restaurant development + design is a user-driven resource for restaurant professionals charged with building new locations and remodeling existing units.
Issue link: http://rddmag.epubxp.com/i/472177
5 2 • R E S T A U R A N T D E V E L O P M E N T + D E S I G N • M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 5 "As we got excited about the guild concept and the church setting, Janet came up with the idea of Renaissance paintings. We found some that were available in public domain and had them blown way up," Micheletti says. The mural, which is printed on a se- ries of individual vinyl panels, measures 4 feet by 80 feet. "There appear to be two separate murals, one on each side of the room, but it literally could have been hung as one long mural," Henrich adds. "There's a shallow area of fat ceil- ing on both sides of the room, around 9 feet high, with more vertical wall space extending approximately another 4 feet to where the ceiling begins to curve. We had the murals scaled to ft exactly in those spaces. We also found a painter who was able to paint the air condition- ing registers that are in those spaces so they're camoufaged within the murals. You can't even tell that they're there." Other thematic design touches are scattered throughout the restaurant, as well. Among them is a large "G" tapestry hanging on the front wall of the dining room above the entrance to the Key Room, a smaller, more enclosed area with seating for 28 that's used for private events. "Every guild during the Renais- sance period had a tapestry with a coat of arms, whether it was a leather workers' guild or a book binders' guild," Micheletti says. "We thought that, in the spirit of authenticity, we should have a tapestry, too. But we quickly found out how expensive that would be. Authentic- ity was out of the question, so we took the same approach as with the murals and created a reproduction of a tapestry and had it framed. There are intricacies in the G and you'll also see a T in there, as well as the shape of a skeleton key, which guilds also typically had made for their members." Those large, heavy metal keys provid- ed the concept for the Key Room, which, in addition to private dining provides a somewhat quieter and more intimate space for regular use. "We went online and bought a couple hundred antique skeleton keys and had them glued to the walls in that room," Micheletti notes. Snapshot OWNER: Z'Tejas Inc. CONCEPT: Mexican gastropub SEGMENT: Casual Dining AVERAGE CHECK: $20 LOCATION: Central Phoenix UNITS: 1 OPENED: November 2013 SIZE: 4,100 square feet REAL ESTATE: Repurposed 1940s Meth- odist church DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS: Original stained glass windows, arched beam ceiling, Renaissance-style murals, 9-foot- diameter chandelier, back-bar tequila display, repurposed church artifacts and salvage shop fnds BUILD OUT: 10-11 weeks Project Team PROJECT LEAD: Steven Micheletti, President/CEO, Z'Tejas Inc. DESIGN: Janet Henrich, Henrich Design GENERAL CONTRACTOR: RSP Architects That the restaurant is in a former church is evident from its exterior, but the interior conversion elicits "Wows!" from guests. Named for its skeleton key-like decorations, the Key Room is a smaller, more enclosed area with seating for 28 that's used for private events.