Corpus Christi’s newest Tex-Mex restaurant should look a lot like this Chuy’s on U.S. 183 in Austin, the restaurant chain’s hometown. Courtesy photo
Chuy’s Tex-Mex plans to build its new restaurant at 5933 S. Padre Island Dr. near the Airline Dr. exit. The company filed for a building permit with the city’s development department for a 7,935 square foot building to cost around $1.8 million dollars. Doors should open to the first customers sometime before summer of this year.
Chuy’s Holdings Inc. is a Tex-Mex restaurant chain based in Austin, with 67 full-service restaurants around the country, including in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. About half of the total restaurants are in Texas.
The eclectic eatery is known for its decadent decor and fresh ingredients that make up a unique take on Tex-Mex. Recipes come from a mix of flavors from Mexican border towns, the Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico, deep South Texas and Austin.
Chuy’s began in Austin in 1982 on Barton Springs Road in what was once a barbecue joint. It expanded to other states in 2009 when it opened in Franklin, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville.
Founders Mike Young and John Zapp decorated on the “cheap,” as the legend goes, using wooden fish, hubcaps and other found objects — seemingly anything that shined or sparkled — to attach to walls, tables, ceilings and even floors and doors.
OTHER PERMITS
Permits issues by the city recently include:
• Jersey Mike’s Subs, 1813 Ennis Joslin Road, 1,532 square ft., $1.3 million
• CK Mart two permits, both at 2701 S. Port Ave., one for 1,152 square ft., $23,773, and 768 square ft. for $19,015
• Domino’s, 2714 S. Staples, 2,255 square ft., $281,875
