Gallo Blanco restaurant joins a number of local favorites arriving in Downtown Phoenix in tandem with it’s latest urban transformation. Holly Street Studio worked with Chef Doug Robson and Owner Chuckie Duff to create a new gathering place by combining 2 community favorites - Gallo’s menu and the Old American Way Market. Staying true to both structure and palette, the project cleared away cobwebs, filled it with light, air and translucent room dividers (constructed from the antique walk-in cooler boards) for separate outdoor dining patios directly engaged with the street. An excerpt from the AZ Republic Newspaper tells the story best:

The building in question, like the surrounding Garfield neighborhood, is saturated with history, and it has the bones to prove it. Built in the 1920s, the whitewashed brick box on the northwest corner of Pierce and 10th streets, framed with a pair of picture-perfect palm trees, bears both the familiar Gallo Blanco logo and two remnants of its past: An old sign reading “American Way Market” hanging above a colorful mural that runs the length of its eastern face.

In an effort to preserve the building’s bones, (Robson) built a kitchen along one side, then knocked a hole in the wall to connect the two spaces. But while much of the original building remains, Gallo Blanco’s new home has received a top-to-bottom face-lift, and it’s positively gorgeous.

Once nearly windowless, the renovated building is now awash in light, an airy, open space that’s contemporary and comfortable. A gargantuan letter board above the front counter displays the menu. Diners eat on smooth wooden tables and a turquoise-colored concrete bar that gives way to gleaming white walls, punctuated by judiciously placed bric-a-brac and pop culture posters of a Latin persuasion.

Dominic Armato, The Republic | azcentral.com Published 7:06 a.m. MT July 6, 2017