Monday, May 24, 2010

Beleza and Lupe Taqueria Closed In Midtown

Not that I'm shocked, but it seems U Restaurants's midtown eateries Beleza and Lupe Taqueria closed over the weekend. Both are owned by restaurateur Riccardo Ullio, but neither could ever match the success Ullio experienced with his Sotto Sotto and Fritti eateries in Inman Park. Lupe was already his second attempt at re-concepting the space that had been the failed Cuerno eatery. I dined at Lupe once with friends and we collectively decided never to return: it was awful from top to bottom. Riccardo was even in the dining room that night and nothing went well. I heard early on from a U Restaurants chef whom had been with Ullio for years, that the expansion to midtown had been a financial strain on the company almost immediately. The lack of accessible parking and his straying from Italian (Sotto Sotto ) and Pizza (Fritti) to Spanish Tapas (Cuerno) and Brazilian (Beleza) did not bode well for the midtown crowd. On a the bright side, a U Restaurants representative reached for comment today confirmed Ullio still plans to open a Buckhead location of Fritti this fall. ToNeTo Atlanta

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3 comments:

widmerpool said...

Beleza would work in another location.

Booster said...

I'll be fine being in the minority, since I seem to be. I thought Lupe was delicious. I was disappointed, though, when I went last week and the two most interesting things on the menu were missing: the lengua and the goat.

Killer margaritas too. I hope something awesome replaces it.

michelle marts said...

I am disappointed that Lupe closed ONLY because I thought the food was delish. However, they did a terrible job with seating and accommodating their guests. I was surprised when I went there for Cinco de Mayo and they wouldn't serve salsa or dip to bar patrons. They were "too busy." Ridiculous.

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