The owner of a popular Washington, D.C., restaurant is preparing to open a new restaurant in a prominent spot in downtown Silver Spring.
Ivan Iricanin, who heads the international Street Guys Hospitality restaurant group and owns Ambar in the District, will open Tacos, Tortas and Tequila in the former location of 8407 Kitchen Bar on Ramsey Avenue near the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center.
Iricanin confirmed Wednesday morning the restaurant group is opening the new restaurant, but said he wasn’t able to share details or its expected opening date.
“I need to get us ready for going public,” he said.
A longtime figure in the D.C. restaurant scene, Iricanin worked as a partner at Richard Sandoval’s Masa 14 and El Centro D.F. restaurants before starting his own restaurant, according to the Washington Business Journal.
He opened Ambar Capitol Hill, a Balkan cuisine restaurant off Pennsylvania Avenue, in 2014, and it later became the highest ranked D.C. restaurant on TripAdvisor.
Iricanin’s Street Guys Hospitality now operates another Ambar and Balkan restaurant Baba in Arlington, Virginia, as well as six restaurants, including Latin and burrito concepts, in Serbia, where he’s from.
A liquor license application sign for Tacos, Tortas and Tequila has been posted at 8407 Ramsey Ave., which was first reported by local blog Source of the Spring.
Tacos, Tortas and Tequila will replace 8407 Kitchen Bar, a restaurant offering charcuterie and craft cocktails, that closed in October.