Barrio Urbano closes its doors

Phoenix restaurant scene suffers another casualty

DOMINIC ARMATO

You know it’s summer in Phoenix when the restaurants start closing.

This one has been especially brutal, and even the Valley’s biggest names aren’t immune. Now, in the wake of Posh Restaurant’s shuttering and the sale of Eddie’s House, comes another high-profile closure.

Chef and restaurateur Silvana Salcido Esparza is closing Barrio Urbano, her breakfast/lunch/dinner concept at The Yard on Seventh Street, on Thursday.

“It’s a great concept for the space, given its limitations,” Salcido Esparza told The Republic on Tuesday, “but I knew it was coming. (Seventh Street) is imploding on itself. It’s too much for the area.”

The James Beard Award semifinalist also cited other contributing factors:

A lack of street visibility. Culinary Dropout at The Yard is visible from Seventh Street, but Barrio Urbano and Little Cleo’s aren’t.

High rent. Seventh Street south of Missouri Avenue has become one of the hottest dining destinations in the Valley.

The need to focus on her health. She was diagnosed with sarcoidosis last year.

A desire to spend more time with book projects she is working on.

The most casual of Salcido Esparza’s Barrio restaurants, Barrio Urbano opened in January 2015 to offer a selection of Barrio Cafe favorites and bar food, along with a selection of Mexican breakfast foods like molletes, torrejas, menudo and huevos divorciados.

Salcido Esparza retains ownership of the Barrio Urbano concept. She suggested she would like to bring it back, but is unwilling to work with investors who “do not understand (her) stance and politics behind the food,” she said on her Facebook page.

“I love the concept and I’d love to expand it even more, make it more like I really want to,” she told The Republic. “But I’m going to let the dust settle. There are too many taco places in town and I’m going to let them eat each other up. I’ve got my eye on a couple of properties — it’s not East Valley, and it’s not Scottsdale.”

She also intends to drop the “Barrio” moniker from her future endeavors, voicing frustration over confusion between her remaining Phoenix restaurants — Barrio Cafe and Barrio Cafe Gran Reserva — and Barrio Queen.

Barrio Queen is a local restaurant group owned by Steve Rosenfield and Linda Nash. Salcido Esparza left the partnership in 2014. With locations in Old Town Scottsdale and Heritage Marketplace in Gilbert, Barrio Queen is expanding this summer with a branch at Desert Ridge Marketplace.