As a fan of Vivo Cocina (and the parent restaurant La Fiesta in Universal City) I was absolutely giddy on Saturday when my wife & I saw the sign @ the Lakeline Plaza off 620 & Lake Creek Parkway announcing Vivo Cocina...coming soon! This is the same plaza w/ R.C. Fowler's, Grapevine Salon, & a PEC office. My wife emailed Roger Diaz (owner of Vivo) & he confirmed that they'll be moving in to the place that currently houses Fajita Warehouse. They're going to do a pretty thorough remodel & hope to be open for business by this fall. We'll be able to ride our bikes or walk to some of our favorite TexMex shortly. Sweeeet.
Thanks for posting this. I actually didn't know that the parent restaurant is La Fiesta which has been one of my favorite places to eat in SA since I was little.
I have never heard of this place, nor did I know Fajita Warehouse was closing. Since you are so excited about this I will have to check it out when it opens up.
Lovin, Roger Diaz (owner of Vivo) is from San Antonio. His parents owned La Fiesta off Pat Booker (I believe they may have had a 2nd location @ one time but I think they closed it). Roger was the mgr. @ La Fiesta for a number of years. My ex-wife's from SA & for a number of years I was commuting between Austin & SA at least 2-3X a month. It was rare that we didn't eat @ La Fiesta. I remember talking to Roger in the early '90s about opening a restaurant in Austin & he said it was something he'd always wanted to do but was waiting for the right opportunity. Their healthy TexMex recipes & subtle twists seemed like a natural fit for Austin. My ex-wife actually emailed me when she'd heard that Roger was opening a placed called Vivo off of Manor Road. Vivo's atmosphere is a huge improvement over La Fiesta which is just a plain mom 'n pop joint w/ some ugly paint & a couple of nice aquariums. Real art, higher quality accents & a great deck w/ fountaints & plants really make the Manor Rd Vivo a cool destination. I don't know if Roger will feel the need to tone down some of the hippness for the store off 620 (can't believe the suggestive modernistic nude paintings will work in family-oriented NW Austin/Cedar Park) but the building he'll be in has potential. Years ago it was a Serrano's & we'd go their occasionally for lunch. It's a good-sized space w/ nice separation between zones, a decent bar & a large patio outside. Roger's going to have a pretty good canvas to work with. I can't wait.
Thanks for all the additional information. I always wanted to try Vivo and would have for sure if I’d known the connection. Since I’ll be in Austin most the summer, I’ll have to stop by. La Fiesta is now off Pat Booker Rd and has been for at least ten-fifteen years now and is the only location now. I usually pick up the food to-go now since there is not much of an atmosphere as you mentioned. Glad someone else loves that place too.
Pat Booker. Geez, how did I confuse that w/ Randolph Brooks? BTW, I think Roger's parents still live over in Windcrest. Supposedly his mom is the one w/ the green thumb & the reason behind the tremendous floral displays @ all of their restaurants.
Another sign that Austin is changing for the worst. Good bye Fajita warehouse. Thanks for the memories. Enjoy Yuppies.
I check for signs of activity a couple of times of week but haven't noticed anything other than the new Roasters building that's going up in the same strip mall. At least they 'coming soon' sign for Vivo is still up.
Thanks for the update. At least the sign is still up. My parents are counting down the days until it opens too. They just moved close to that area and have been eating at the parent restaurant La Fiesta since it opened 20 or so years ago. Wow, time goes by fast.
Looks like the new location will open in late summer or early fall now. At least it is still in the works. New Locations
Our neighbor is dating one of the investors in Vivo. She called my wife the other day to tell her that they're about to go full steam ahead & that Vivo could be open within 6-8 weeks!
This is great news. I hope it is 6 weeks instead of 8... Do you know where it is going to be exactly? I didn't really notice it in the Lakeline Plaza area, but didn't look too hard.
It will be in the bay where Fajita Warehouse was, next to Lakeline Vision. I haven't seen any noticeable activity there lately so I'm becoming less optimistic about them opening soon.
Well Vivo finally opened on Fri., Dec 11th & man was it worth the wait! What a beautiful setting. It feels more like a sexy lounge than a restaurant with it's ceiling high black leather booths, erotic art, dark color palette & candles all over the walls. I had their special (shrimp enchiladas w/ spicy poblano sauce) & they were awesome. Sexy tex-mex. Hard to beat.
