Willie’s Taco Joint, the artsy, casual counterpart to the downtown Phoenix sports bar Coach’s Corner, is officially open in downtown Phoenix.
The new restaurant is located on Third and Jefferson streets between Chase Field and Talking Stick Resort Arena.
“We tried to go for more of the urban, downtown clientele,” said co-owner Eric Stoltz, who is also an owner of Coach’s Corner. “Our other place is a sports bar, so you’re kinda limited on what you’re getting. This one’s more (about) arts. We had downtown artists Joe Woodford and Lalo Cota do all our artwork. Color is flavor, so that’s why we have a lot of the pinks and bright greens and all that.”
Cota, who specializes in spray-painting murals, explained the process that brought Willie’s walls to life. Cota said he worked with them on ideas and came back with sketches. He spray painted the artwork based on those initial sketches.
“Of course, there’s always room for changes, but for the most part it’s true to the sketches,” Cota said.
Stoltz said what separates his food from other Arizona taco shops is the quality of his tortillas. Customers seemed to agree.
“I’ve been down to Mexico, and there’s a place in Rocky Point where we like to go. Those are as authentic as you can get, and I’d say these were pretty similar,” said customer Mike Haas.
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Having opened during the first year of Arizona’s minimum wage hike, Willie’s decided to modify its business model in order to reduce the number of employees it would need.
“Everything is order-at-the-counter, so it kind of cuts the servers out. It’s not a full-service restaurant, which will make it easier on our payroll,” said Sholtz.
For a business located near downtown parking can be troublesome, but Sholtz believes his shop’s situation is better than most.
“Our landlords are the Suns and D-Backs, so for both our places we get free lunchtime parking. You can go to our website and print out the coupon, or if you come in, you can get a coupon for your next visit. On game days, like in any big city across the country, you have to pay to park. That’s nothing new,” Sholtz said.
In the long run, Sholtz hopes to open many Willie’s Taco Joint locations in several states. The restaurant opens for breakfast at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends, closing at 11 p.m. nightly.
Contact the reporter Cmfitzpa@asu.edu.
