Barrio spans two floors across West Main Street from Sticky Rice in the Fan. (BizSense file photo)
A Fan restaurant is about to swap guacamole for baba ganoush.
Ramy Yacoub is preparing to close Barrio Taqueria & Tequila at 2229 W. Main St. to make way for Memi’s, his new Egyptian and Middle Eastern restaurant.
Yacoub, 29, bought Barrio from Richmond Restaurant Group last fall and said he began thinking of switching up the concept within a few weeks.
“There’s a lot of taco places around here,” Yacoub said. “I had a lot of different ideas and tried to figure out what would work best here.”
Ramy Yacoub
Yacoub was born in Egypt and immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 12. After stints in the Marines and the IT industry, Yacoub got into the restaurant world in 2020 as the local franchisee for Charleys Philly Steaks near VCU.
A few years later he sold the franchise and bought 3 Monkeys Bar & Grill. But he said the dream all along was to open a restaurant that serves food from his home country.
Memi’s is named for Yacoub’s mother, who now runs the kitchen at 3 Monkeys. Yacoub said Memi’s will serve Egyptian staples like baba ganoush and kebabs, as well as “some traditional dishes back from my home country that not a lot of people have heard of,” like Mulukhiyah, a traditional Egyptian soup, and Kofta, which he said are like Egyptian meatballs.
To test out the viability of an Egyptian restaurant, Yacoub said he turned to his staff.
“We did a trial. We got our employees from 3 Monkeys and Barrio, and we made it all and said, ‘Okay, try this food and tell us what you think,’’’ he said. “And they liked all of it, every single dish. So I was like, ‘Okay, I’m not biased, this is pretty good.’”
The 3,800-square-foot space includes a main dining room, a second bar area in the rear and an upstairs, all of which Yacoub has plans for. He said he’s planning to eventually open a cocktail bar in the upstairs area called Amar, which translates to “moon” in Arabic, as well as a coffee bar in the back called Noor, which means “light” in Arabic.
Yacoub said he’s planning to open Memi’s sometime in November, while Amar and Noor will open at a later date.
Barrio remains operational in the meantime. He said the Barrio staff will be staying on with Memi’s.
Another new restaurant is in the works a few blocks west, as Bar-Q, a barbecue spot that stemmed from a Norfolk pop-up, is preparing to open in the old Starlite space across from 3 Monkeys.