An upscale taco bar opens downtown tomorrow at the former Freshjunkie location at 303 North Blvd. Freshjunkie owner Pat Fellows is converting the salad shop—one of two Freshjunkie locations downtown—into a taco concept eatery called Somos Bandidos, which means “we are bandits.”
Somos Bandidos will build on the Freshjunkie concept, featuring fresh, natural, local and organic ingredients, Fellows says. Unlike Freshjunkie, which was only open for weekday lunch, however, Somos Bandidos will be open on the weekends and on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Tuesday is the night of the popular downtown runs sponsored by Happy’s.
Fellows, who opened his first Freshjunkie location in the Main Street Market in 2007, opened the North Boulevard location in 2014 in the space formerly occupied by Capital Creamery. At the time, he says, he planned to convert the Main Street Market location to a taco bar. But after seeing the growth of activity around North Boulevard Town Square it made more sense to flip the North Boulevard location instead.
“As things have progressed, the amount of selling time I have, the widow is longer on North Boulevard,” he says. “I can do more nighttime, weekend and evening business. The taco business will lend itself to more selling opportunities.”
The Freshjunkie location in Main Street Market will remain unchanged.
The new concept isn’t the only change planned for Freshjunkie. In early 2017, Fellows plans to open a Freshjunkie location in the Southdowns Village Shopping Center on Perkins Road in the space formerly occupied by Smoothie King.
The shopping center, which Donnie Jarreau has owned since 2006, has seen an increase in the number of trendy restaurant and bar tenants in recent years, including the new Phil’s Oyster Bar, which opened earlier this month. Also planned for the shopping center is a Poké concept restaurant that is slated to open in December or January.
Fellows says the location is ideal, not only because of the cluster of upscale, trendy eateries but because of the proximity of two workout facilities.
“I’m in between Tread BR and Southdowns Health Club,” he says. “That puts me in a very nice position to be selling healthy food from a demographic standpoint.”
—Stephanie Riegel
