Tonica will open in early February at the location of the old Marena’s restaurant at 1545 Overton Park, two doors down from Ecco on Overton Park.
Tonica is a new bar/restaurant from the people who brought you Ecco and Libro: Sabine Bachmann and her sons, chefs Armando and Mario Gagliano, and John-Paul Gagliano, who is general manager for all the restaurants.
“January 31st to February 3rd is kind of our target date,” John-Paul says. “We’re only going to be starting off Thursday through Sunday for service — 4:30 till right now.”
Describing Tonica, John-Paul says, “We’re trying to get as close to a Mediterranean Spanish style. Kind of a European style. Real flowers. Upscale. We’ve redone the whole building. Completely remodeled building. All hand-made cabinetry. We’re renovated our entire kitchen. We have a back dining room, another private room.”
At the rear of the restaurant is “a New Orleans alleyway. When the weather gets better, we can put tables back there for outdoor seating.”
Ecco diners will be able to take advantage of Tonica. “Summertime, springtime when we have additional seating outside, any overflow, you can grab a drink and we can bring you back to Ecco when your table is open. Or you can stay there and eat. I think they will compete with each other.”
Ditto for when people finish eating at Ecco. “After you finish at Ecco — last call is at 10 — you can go to the other restaurant and enjoy the same kind of atmosphere, same craft cocktails you can get at Ecco for a later service.”
As Armando said in an earlier Memphis Flyer interview, “It’s going to be a bar, but a bar that serves food.” It will be a “neighborhood bar,” where people can get small plates and more substantial dishes. But, he said, “I don’t want that to be considered a tapas bar or anything like that, but it will be more focused on the cocktails. We’re going to put more focus on the cocktails and the wine list.”
And, he says, “The food is not going to be an afterthought. It will be really good — a Spanish influence with a little bit of Italian-Mediterranean twist.”
John-Paul says: “We’re going to have a selection of paellas. We’ll have traditional Serrano ham croquettes. We will have different ceviches. Fried chicken wings made with Spanish chiles. Spanish spice chicharróns, among other things.”
Bachmann, who visited Spain last July to research the lifestyle, food and drinks, and atmosphere, came up with the name “Tonica” to pay tribute to the country. “The Spanish national drink, believe it or not, is gin tonics, which in Spain is ‘gin tonica,’” Bachmann told the Flyer.
“They are very known for their different types of gin tonics,” Armando said. “They do a lot of tonics with gin and different spirits and herbs and liqueurs.”
Customers will be able to order plenty of Spanish-inspired gin and tonics and house gins imported from Spain, as well as European and South American wines.
“We’re going to have an extensive gin list,” John-Paul says. “Mary Connor Jones is our beverage director. She’s creating the cocktail list.”