SYRACUSE — This fall, Armory Square gains two new options for people looking to get a bite to eat or enjoy a drink when The Taphouse on Walton and sister business Taphouse Bread Company open their doors.

Kyle Mastropietro, president of Mastro Restaurant Group, says The Taphouse on Walton, at 165 Walton St., will serve a variety of beers, wine, and spirits. The taproom has 40 taps, 10 of which will feature the same beers. The other 30 taps will always be changing, he says, and feature local breweries and seasonal brews. It will be “all our local breweries that we are so lucky to have and that are so good,” he adds.

The taproom will also feature a wine-dispensing system for pricier wines, allowing Mastropietro to sell more-expensive wines by the ounce instead of just by the bottle. 

“What this will allow you to do is try that $200 or $300 bottle of wine by the ounce,” he says. Where he can, he wants to bring in new and unique offerings for customers to try.

Paired with it all are sandwiches, cheese boards, and flatbreads, many that will feature bread from the Taphouse Bread Company next door. 

“The food is going to match it all,” Mastropietro says. 

Patterned after a French bakery, Taphouse Bread Company will make pastries and specialize in sourdough bread, featuring some of the same flavor profiles as the beers served next door. “The bakery is going to be the engine for our menu,” he says. Along with supplying bread for the taproom, the bakery will be open to the public.

Mastropietro rents his space from Pacific Properties. The Taphouse on Walton will seat about 84 people including the bar and lounge spaces. The taphouse is about 4,900 square feet, with the bakery occupying another 1,200 square feet next door. He expects to employ about 10 people at the bakery and between 16 and 20 employees at the taproom.

After some delay in getting the necessary permits, work began in June to renovate the space, which was formerly home to The Blue Tusk pub and restaurant. During the permit delay, Mastropietro says he was able to stockpile building materials and supplies and then hit the ground running when work began. He is the project’s general contractor and hired a slate of subcontractors to complete the work.

“Everything is going to be brand new in there,” he says, including new flooring, new plumbing, a new bar, and a completely new layout for the space. “It was exactly what I wanted to do for my next project.” 

Mastropietro declined to disclose the project cost.

“We didn’t want to add something to Armory Square that is already here,” he says of his newest concept. Mastropietro believes the more variety there is and the more successful the businesses are, the more those businesses all lift each other up. “We really care a lot about this neighborhood,” he says.

Mastropietro is hoping for an October opening for his new business ventures. He also owns the Kasai Ramen restaurant at 218 Walton St.      

SYRACUSE — Cake Bar, a local bakery and bubble tea shop that opened in The Salt City Market in January 2021, debuted a second downtown Syracuse location in August.

Cake Bar opened its new café at 252 W Genesee St. on Friday, Aug. 12. The space, which was most recently occupied by the Bamboo House Asian Restaurant, is located next to the Apizza Regionale restaurant. 

The new Cake Bar offers the familiar treats offered at its Salt City Market location and a handful of unique beverages. The menu includes custom cakes for special occasions, cake truffles, cupcakes, Vietnamese-style caramel flan, and more.

Cake Bar is owned by Duyen Nguyen, an immigrant from Vietnam, who followed in her mother’s footsteps in operating a bakery, according to the Cake Bar website. 

SYRACUSE — Just three years after opening, Margaritas Mexican Cantina is expanding its location at 203 Walton St., nearly doubling the restaurant’s space and seating.

Alejandro Gonzalez and his business partner Jose Avalos opened Margaritas in September 2019. Gonzalez worked for years in the restaurant business before venturing out on his own.

While born in the U.S., Gonzalez grew up in Mexico. After he returned to America, much of his restaurant experience was in Mexican restaurants. It was the growing popularity of Mexican cuisine, however, that truly influenced what type of restaurant he wanted to open.

Mexican food is the second or third-most popular restaurant cuisine, he says, and you really can’t go wrong serving good drinks and big portions of tasty food.

“I think I was one of the first ones to revolutionize the Mexican restaurant concept,” Gonzalez says. Instead of having the same old booths and playing the same old music that other restaurants used, he instead chose colorful furniture, vibrant and authentic Mexican dishes, upbeat music, and served margarita towers at his restaurant.

“It makes people not just want to come here for the food but also for the atmosphere,” Gonzalez adds. With wait lists three to four hours long, especially on the

weekends, the concept is working, and it’s the impetus behind the renovations underway to expand the restaurant.

Margaritas can currently seat 142 people and will add another 130 seats in a dining room that’s expanding from 3,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet. The restaurant is expanding into vacant space from which the restaurant’s space was partitioned. “We’re just knocking down the wall,” Gonzalez says. Once complete, Margaritas will occupy just over 10,000 square feet between the dining room, kitchen, and bar.

Remodeling was underway at press time with a projected late August completion. Margaritas worked with Innovation Construction, Inc. of Ohio on the project. The company specializes in working on Mexican restaurants.

“It’s going to change the whole atmosphere,” Gonzalez says. The work also includes a new larger bar, new lighting, and the possibility of bringing late-night food and drink offerings to Margaritas. Currently, the restaurant is open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and closes at earlier times the rest of the week.

Gonzalez expects he needs to add between 15 and 20 employees at Margaritas, bringing the total to nearly 90 people.

Barring construction delays, Gonzalez was expecting to celebrate the newly renovated space in mid-September.

“It’s been a good ride, and we have more to go,” he says of Margaritas Mexican Cantina’s growth. Along with a second location in Rochester, Gonzalez and Avalos are hoping to open a third eatery in Florida soon. They are also looking at taking their restaurant concept overseas as well. 

“I’ve been looking at a place in Luxembourg,” Gonzalez says. He is also considering Bucharest, Romania as a possible site. “They have a really good nightlife there,” he quips.

Gonzalez believes the Margaritas concept with large potions and that Margarita tower would be well received in Europe.

The Armory Square restaurant (www.margaritasmexicancantina.com) enjoys a diverse clientele including office workers for lunch, couples and groups during the dinner hours, college students and people looking for a fun date spot in the evenings, and a lot of families on Saturdays and Sundays.