Dining
Charrovida
Charrovida goes Charrovegan
7109 N. Oracle Road 779-1922, charrovida.com 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays
Year-old restaurant undergoes menu refresh BY VALERIE VINYARD When Charrovida opened in April 2019, owner Ray Flores wanted to offer diners an upscale, vegetarian-centric meal. Within a few months, the restaurant was hitting its stride. Then the pandemic hit. Like many restaurants, Charrovida temporarily closed in March because of the pandemic, but it reopened mid-July to offer takeout, catering, and socially distant patio dining and indoor dining. The restaurant, which is part of Flores Concepts, is located in Casas Adobes Plaza, in the spot formerly occupied by Bird Modern Provisions and Bar. Flores Concepts includes El Charro Cafe, a restaurant that was established in Tucson almost 100 years ago. With the reopening, Charrovida has revamped its menu to focus on more portable but still healthy and now vegan-focused meals. While everything on the menu starts out as plant-based or vegan, meat lovers shouldn’t fret: Diners have the option to add grass-fed beef, salmon and chicken as well as vegetarian options to meals. “A lot of the food that we did there was
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sit-down-style food that wouldn’t travel well,” says Ray Flores, president of Flores Concepts. “We wanted to make it more user friendly. We made it more customizable, better for packaging, for reheating.” As a result, Charrovida has evolved into an elevated fast-casual restaurant. The usual 160-person capacity inside and outside the restaurant understandably has been cut because of social distancing measures. On the new menu, diners can find build-your-own-bowl options ($13-$15), salads ($9-$12) and Chef Carlotta’s Tamales ($10-$17, depending on how many). The former price points of $25 to $30 an entrée have been lowered so that nothing is priced more than $17 on the new menu. Charrovida also debuted a new Sunday brunch menu July 26. “It’s more about being clean and being smart,” Flores says. “We’re trying to do just little smarter twists. We wanted to consider all diets, as every family has their own challenges.” Chef-owner Carlotta Flores and chef Gary Hickey revamped about 75% of the menu. They took care not to eliminate
La Taqueria, left, and Beyond Burger
Build Your Own Bowl, left, and Jackfruit Birria. (Submitted photos)
diner favorites such as avocado hummus, enchiladas, mini chimis and nopalitos. Charrovida added the plant-based Beyond Burger to the menu ($15) because it is non-GMO, unlike the Impossible brand. Flores raved about Charrovida’s “delicious” vegan gluten-free churro, aka Churro Dreams ($7), and the vegan Nachos Vida ($11), where the restaurant makes its own vegan crema with coconut milk. “I think it’s more conscientious menu,” says Flores, ticking off such healthy options as a plant-based keto chile relleno ($12-$16), which is high in protein and low carb. Charrovida offers a different soup every day, including vegan posole, black bean nacho soup and lentil. Flores recommended meat lovers also try Charrovida’s jack fruit taquitos ($11). “It just has that good earthy flavor that really works,” he says. “We really season it, and I think that would please a lot of meat eaters.” The restaurant also features a vegan wine program of about 25 wines by the bottle ($24-$45), and healthy ingredients
are added to the signature margaritas, such as aguas frescas and agave. Charrovida is offering half-priced wine all summer. Flores wants the restaurant to get involved again with community gardens at schools such as Manzo Elementary once they reopen. He says the restaurant had been using ingredients from the gardens to use in its recipes. In addition, Flores Concepts has formed a partnership with the University of Arizona Community School Garden Program. This collaboration between the university and area Tucson Unified School District schools was established to help children learn the importance of food and food sustainability and why leading a healthier lifestyle can benefit everyone. While that program is on hold because of the pandemic, Carlotta Flores says her family remains committed now more than ever to teaching future generations the importance of sustainability and eating for your health. “We want to make it with this concept,” Flores says. “We think it’s important to the community. We’ve learned a lot, and this menu is cool.” www.LovinLife.com
