Buffalo’s Ellicott Street neighborhood continues to experience new projects, helping it emerge as the city's latest hot space for development.
On Tuesday morning, the Buffalo Planning Board gave its approval for local businessman and former chef Richard Hamilton to open what will be known as Deep South Taco at Ellicott and Broadway, one block north of the central library.
"We were actually looking at another space for somthing else," said Hamilton, who pointed out that he lives just three blocks away from the site. "As soon as I saw this space I was like, 'this place needs doors that open up.' It just felt like a taco place. It just felt like it needed to be... the 'cucina' and I said this works."
The restaurant will be a proper 'tacoria,' said Hamilton, with artisan ingredients. It will also include rooftop seating and a scaled down bar.
"We're not going to try to be everything. I don't need 90 tequilas. I don't need 500 scotches and bourbons," said Hamilton. "We want to be focused. We want to be fine tuned."
They also want to be one of the neighbors. Hamilton looks forward to being another piece in a neighborhood where other restaurants have popped up in recent years and where the mayor's office recently invited developers to bid for a space to build a mix of residential and commercial space, including a desired downtown supermarket.
"We're here to be part of the community. I'm part of the restaurant fabric already. I have so many friends that are in the restaurant business," Hamilton said. "We hope to take all the lessons that they've learned, all the things I've learned from them, and apply it to our restaurants now."
