LAST CALL: Centro by night
Calling all scenesters
By Coley Ward
CWARD@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.20.2008
Centro boldly projects its name on the city's third-tallest building, the neighboring blue and gray tower that houses Pima County Legal Services.
It's like the bat sign for scenesters.
Patrons park on the street and walk down a long alley to reach the cozy outdoor patio of Tucson's newest lounge, which features an open-air bar with white lights overhead.
Inside, people sit on orange couches and matching ottomans, and rest their plates and drinks on small white coffee tables. A green pleather couch lines one wall.
Centro is the brainchild of local DJ Corbin Dooley and partner Ronnie Spece, who together form Phat Entertainment. They're looking to help fill the night-life void created by the closings of nearby clubs Heart Five and Asylum and East Side clubs I.C.E. and Envy.
Not that Centro is a club. It's a lounge. Dooley wants to be clear on that point.
"The volume at a lounge isn't as loud as at a club," he says. "We're trying to appeal to an older demographic. We want this to be a place where people can come and talk."
There is no dance floor at Centro. In warmer months the DJ spins house music on the patio. Now that the weather is colder, he's set up inside.
On a recent Thursday, Nina Abuwan and her friend Katarina Sucic sat on one of the lounge's large sofas, enjoying a cocktail.
Abuwan, 23, wore a pink scoop neck dress, while Sucic, 22, chose a black strapless number. They both drank vodka with Red Bull — their usual drink.
"I work retail and so does she, and we go out every night," said Sucic. "We go out like it's our job."
It was the women's second stop at Centro that day. Earlier in the evening they ate dinner at the club.
By day, Centro operates as Chile Verde, a taco shop (see review on previous page).
At night, Centro offers what the owners call tapas, but could be accurately described as "tacos plus."
There are duck tacos, ajillo mushroom tacos, grilled fish tacos and pork tacos, in addition to tortilla soup, Bandera salad, queso fundido and other small plates.
(Although the menu doesn't give any indication, several items can be made vegetarian).
Centro is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only. Happy-hour drink specials are offered from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. all three nights.
We arrived around 9 p.m. and the DJ was still setting up. After sitting for a few minutes, we decided to order our food and drinks at the front counter. The bartender took our orders, poured our drinks, and we carried them back the couch.
A server brought us our tacos and stopped by regularly to ask if we wanted anything else.
When he was hiring waitstaff in September, Dooley said he was looking for "intense customer service" — the kind you usually only find in upscale Manhattan joints.
He says he's still working on that part.
"Is the service up to my standards?" Dooley asks. "No. Is it up to Tucson's standards? I think so. It's a work in progress."
Sucic said she thought Centro's hype was justified.
"We'd been hearing about this place for weeks," she said. "I love Level to death, but when you're there it feels like you're in a club. This is more like a lounge."
Martha Kataura, 22, a UA nutritional science student, went to Centro with a group, celebrating a friend's birthday.
"I like the atmosphere and the style," she said. "It's more high-class than other places. The location is awesome, too. Me and my roommate were thinking that something should move Downtown."
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