Cafe Havana on Cortez Road becomes second La Brisa Tacos y Mariscos location

The legacy of a Cuban restaurant at 8799 Cortez Road W. has ended, and the era of a Mexican restaurant has begun.

La Brisa Tacos y Mariscos will open a second restaurant at the Cortez location, which was previously occupied by Cafe Havana. Jose Quintana, who helps his brother, Al, manage the original Cafe Havana location still open at 1440 63rd Ave. E., explained the reason behind his brother’s decision to close the second location.

“There was a good offer for it and it wasn’t that busy,” Quintana said on Friday. “And I think the bad publicity from before (when the previous restaurant closed) didn’t help any.”

The Quintanas have no plans to open another Cafe Havana location at this time.

Hairo Padilla and his wife Imelda Mata, as well as Padilla’s mom, Ermila Silva, and her husband Felipe Silva, hope to bring some of the Bradenton client base they’ve already built at the original Sarasota location over to the new La Brisa Tacos y Mariscos spot on Cortez Road West.

Padilla is aware of the substantial reputation left by Jose’s Real Cuban Food, the Cuban restaurant that occupied the space before Cafe Havana. Jose’s was featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” TV show.

“I heard this used to be a spot,” Padilla said. “I hope we can live up to Jose’s expectations.”

The family plans to make the second La Brisa Tacos y Mariscos location into a take-out and delivery hub, though there will still be six or seven tables available for dine-in with table service. The original location at 1156 N. Washington Blvd. in Sarasota launched an online ordering system on Friday. Felipe Silva hopes that will be the main driver behind business at the Cortez location.

“It’s fast and not a lot of people have time to stop and eat,” Silva said.

As smartphones increasingly command most of the population’s attention, the La Brisa owners want to meet their customers where they are and make it easy for them to order food.

The family thought about opening a second restaurant at another location in Sarasota, but a deal never panned out. Another member of the Silva family knew a broker who was aware of the property on Cortez Road. The family quickly warmed to the idea of opening the second location there.

“We liked it,” Padilla said. “We got good vibes and we figured we would give it a shot.”

The La Brisa on Cortez Road will have generally the same menu as the Sarasota location, except with a few of the larger or more involved dishes taken off. The focus of the new restaurant, after all, is quick-and-easy takeout food.

They plan to be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, starting at 7 a.m. and closing around 8 or 9 p.m. There’s still interior work to be done and Padilla said the permitting process is taking a while, as it typically does for restaurants. As such, they’re not sure of an opening date but plan to announce it as soon as possible.

This story was originally published July 21, 2017 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Cafe Havana on Cortez Road becomes second La Brisa Tacos y Mariscos location."