Jose Garces is expanding his Taqueria Buena Onda concept this spring, opening his first Main Line restaurant and installing a second new location on the former site of his longtime Rittenhouse tapas Tinto bar.
Tinto, on 20th Street and Sansom next to Garces’ Village Whiskey, added a wine bottle shop in 2021 and became known as Tinto Pintxo. It was closed last weekend. Garces said the Tinto Pintxo will reappear in a new downtown location, more suitable for the concept, in fall 2022.
Buena Onda’s main line will be located at 200 N. Radnor-Chester Rd. In Radnor, off Lancaster Street, near Estia Taverna and Honeygrow. The location was previously a Jimmy John’s sandwich shop. Garces briefly had Buena Onda at the King of Prussia Mall.
The main Buena Onda location, opened at 1901 Callowhill St. Close to the Free Library and Barnes Foundation, Established in 2015, offers tacos, bowls, nachos, guacamole, beer, wine, and margaritas in an atmosphere inspired by Baja California surf huts. This site will be redecorated.
Garces retained interior design and architecture firm Styer Associates for the upcoming Buena Onda and Tinto Pintxo. Styer will especially expedite the pick-up and delivery process.
Buena Onda – which translates as “positive vibes” – lends itself more to takeout and delivery than most other Garces brands, such as Amada, the Old Bar, Distrito and Volvér. Garces’ newest restaurant, Hook & Master in Kensington, is designed with a fast food window.
Tinto, opened by Garces in 2007, went from a Basque tapas focus to a wine bar and shop last year.
It was a follow-up to Garces’ first restaurant, Amada in the Old Town, inspired by the pinxto bars of San Sebastian. Drawn babbling. Inquiring critic Craig Laban noted, “The laser-focused and themed bar featuring funky dry cider, leafy ‘tinto’, and sparkling glasses of Texacolina. … I loved so much the plates of little wonders that came to my table that I learned to say , “Wow!” in Euskera Basque: “Kontxo!”
The review earned three “bells” on the Laban’s four-bell scale – “the nearest restaurant received a four-bell rating in its first review”.
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