Park Street Cantina opens its doors on Cinco de Mayo

New tequila bar is the latest from CGS Group

By Dwayne Steward

Metromix

Chris Corso and Mike Gallicchio have bar openings down to a fine art. The partnership, which started in 1995, has led to a host of popular night spots including old favorites Mecca, Red Zone, Fabric and the recently closed Spice Bar.

They currently run the laid-back yet fabulous Park Street Patio, a swanky and sophisticated club in The Social, and the energetic Sugar Bar.

Now the power team—known officially as the CGS Group—plans to replace Spice with Park Street Cantina, which will open for business at noon on Wednesday, May 5 ... otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo.

Three years ago, just before opening Park Street Patio, Corso and Gallicchio took a trip to Cabo San Lucas, where they were so inspired by the city's party atmosphere that they decided to open a venue of their own in the same spirit.

"Before the economy melted down we had a job going down there," Corso said. "When that didn't work out we looked at Park Street again and realized there wasn't really anything there with that kind of Mexican and Spanish flavor."

So they took Spice's 11,000-square-foot space off the market and went back to the drawing board, coming up with a multi-roomed Mexican oasis, complete with a separate, full-service tequila bar.

"We're up to 80 different brands of tequilas now," Corso said. "It looks nothing like Spice. We ran a bulldozer through the place and gave it a million-dollar rehab."

In addition to carrying enough tequila to keep a small army happy, Park Street Cantina will feature a new menu that includes am ambitious mixture of Spanish, Latin and American dishes, plus a couple of Spice's signatures (scallops, macaroni and cheese) thrown in. They're also introducing a slightly new concept to the area known as "Tequila Flights."

"It's basically a Mexican version of wine tasting, just with tequila instead of wine," Corso said. "It's really popular around the country but hasn't quit made it here."

Tequila Flights can be purchased in "vertical" (featuring a taste of tequilas from bottom to top shelf) or "horizontal" (a handful of equally shelved liquors) flights.

"Unfortunately the time wasn't right for us in Cabo," he said. "But it's worked out. Now we've got a little Cabo in Columbus."

Park Street Cantina opens to the public at noon Wednesday, May 5. For more information and to get your name on the opening-night guest list, visit the Park Street Cantina Web site.