Cantina Laredo, the Tex-Mex restaurant in the Dellagio Plaza on Restaurant Row, will close its doors after service on August 21. General manager Rick Edwards, who opened the location in 2009, said that the parent company, Consolidated Restaurant Operations, decided to close the restaurant after negotiations with the landlord to renew the lease met an impasse. According to Edwards, the landlord wants to raise rents because of the soon-to-open Trader Joe’s nearby, and because of planned homes in the area. “You can’t raise rents on assumptions,” says Edwards. “I remember 2008 — there was a lot of building and then it all stopped.”
Edwards says he has spent the past couple of weeks trying to find jobs for the 45 workers who will be let go when Cantina Laredo closes. “Almost everybody I’ve got placed,” he says. He, however, does not have a new position yet. The company offered to move him but he and his wife prefer to stay in the area.
As chains go, Cantina Laredo did a pretty good job. Not really authentic Mexican, but a palatable version. And its “top shelf guacamole” is one of the top-searched recipes on the flog. Here’s another link to Cantina Laredo’s guacamole recipe.
