Ann Arbor’s Isalita Cantina Mexicana has officially closed on December 22. Owner Adam Baru is converting the space at 341 E Liberty St into an event venue called Mani Next Door to compliment, literally, his restaurant, Mani Osteria & Bar in the adjacent space. This news was first seen in The Michigander.
Isalita Cantina Mexicana opened in 2012 and has since served the neighborhood with authentic Mexcian fare. However, growing competition in the cuisine and the high competition density drove Baru to re-evaluate the business and eventually decided to make some changes.
“Isalita has been a wonderful restaurant for us the past 12 years. in that time, the mexican restaurant options have exploded in town. On Liberty street alone there are 6-7 locations. All do a good job, we just got tired of competing with so many others and figured there was a better use of our space; both creatively for the chefs and as a new business opportunity for me,” Baru told What Now Detroit in an email.
According to The Michigander, Baru hopes to break the grounds for Mani Next Door in January to have the business up and run around the University of Michigan’s graduation season. Baru told What Now Detroit that his tentative goal is to have 70 seating/80 standing on the main floor and 40-45 seats in the upper-level dining room, which is also getting fresh decor.
While the venue’s menu will share some similarities with Mani Osteria & Bar, there will also be some new items.
“I’m encouraging the chefs to create menus that will fun, interactive and familiar. Format of menus will be different, all food will be served family style. We will also use the space as a “lab” the chefs can use to create pop-up menu events several times a year,” said Baru, adding he might even do an Isalita dinner.
Once open, Mani Next Door will also offer brunch on Sundays, which was something popular pre-covid but was “never really brought back” by the team until now.
