Mucho Mission: Mission Taco Soulard

by SPACE Architecture + DesignApr 24, 2014Concept Design

Rendering of the Mission Taco interior. This view into the restaurant is from the garage door at the front of the building. Rendering by Juan Devia.

The weather’s warming up, and sitting in a breezy open-air space with a margarita and an order of carne asada fries is the perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon. If that sounds good to you too, hang tight until June. Mission Taco 2.0 is scheduled to open late that month.

The Tilfords are opening a second location of their uber-successful Mission Taco in the bustling Soulard neighborhood. The anxiously-awaited taco outpost is going to have the same laid-back, casual vibe as the original location in The Loop, but the new space will be larger and grander. Located behind Soulard Market right across Lafayette from Bogart’s, the light-filled two-story brick building will be a festive home for Soulard’s newest eatery.

Like the original, the interior will be bright and cheerful. Mission 2 is going to make the most of the large garage door on the east side of the building; when the weather’s nice, it will be open to give the restaurant a breezy feel. Clad in pine with hints of Mission’s signature colors, the bar will float in a steel frame, surrounded by a curtain of wood. The dining table tops will feature pine, interspersed with narrow strips of color. The exposed brick on the exterior walls will serve as a backdrop for lively artwork; you’ll probably see skateboard decks scattered throughout the space, but the visual highlight of the restaurant will be a mural by local artist Craig Downs. In a nod to San Francisco’s Mission District, the skylight in the center of the space will feature a bell, which originally marked each mile of the El Camino Real between San Diego and Sonoma.

Check back here for periodic updates and pictures of construction, but here are a few images of what we’re working on now: