Eatery to open at Triangle Square

COSTA MESA — After two years hurdling obstacles thrown at them by the city of Costa Mesa and Triangle Square owners, two Costa Mesa restaurateurs are set to open Chronic Cantina on Friday.

Daniel Biello, 31, and Keith Scheinberg, 30, are excited and expect the restaurant to be a hit.

“We’re supposed to be nervous because we have a lot riding here,” Biello said, sitting outside his new venture as construction crews worked inside. “But we’re not because we think it’s going to be great.”

Under the banner of KSDB Inc., Chronic Cantina, a restaurant and bar will host its grand opening celebration Friday, complete with “surprise” live entertainment, drinks, and the food locals have come to love at Newport Beach’s Chronic Tacos.

“I love Chronic Tacos, so I’m excited,” said Kristen Cachola, a sales associate at the Closet, a clothing store on the mall’s street level. “Hopefully, it brings more business up here.”

Although they wouldn’t give exact figures, the pair said they pumped “a lot of money” into the new restaurant and they don’t seem worried about profit margins knowing how well the smaller Chronic Taco locations do each year. Biello estimated the taco shops generate about $1 million every year, and he expects the cantina to double or triple that.

“It’s the same food, but better; we’ve stepped it up a notch,” Biello said. “And you add a bar …”

Scheinberg quickly added, “It’s not exactly rocket science.”

Although the restaurant boasts an extensive collection of premium tequilas — some that people may have only seen in Mexico, Biello said — the cantina’s primary focus is on the grub and the casual ambience, complete with an outdoor palapa bar and a 2,000-square-foot open-air patio.

“Around us there’s the Yard House and Sutra — this doesn’t compete with them,” said Schienberg, who is also a real estate developer and a senior partner at Scheinberg & Stock law firm in Newport. “It’s a different crowd. This is fast food; you don’t have to stay a long time, and we’re reaching out to the lunch and dinner crowd…. We think it’ll be a great complement.”

Chronic Cantina will not have a dress code and will welcome moviegoers and other shoppers by offering flat-screen plasma TVs — just in time for football season — mojitos, good old Mexican fare and a little-known tequila companion, sangrita.

After taking tequila classes and studying up in Cabo San Lucas, Biello decided the cantina will feature the tomato-based drink, which you sip or shoot after drinking tequila.

After staving off parking problems while going through the permit process with the city, some residents and city officials expressed concerns that adding another establishment with a full liquor license in the area could foster trouble in the neighborhood.

“Some people were worried about crime,” Scheinberg said. “I have five properties in a two-block radius; I don’t want crime around my house either.”

Costa Mesa Police did not return phone calls regarding the matter.

The owners said the issue comes down to responsible business ownership and the fact that, as residents, they are also directly affected by a rising crime rate. Instead, they think the addition of Chronic Cantina to the mall, which has been largely vacant for the past few years, will serve as a much-needed rejuvenation.

“This area needed something like this,” Scheinberg said. “We really think we can bring this place back.”

The two said they have plans for “mini-concerts” in the works, a nod to the days when bands such as Green Day and No Doubt played at the mall.