Bentonville restaurant planning second location on downtown square

Bentonville’s downtown square will gain a new restaurant later this year.

Family-owned Mexican restaurant Azul Tequila will open a second location in the city at 111 N. Main St. The restaurant opened on North Walton Boulevard in November 2013. Azul Tequila also opened in June 2018 just off Interstate 49 in Springdale at the Elm Springs Road exit.

Ricky Cortés is the company president. He’s targeting September to open the downtown location, known as Azul Tequila Bistro.

“It’s a different concept from what we have now,” Cortés said. “More upscale and more authentic Mexican.”

The Main Street location in Bentonville was once the address of The Station Café, a long-running restaurant that closed in April 2018 and relocated to another Bentonville address in June under new ownership.

Kyya Chocolate, a bean-to-bar chocolate maker based in Elm Springs, was the most recent tenant. Owner Rick Boosey said he closed the Bentonville location in January following his wife’s death. Kyya also has a retail storefront in Fayetteville at 160 E. Joyce Blvd.

Cortés said he’d originally planned to open Azul Tequila Bistro in July but the building redesign will take longer than anticipated. He said the restaurant will occupy both floors of the two-story building, with a second-story patio overlooking Second Street, toward Pressroom.

According to county property records, Joe and Betty Baker own the 1,876-square-foot building. They have owned the property since 1994.

Cortés said the initial lease term is for 10 years.

An existing Bentonville restaurant on the downtown square is planning an expansion of its own. In a social media post on Tuesday (Feb. 23), Bentonville nonprofit Downtown Bentonville Inc. (DBI) reported a new store will open soon at 112 E. Central Ave. called Table Mesa Market on the Square. It will occupy space previously leased to sports memorabilia retailer Bleachers. Owner Tiffany Norwood said that business closed permanently Jan. 31, five months shy of its eighth anniversary. Table Mesa Market will be next door to Table Mesa Bistro (110 E. Central Ave.).

The new venture belongs to Carl Garrett and his wife, Lindie. They opened Table Mesa Bistro in 2008. They also own Bentonville restaurants Table at the Station, Tavola Trattoria and Mirabella’s Table in Rogers’ Pinnacle Hills area.

DBI described Table Mesa Market as a café/grab-n-go market that will offer coffee, baked goods, local produce, salsas, sauces (including many of Table Mesa’s specialty sauces), meats, cheeses and more.

An opening date was not mentioned.