Janos Wilder is headed back to where it all began.
In September, he plans to open a new restaurant in the space once occupied by Barrio Grill at 135 S. Sixth Ave. That restaurant closed abruptly in February.
Wilder's new restaurant will focus on regional ingredients, but the cuisine will be eclectic. The prices, he said, will be in the midrange.
The as-yet-unnamed downtown space will bring Wilder close to his roots: His eponymous restaurant got its start in the Tucson Museum of Art's Stevens House 27 years ago.
After being squeezed out of the TMA space in 1998 when the museum decided to take over the Stevens House, Wilder settled in on the grounds of the Westin La Paloma resort. The following year, his casual J Bar went up next door to the tony Janos.
"Janos is one of Tucson's premier restaurateurs," said Cara Rene, vice president of the Downtown Tucson Partnership. "This is huge for downtown."
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Wilder's downtown competitors share Rene's enthusiasm.
"I am thrilled; the more, the merrier," said Suzana Davila, whose popular restaurant, Café Poca Cosa, has had a downtown home for 23 years.
"Janos is so successful, and he's an amazing chef. I think it will be a huge plus for us downtown."
Wilder, a nationally acclaimed chef, has been eyeing space downtown for almost two years.
"The last couple of years, downtown has been going through a renaissance and is becoming the urban center that it once was," said Wilder, standing in his new restaurant's dining room. With the art gone, chairs stacked, and kitchen equipment sitting where customers once dined, it looks nothing like the hip space that Barrio called home.
"The new (Fourth Avenue) underpass creates a boulevard from downtown to the university. That's big."
Last spring, Janos announced he would open a restaurant at 278 E. Congress St. That deal, which was mixed up with the trolley line, politics and private developers, never came through.
And judging by his reaction to the space he'll be taking over, that's a good thing. As he maneuvered his way around boxes, stacks of dishes, and tables piled into the middle of the restaurant's dining room, he became increasingly animated.
"It'll have a brand-new identity with a complete remodel," he said.
He pulled a curtain aside to reveal big double glass doors that open to the sidewalk along Sixth Avenue. The Barrio entrance was on the building's side, off the parking lot.
"We'll move the entrance back to the front, with tables on the sidewalk, and we'll plant trees."
Inside the 3,700-square-foot space, the massive architectural pillars that broke up the dining room will be scaled down; high-back, cushy booths will replace the ones along a low wall; and the upper half of the restaurant will have booths and tables, and will be available as a private dining room. New colors, new art, new tables, new dishes, new floor.
The kitchen, much bigger than the one he had at the Stevens House, is smaller than his kitchen at Janos. It'll get a makeover, too.
When the roughly $300,000 transformation is complete, the restaurant will seat about 110, approximately the same number Barrio accommodated.
"I want it to feel timeless and familiar," said Wilder. "I want it to have a verve and excitement, modern but with a sound quality that isn't overbearing."
Just as his resort restaurants do, the food will depend heavily on local ingredients. Janos serves regional fare with a French accent, J Bar Latin cuisine. But Wilder won't be pigeon-holed with the cuisine at this downtown space.
"I haven't written the menu yet, but it'll be food that's exciting, with big flavors of where we are. It won't be just a Latin menu - I want to feel free to experiment with all kinds of cuisines."
But he's not looking at high-end prices.
"They will be moderate, like the J Bar range and slightly higher."
J Bar's menu tops out at $18.
He expects the restaurant will be open late on weekends to accommodate theater- and concertgoers. He also plans to serve lunch.
The restaurant will employ about 40-50 people, the combined number his two La Paloma restaurants, which do not serve lunch, now employ, he said.
And he isn't planning to scale back his established restaurants - which have increased business over this time last year - to focus on his new one.
"I'm reinvesting in the Foothills," he said. "I've ordered new furniture, new drapes, new china. Janos is the flagship restaurant," and it will remain that way.
Still, he can't hide his excitement for the new venture. "Downtown is something I want to be a part of," he said. "It's exciting to me to think we can help to give voice to what's going on down here."
Did you know:
The building Janos Wilder is moving into is in the area of downtown known as SoCo - South of Congress. It is owned by photographer Tim Fuller and artist Barbara Grygutis, who have studios there. Etherton Gallery occupies the second floor, and the restaurant will be on the street floor.
Dubbed the Odd Hall - it's the former Odd Fellows Hall - it was designed by Henry Jaastad and built in 1914. Jaastad also designed the Manning House, Tucson High School and the now-gone Conquistador Hotel, and he redesigned the facade of San Augustine Cathedral in 1929, Fuller said.
Grygutis and Fuller have occupied the building since they bought it 22 years ago. The restaurant space has been occupied that whole time, too - first by Bowen & Bailey, and then Barrio.
Contact Kathleen Allen at 573-4128 or kallen@azstarnet.com