Taos Diner closes southside location
Taos Diner closed its southside location along Paseo del Pueblo Sur this month and has reopened its northside operation at 216 Paseo del Pueblo Norte — which, from here on out, will be the only place to get the restaurant’s wellliked breakfast and lunch items.
Jay Powell, the restaurant’s owner, said he decided to consolidate to the one location after a new building owner raised his
rent at the southside restaurant, combined with ongoing construction along Paseo del Pueblo Sur that made accessibility to the restaurant an issue. Taos Diner II, as the southern location was called, had been a popular outdoor dining spot before construction crews moved the extensive Paseo Project north to the stretch of roadway
that abuts the restaurant’s patio. “It just wasn’t feasible anymore,” he said.
The northside diner had been closed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Powell said he decided to keep the southside location going because it was more centrally located in Taos. “So it made more sense to go with one that was more in the center of town instead of over by the other restaurants,” he explained.
The service staff at the southside diner served that location’s final dishes on April 1. Taos Diner II had been open for almost 13 years, said Powell.
With just a two-week gap, the northside location reopened on
April 13. “It’s been good,” he said. “Everyone’s happy to be back in the old funky diner again.”
Currently, the restaurant is open five days a week, from Friday through Tuesday (closed Wednesdays and Thursdays) and operates from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. “We have one staff, just like everyone else in Taos,” said Powell. “We can’t go seven days a week, it’s just not a feasible thing right now. Hopefully that will change, but if it doesn’t, that’s okay, too.”
Powell said the change has left him feeling “apprehensive” about an already tough business to be in. “There’s a lot of variables in any restaurant right now, and restaurants run on such a small margin of profit, it’s touch and go,” he said.
At the end of the day, he said he is happy to be back in the northside location and turning out food locals and visitors both like with a team he can rely on. “Everybody’s happy to be there,” he said. “I’ve had the same kitchen crew for 13 years, and I give them all the credit. They are the ones that are in there working everyday, and I appreciate my employees.”