Expansion began in May with a test unit in Oklahoma City's Quail Springs Mall, a five-minute drive from Eateries' headquarters in Edmond. Plans call for two more Garcia's to open in Oklahoma City. After that, the chain will return to Phoenix with the new design, then build out the Phoenix and Tucson markets, Orza says. The space is long and rectangular, not boxy. To accommodate, Architect Tom Gordon designed a three-room restaurant.
Guests enter through the bar, which is flanked on either side by dining rooms.
Neither wall nor window separates the mall-facing dining room from the mall. Instead, low, curving brick walls topped with wrought iron create a sidewalk cafe feeling. At night, a huge, Southwestern-style iron gate locks off that room from the rest of the restaurant. Shipper is particularly proud of the aged bar top, which is lined with Spanish ceramic tile and lighted from above with halogen lamps. Less Is More At 4,500 square feet, the Oklahoma City restaurant is about half the size of the traditional Phoenix Garcia's.