Gourmet tacos anyone? After a successful run at its original Ocean City, N.J. boardwalk location, Pure Tacos is expanding to test its might in Philly.

Tacos!

The Center City Residents Association recently voted not to oppose Pure Taco’s application for an eat-in only restaurant with all food served on non-disposable ware at 1935 Chestnut St., but with provisos. Those provisos include no sale or consumption of alcohol, no live entertainment/music and no take-out.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not opposed to them having at some point a nice glass of wine,” said CCRA zoning co-chair Brian Johnston. But the association wants the business to go through the normal legal process first, he explained. He added that trash removal was an issue the association plans to take-up as a general mission in the upcoming months.

Pure Tacos will be taking over the space that most recently held the Christian Science Reading Room. The facade of the building is impressive, with $himwell & Logan etched into the stone above the retail space. From what we can tell, Shimwell & Logan were opticians back in the days that it wasn’t weird for businesses to carve their names into the buildings they occupied.

Sweet facade

According to its website, Pure Tacos is a quick casual restaurant that sells premium tacos, nachos and salads to customers hungry for chef-quality food served fast. And we almost failed to mention, it’s all gluten-free!

Some other stores on the block

This new concept is a positive addition for Chestnut St., which should soon see an influx of additional pedestrians from a couple of residential projects currently in the works. Projects at the former YWCA annex and the former Sidney Hillman site will result in over 400 new apartments within two blocks of this location. That’s a lot of potential taco eaters.

Mr. Laban says they were “impressive,” and he tends to know the markings of a good bite. Has anyone out there tried these pure ditties while you were down on the boards?

–Lou Mancinelli