Sentinel staff report–
The long-awaited opening of a new Dos Coyotes Border Cafe in Citrus Heights is now a big step closer, following an extensive renovation and face-lift being recently completed at an aging strip mall on Sunrise Boulevard.
“I’m just jumping up for joy that it’s ready to start,” said owner Bobby Coyote in a phone interview last Thursday. His Davis-based restaurant chain is known for its southwestern food, “humongous salads,” and seasonal farm-to-fork specials.
Although initially estimating an opening date in 2017, Coyote said he had just been handed keys to the newly remodeled space and is now targeting an opening date for Spring, 2018. While exterior construction has been completed, work inside the 3,700-square-feet restaurant at 5450 Sunrise Blvd. will likely begin in the first week of January, with construction estimated to take 14-16 weeks.
“Realistically, I think we’d be opening late-April, early May,” said Coyote.
The new restaurant will include an outdoor seating area in front and will feature a “fun and exciting environment” inside, Coyote said, with a full bar, and lots of art. A 10-foot-tall bronze shaman sculpture was already placed in front of the new location last month, a piece of art Coyote had crafted by Bill Worrell, an artist from the southwest.
Currently, the nearest Dos Coyotes location is on Douglas Boulevard in Roseville.
Coyote said his first location opened in Davis almost 27 years ago, followed by eight other restaurants opening in the greater Sacramento region and extending as far as Turlock and San Ramon in recent years. He said Citrus Heights will be the tenth location.
From Jan: Outdated strip mall on Sunrise Blvd undergoing major face-lift
A leasing brochure for the Alta Sunrise Retail Center shows Dos Coyotes located on the south corner of the newly renovated center, with outdoor seating in front of the cafe. Three other smaller retail or restaurant spots are shown between Dos Coyotes and the existing Nation’s Giant Hamburgers restaurant, one of which is listed as still available.
Rick Martinez, a senior vice president with CBRE Sacramento, told The Sentinel last week that a lease is currently pending with Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt at the center. A spokeswoman for PizzaRev also confirmed last week that one of its “3-minute” custom pizza franchises will set up shop next to Dos Coyotes in the first quarter of 2018.
Related: PizzaRev to bring ‘3-minute’ pizza franchise to Citrus Heights
The restaurant-retail center on the 5400 block of Sunrise Boulevard is owned by the Cordano Company, one of many property and development companies run by the Sacramento-based Cordano family. As previously reported on The Sentinel, the remodel work began in January and sought to provide a facade update to the aging center in order to better accommodate restaurant tenants and improve rent values.
