Caucho in Cedar Rapids plans restaurant name change, broader menu under new ownership

CEDAR RAPIDS — Caucho, a popular upscale Mexican restaurant in the New Bohemia district, is broadening its horizons with a name change to embrace the philosophy of its new owners.

New owners Armina Grizak Lacayo and husband, Daniel Lacayo, who purchased the restaurant from Cobble Hill owners Carrie and Andy Schumacher in April, have been slowly evolving the menu to embrace more flavors from Central America, South America, Spain and Portugal.

Starting Thanksgiving week, the owners’ last name, Lacayo, will be the restaurant’s name, too. The Spanish name, which Daniel’s family kept as they migrated to South America and then Nicaragua, means “footman,” in a context of serving others.

“That’s what we do every day — hospitality,” said Armina, who helped open Caucho in 2017 before serving as front of house manager for Cobble Hill.

The new owners have slowly been changing the upscale menu and bar offerings to help Caucho better stand out in Cedar Rapids, where Mexican restaurants have saturated the market.

“We’ve kept the heart of what Caucho was, and expanded on it. We’ve created our own identity at this point,” Armina said. “There’s so many other cultures of Latin food people don’t know.”

Keeping scratch-made staples like queso fundido and their organic corn chips and tortillas ground by hand, the new menu features more seafood. The bar’s tap offers more local beers alongside canned or bottled options from other Latin American countries.

The Lacayos, who moved to Cedar Rapids from Chicago to work with the Schumachers, have been working in restaurants for upward of 20 years. In that time, Daniel has served as chef at several local establishments.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.