We celebrated Valentine's Day at Zapatista and had a nice time. Nothing out of the ordinary, just solid Mexican food, good drinks and a lively atmosphere. We like the place and it seems others do too.
However, of more interesting news, we obviously had to ask our waiter about the their sister establishment, Flo & Santos, opening up across the street. Although he didn't know a ton about the new joint, he used the Wabash Tap as a comparison to Flo & Santos. From the sounds of it, the place will be more of a bar/pub then a full on restaurant. They will most likely have food, but from the sounds of it, it will be less expensive.
Obviously this isn't an official statement from the management, but still interesting in our eyes. We're looking forward to seeing this one open.
We thought the Wabash Tap was a good analogy. For people who don't know Mainstay Hospitality, they run three establishments within the South Loop (that we know of). The Chicago Firehouse is a full-on expensive steak house catering to upscale clientele. Grace O'Malley's is a middle of the road Irish bar with a dining area and bar. O'Malley's has a beautiful bar and is very nice compared to most Irish pubs we've seen in Chicago. Their third establishment is Wabash Tap, which is a bear bones sports bar with many TVs, bar games and a younger crowd typically.
Maybe the people behind Zapatista are trying to branch out and copy this model? Best of luck to them.
