By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
After years of looking for the perfect home in the Old Pueblo, Postino WineCafe has found it.
Next Spring, the popular wine café will move into a modern-inspired mixed-use development under construction at the southeast corner of Grant Road and Tucson Boulevard.
But according to Postino’s CEO Lauren Bailey, the most exciting thing about the new location is partnering with a fourth-generation Tucsonan to bring Postino’s mix of welcoming vibes and tasty food and drink to Tucson’s newly minted Midtown neighborhood.
“Postino has always been focused on serving our surrounding community and really becoming a part of the fabric of a neighborhood,” Bailey says.
“So, while we looked at dozens of potential sites over the years, it wasn’t until we walked this site with developer Brian Frakes and explored the amazing neighborhood, including local favorite like Dante’s Fire and Kingfisher, that we knew we’d found the perfect home for Postino in Tucson.”
Best known in Tucson for transforming a 60-year-old lumberyard into Sam Fox’s The Yard at Midtown, Common Bond Development Group’s Frakes has revitalized this once run-down district located just northeast of both the University of Arizona and the sprawling Banner University Medical Center in the historic Blenman-Elm neighborhood.
“My grandparents lived just down the street, so I’ve always known this is area as home to a unique mix of restaurants and retail, surrounded by these amazing historic adobe ranch-style homes,” Frakes says. “Close to campus, and tucked between downtown Tucson and the northern foothills, it’s the geographic center of Tucson.”
Inspired by its neighbors, including Tucson’s earliest ranch-style adobe homes, designed in the 1930s by the Swiss-born architect, Josias Joesler, Postino Tucson will be housed inside a sleek, low-slung 4,000-square-foot space. Highlights include a series of floor-to-ceiling windows and roll-up windows walls all artfully protected by large overhangs, plus a sweeping outdoor patio tucked behind a living wall of plant vines that extends right up and over the roof.
Postino Tucson will be open daily for lunch and dinner with brunch every weekend, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Besides the menu of bruschettas, from-scratch soups, salads and panini sandwiches, Postino pours a wide variety of Arizona and Tucson craft brews, paired with an ever-changing selection of boutique wines, including more than 30 wines by the glass.
Postino South
postinowinecafe.com
