Casa Ventura to Open April 26 on Seventh Ave. and Third Street

At , it is going to be all about home-style Latin cuisine and rum— in any form, from mojitos to piña coladas to caipirinhas.

Last week, Jose Ventura, the co-owner of the soon-to-open restaurant with his wife Devonna Middeleer and local proprietor Avi Kravitz, surveyed the inside of his space on Seventh Avenue and Third Street with a look of pride.

Casa Ventura, which will open on April 26, is almost complete with a new configuration, brand new walls and ceilings made from reclaimed wood, new Mexican tile floors and an improved patio with one solid wall and new black canvas (replacing the orange one from the Barrio days) surrounding the other three sides and the ceiling. 

And although the dark reclaimed wood is beautiful and gives the space an original, down-home vibe, the bar is something most beautiful.

The copper-topped bar, which will hold 25 different selections of rum, was hammered by hand and has a clean, precise look. But, the subtle hammer marks gives it a rough-around-the-edges character that will surely make you look cooler than you really are while standing next to it, perhaps holding a cold, cool mojito.

The contractor responsible for the fine work is Ventura’s father-in-law, Bill Middeleer and his brother, Tom.

“He made it happen,” Ventura said while Middeleer was hammering out a corner of the bar. “He made this place look beautiful.”

Ventura wouldn’t give any other details about the restaurant’s Latin American cuisine-centric menu except for that it will have a heavy focus on Puerto Rican food like mofongos, fried mashed plantains usually stuffed with chicken or shrimp, asopao de pollo, a stew-like soup made with chicken, ham, vegetables and rice.

They will also serve Colombian-style arepas con bacalao, tacos and quesadillas from Mexico, Cuban black beans and arroz moro from Santo Domingo. Ventura said one of their specialties will be Peruvian ceviche.

An aspect that Ventura was most excited about, while he was watching Middeleer hammer down the copper, is the bar.

Ventura said his bar will focus on rum to make mojitos, piña coladas and other Caribbean and South American cocktails like caipirinhas.

There will be 25 different kinds of rum, and although the selection will be a surprise, the liquor will come from Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas and other Caribbean islands.

Ventura said that they are going to make the cocktails with fresh fruit, like pineapple, coconut, tamarind pods, its pulp used to make juice for mojitos, passion fruit, yerba buena, used instead of mint for a traditional Cuban-style mojitos and sugar cane, squeezed to make garapa juice for piña coladas.

He said that every drink will be homemade with fresh ingredients and will not use drink mixes.

“We are gong to make everything we can here and by hand,” Ventura said, while standing behind his bar. “That’s what we are going to be about.”

They will also have six draft beers and three or four in bottles.

He said the selection of different kinds of rum is going to give his bar a wide array of choices.

“At my bar, people are going to be able to drink a cocktail exactly how they want it,” Ventura said.