Jonathan Jones, owner of gourmet hot dog cart Fats Pierre, along with Anna Sidel, the co-owner of the food truck Holy Crepe, have recently purchased the building at 6803 Southwest Ave., between McCausland Avenue and the Southwest Avenue exit of Interstate 44, with plans to open a diner in the space.
The casual breakfast and lunch eatery, to be called Southwest Diner, will offer guests a taste of the Southwest. “Down home New Mexican cooking meets diner,” is how Jones described the concept. “We will be a diner that you would find in Santa Fe or Albuquerque. Chiles are king there. The Hatch chile pepper – red or green – kind of goes on everything. We will incorporate that [into dishes],” said Jones, who lived in Albuquerque for a spell and also has five years of front-of-the-house experience, having worked at Mirasol, Duff’s and Franco. Guests at the 50-seat diner can expect to see egg dishes, pancakes, chiles rellenos, enchiladas and Indian fry breads, Jones said.
Jones has begun transitioning the company name from Fats Pierre to that of Southwest Diner. He is serving up made-to-order breakfast tacos – order one with, you guessed it, green chiles – under the Southwest Diner banner at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market. And when the diner opens next spring, Jones expects to use that kitchen as the commissary kitchen for his mobile operations. (He currently uses the kitchen at Handle Bar in The Grove neighborhood and supplies food for Handle Bar during dinner hours Tuesday through Saturday.)
This article appears in June 2011.