The chandeliers have been dusted, the sound system tested, and the VIP booths are waiting. Come tomorrow, Friday, July 18th, the venue space on the second floor of the building formerly occupied by El Zocalo restaurant will open its doors for the first time in years as “El Zocalo Lounge,” bringing a 410-person capacity venue back to life above Taqueria El Rey on the corner of Bagley and 23rd.
Climb one of the three different staircases leading to the second floor and you’ll find a vast space for dancing and lounging, with comfortable padded booths and circular VIP booths lining the perimeter of the dance floor, and a sprawling rectangular bar made of black wood that offers service to patrons while they’re busting a move (or just lingering nearby), or catching their breath in the lounge area opposite the dedicated dance space. A professional sound and lighting system had already been expertly installed but has been dormant since El Zocalo closed in 2016 after more than thirty years.
“People don’t realize that there’s a whole beautiful lounge up there,” said Robert Garcia, who will manage the newly opened space. “I’m talking about VIP booths, beautiful floors, sound system, light system. I mean, it’s ready to go. Like, turnkey.”
Garcia spent four years working at the original El Zocalo restaurant early in life. After the tragic passing of his father when Garcia was a child, the restaurant’s owner, Victor Cordoba, became the closest thing to a father figure he knew.
“He would talk to me, and he would tell me, ‘Robert, don’t do this. Robert, don’t do that. Yeah, you should do this,’” Garcia recalled. “Like a father figure. And so now that he’s passed away, I feel that his spirit is calling me back to where it all started.”
The building was purchased for $1.2 million in August of 2018 by Dennis Kefallinos, according to the Detroit News. Taqueria El Rey completed a lease and moved into the first floor in October 2024 after losing their previous location to fire. The Fuentes family, led by Eliseo “Chico” Fuentes and his wife Irma, spent over two years operating as a chef’s residency at Batch Brewing Company in Corktown, serving their char-grilled chicken and ribs every Monday and Tuesday with hopes to eventually return to Mexicantown.
Behind that family resilience is Danny Fuentes, the restaurant’s general manager. He had completed automotive repair and diesel industrial training in Houston in 2014, then worked as a maintenance mechanic at an industrial laundry facility for five years. His father started having heart trouble, and for Fuentes, there was really only one choice.
“To me it wasn’t hard to leave my job at the time because my parents and my family had done so much for me,” Fuentes explained. “When it was my turn to jump back in and help them with the family business, I did it without hesitation because it meant so much to me to be able to lend a hand to my parents who had always supported us. Whether it was with school, sports or just life in general, they always had our backs.”
The restaurant operates as a true family enterprise. Fuentes, the second oldest of four siblings, works alongside his older brother Eliseo Jr. “Cheo,” younger brother Sami, and sister Melissa, plus several cousins and aunts. Their father remains deeply involved but prefers to work in the kitchen doing quality control on the food and recipes that built Taqueria El Rey’s reputation.
When Fuentes brought up the idea of doing something with the empty upstairs space, Garcia recognized the potential. The two had connected about two months earlier when Garcia stopped by as a sales representative for Resist Spirits to talk about their “For Kings and Not Gods” vodka and bourbon line.
“We started talking about getting the nightclub space open again like it once was to help boost our revenue overall with new cocktails, and bring back some nightlife to the Mexicantown corridor,” Fuentes recalled. The vision extends beyond nightclub events to “offering not just a nightclub experience but a space for all types of events such as birthday parties, graduations, bachelorette parties, baby showers and corporate luncheons, as well.”
The restaurant already hosts events on its patio between the brick-and-mortar building and La Michoacana tortilleria, like the “Brawl on Bagley” wrestling event held on June 8th in partnership with International Bigtime Wrestling (IBW), so expanding into the upstairs venue was a natural next step for the family business.
Garcia’s business background in sales and engineering shows in his approach to the venue. The opening event costs nothing to attend. A cash bar will feature custom drinks from the local Latino-owned spirits company where Garcia works. Happy hour will run from 9 to 11 PM with discounted cocktails designed by a professional mixologist. The party will continue until 2 AM.
Beyond the monthly branded “El Zocalo Lounge” events, Garcia pictures the space as a “one-stop shop” for community celebrations. DJ, security, bartenders, food—everything provided at what he calls “rock bottom price” to keep celebrations accessible to local families.
As the space becomes available for booking, “We’re not even gonna charge for the venue. Basically, you come in, it’s turnkey. We have a cash bar. All you got to do is show up.”
That thinking about community shows in the opening night music. DJ Mic Love, who grew up with Garcia, will be playing a mix of norteño, salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton, and maybe even some Latin freestyle.
“He plays all types of music. He even takes requests,” Garcia noted. But mainly, “You can expect some really, really good Latin music.”
Garcia and Fuentes’ strategy calls for one major event monthly while keeping the venue available for private bookings on weekends. If you’re a local band or artist, Garcia is actively seeking performers who want to help build something new in the neighborhood.
“We want to promote and buy from local people, other establishments,” Garcia said. “We want to use local artists, like the DJs… We want to promote and advertise and help brand these local guys, so people get them recognized.”
The venue faces some practical challenges. There’s no elevator to the second floor, which limits accessibility for wheelchair users, though Garcia says staff would assist people who need help getting upstairs. Eventually they want to offer a selection of food made in the kitchen that occupies part of the lounge space, but in the meantime, the first floor kitchen will remain open throughout most of the night. Though the space has been vacant for years, it hasn’t required much restoration work to get it up to par for what people will experience come Friday: a beautiful space with strong community ties and management who gets the neighborhood and the business.
“I’m very excited to open the lounge as we hope to become one of the go-to spots for Latin music in Mexicantown and Southwest Detroit, working with local talent to bring the best experiences and all around good times as we venture into this new opportunity,” expressed Fuentes.
Michael D. Gutierrez is the Digital Content Manager for EL CENTRAL Hispanic News. He is a screenwriter and filmmaker with a decade of experience in the television and film industry, contributing to projects including THE HOLDOVERS and LETHAL WEAPON on Fox. He is an active member of the Writers Guild of America-West and its Latino Writers Committee.
This article and photos were made possible thanks to a generous grant to EL CENTRAL Hispanic News by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at www.pressforward.news.
