Ixtapa Cantina opening in Pasadena, Replacing Fred's Cantina

Fred's Cantina in Old Town Pasadena will soon be closing, to be replaced by a new Mexican restaurant called Ixtapa Cantina. Fred's will shutter in the next few weeks, and the space will be gutted to make way for the new restaurant, the third Pasadena project by Jack Huang, who also owns the nearby restaurants Villa Sorriso and Bar Celona. Lest anyone be confused by the name, it will not be a tapas restaurant. The restaurant takes its title from the Mexican coastal resort city of Ixtapa, in the state of Guerrero. Huang hopes to open the new restaurant in 8-12 weeks.

Although neither the chef nor the menu have yet been decided, what Ixtapa will have is a lot of dancing, as the space is currently licensed for dancing, cabaret, and live music as well as alcohol. Before it was Fred's, the building housed Moose McGillycuddy's, and the various licenses, according to Huang's representative, have been grandfathered in for each successive restaurant. The space is huge, and will get bigger--big enough, we're told, for ballroom dancing. Imagine. Maybe they'll even get mariachis, which would be pretty awesome.

Photo credit: Amy Scattergood

Fred's, soon to be Ixtapa

Fred's Cantina, soon to be Ixtapa: 119 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. (626) 304-9955.