Flores Eateries Reopen with Robust COVID-19 Protections
After much careful thought and preparation, Tucson family-owned Flores Concepts restaurants have all opened for both takeout and dine in. Following the guidelines outlined in their nationally acclaimed “100 point plan” for safety as well as the Pima County Health Department’s “Ready for you” program; all Flores Concepts locations have been adapted to include such safety considerations as UVC lighting purification in their air conditioning systems, no touch restroom services, smart phone order and pay portals, daily crew member health checks and helping create access to testing for everyone that works with them.
Arizona’s oldest restaurant family took the difficult lead locally in responding to the pandemic by shutting down their dining rooms immediately and during this time have invested significant time and money into their stores to make them safer for their guests and crew members through improved facilities and critical safety training.
The following is a list of updates on Flores Concepts restaurants:
El Charro Café All three El Charro Café locations are now open for takeout and dine-in services with summer operating hours of Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30am to 8:30pm (closed Mondays). With online ordering available at all locations and continuing their focus on eco-friendly packaging; their curbside take-out is one of the best in town and to give everyone a little break, El Charro Café has a new “Summer Fiesta” program that celebrates El Charro’s establishment in 1922 with guests receiving 22% off all dine in and take out orders from 2-5pm (available Tuesday through Sunday, some restrictions apply). For locations, menus and other details visit https://www.elcharrocafe.com/
Charro Steak & Del Rey, now featuring a combined menu (see menu below) at both locations, these beautiful downtown dining venues, now joined under the “Charro Steak & Del Rey” brand will be open in August for “Long Weekend Hours” with a 4-Day schedule open from Thursday thru Sunday 3-9pm. Charro Steak & Del Rey will open each of those 4 days starting August 6th at 3pm for their “Horas Feliz” Happy Hours and offer complete dine-in and takeout services until 9pm. Happy hour will feature half off all house cocktails, wines, draft beers and appetizers. Chef Gary Hickey will continue to also offer his popular Take-home Grill Kits (see menu below) that will also be available for pick up.
“Set back greatly by circumstances surrounding protest activities downtown, we are very excited to finally present the new blended concept which we think our guests will love. Although to start we will be open for the long weekends, we anticipate being able to return to a regular schedule soon”, said Ray Flores, company President. For additional information visit https://www.charrosteak.com/ or www.charrodelrey.com
Charrovida, the most recently opened Flores Concept restaurant and one of Tucson Foodie’s “top new restaurants of 2019” took advantage of the downtime to reengineer their menu and recipes. The new menu concept where every recipe begins as plant-based with the option to “plus a protein” re-opened this month in NW Tucson to rave reviews. The new menu features strictly vegan recipes like jackfruit carnitas and beyond meat burgers and nachos, also allows guests to “plus” and add ingredients like grass fed steak or sustainable mesquite grilled salmon. Nothing on the menu is priced more than $20 and a percentage of proceeds from food sales is donated to the UA Community and School Garden Program. Produce from these gardens is used at the restaurant when available. Charrovida is open for take-out, curbside pickup and patio dining Tuesday through Sunday from 11am to 8pm. For menus and other details visit https://www.charrovida.com/
Pub 1922, The Flores Concepts’ popular gastropub concept located in the Rancho Sahuarita Market place re-opened in June for dine -in and take -out service and has just rolled out a deliver app with a local third party provider called Foodie Magoos. Pub 1922 is open from 11:30am to 8:30pm Tuesday through Thursday and 11:30am to 10pm Friday and Saturday. Happy Hour is offered 2-6pm daily featuring half off all well, wines and draft beers. For menus and other details visit https://www.pub1922.com
Tamale of The Month & Tamale for HeroesLaunched at the beginning of the pandemic, the Flores Concepts team had been working on their nationwide available tamale subscription concept for some time, but with the added time afforded to them due to the pandemic shutdowns, the family launched www.tamaleofthemonth.com. Because this coincided with the challenges brought on by the pandemic, the family also launched www.tamalesforheroes.com as a way to partner with the community in showing how much we all care for our local hospital heroes who are risking their safety for ours. To date, Tamales for Heroes has delivered nearly 6000 tamales to area hospitals and care centers.
