And yes, it’s bringing its crazy-popular, Instagrammable birria tacos with it.
Where did La Bodega come from?
This humble 45-seater appeared in East Brisbane in 2023 on the relatively nondescript corner of Lytton Road and Latrobe Street and quickly became one of the city’s most in-demand Mexican restaurants. Not long after opening, it was often hard to get a seat at the place.
“We would do 250 covers on a [Saturday] night,” says Tim Glasson, who owns La Bodega with his partner Anna Brobjer. “I think we did 1200 covers last week, and we were closed one night. It’s been absolutely insane.
“We were not expecting anything like it has become. In the early days, we were projecting numbers and I was thinking, ‘Oh, I can’t imagine making more than so much in a week.’ We passed that mark after a couple of months, and now we do that figure on a Saturday night.”
Glasson and Brobjer put the restaurant’s success down to its “come as you are” approachability and price point, but also the food of chef Alejandra Mendoza, who joined the La Bodega team after the closure of Patrona in Newstead.
“Her food is the best thing,” Glasson says. “When she came on board our food was already good, but she turned the dials up on everything, and it’s been incredible.”
Now, Glasson and Brobjer are capitalising on La Bodega’s success by opening a second restaurant on Wickham Street in Fortitude Valley later this month. This venue will be much larger – around 120 seats.
“In the early days, we were projecting numbers … We passed that mark after a couple of months, and now we do that figure on a Saturday night.”
La Bodega co-owner Tim Glasson
Taking over the heritage-listed facade of the old A.E. Griffiths Service Station building on Wickham Street, Glasson and Brobjer will peddle the same La Bodega experience and menu – including its super-popular, Instagrammable birria tacos – but in a larger space, split into three sections: a timber deck out front used for walk-ins, a dining room that will feature a large communal dining table, and then a courtyard out back.
“It’s outside but mostly covered,” Brobjer says. “The space is divided into seven booths that can seat roughly 10 people each … the courtyard will be the heart of the venue. Ninety per cent of people will dine out there.”
Like at the original La Bodega and its neighbouring sister venue, Olli Italiano, Glasson and Brobjer have taken care of the fitout themselves, although they used hired help for some of the larger aspects, such as the booths. They say to expect a similar treatment at East Brisbane with its unfussy blushed terracotta colour scheme, with the heritage facade’s Spanish Mission treatment doing much of the heavy lifting.
“That architecture goes perfectly with the Mexican cuisine, so it couldn’t be better, honestly,” Glasson says.
“The food menu will be the same but we have the flexibility to expand the cocktail menu. That will be fun for me, going back to my roots in bartending and cocktails.”
The sizeable new venue also opens up the opportunity for La Bodega to take on more functions.
“Because of the floor plan at East Brisbane, 20 people is probably the maximum size we can do there,” Glasson says.
Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.