Dec. 1, 2021

The owners of R Wine Bar & Kitchen are planning another downtown restaurant.

Riccardo and Marybeth Tarabelsi will be opening the new concept inside Washington Square sometime next year.

“The most exciting thing is just the opportunity downtown Sioux Falls brings,” Riccardo Tarabelsi said. “There’s a lot of excitement and momentum around our current concept, and I think people are going to be really excited when they find out about the new concept.”

R Wine Bar opened in 2018 and has grown into a restaurant as well as event space. Tarabelsi recently hired chef Nicholas Skajewski as his culinary director. Earlier this month, he introduced an expanded menu with more entrees and catering options.

“One of the reasons we are able to even think about opening another concept is because we have such great people on our staff,” Tarabelsi said.

Tarabelsi is a well-known name in the Sioux Falls food and beverage industry. He got his start in the city in 2000 at Spezia, when it was located at 26th Street and Western Avenue, and spent four years there before working as a wine sales representative at Johnson Brothers, general manager at The Country Club of Sioux Falls and vice president of sales and marketing at Fernson Brewing Co.

He said he plans to release more information about his new restaurant, including the name, next year.

The space at Washington Square, 360 S. Main Ave., has been vacant since the building opened several years ago.

“We’ve had several opportunities to lease this corner space, but we held out for a tenant that would complement the Pavilion, would complement the downtown and complement our mixed-use building,” co-owner and developer Chris Houwman said. “That’s what we’ve been holding out for is the right opportunity. Riccardo’s reputation, his following is impressive, and we could not be happier and look forward to welcoming his team to Washington Square.”

Construction will start this winter, Houwman said.

It’s 5,400 square feet inside and will include “one of the largest patios in downtown,” he said.

Other retailers in the building include Parlour Ice Cream House, which is closed for the season, and Wine Time on Main, which is going out of business at the end of the year.

“We already have a couple prospective tenants interested in the space,” Houwman said. “We don’t see a problem leasing that.”

The office space and all the condominiums also are full, meaning with Tarabelsi’s lease, “the building is completely full right now,” he said.

R Wine Bar to expand menu with new culinary director, add catering