that they stole from the Sala employees. Hopefully they’ll learn from this mistake and stop using underhanded business tactics, but I doubt it. Maybe a good old fashioned protest with the major news groups there will teach them a valuable lesson about ethics and stealing money from the little man
September 11th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Wow Andrew, this is the first I’ve heard about this. Any details out there on the interwebs anywhere?