Coqui's Cafe will regroup and relocate: "We have outgrown our little diner on the corner of Bank and Market. Sunday was our last day at that location."

The Green Mouse learned of the forthcoming Coqui's Cafe reboot just before Harvest Homecoming. Apparently the property owner has been seeking to sell the former Little Chef space at the corner of Bank and Market, and Coqui's was outgrowing it, so something was bound to happen.

In the comments at Facebook, a bit more is revealed. As for a potential new location, Coqui's seems to be making a laudably rational decision to examine all the options:

"New Albany has several cafes and two more coming in. We will let them have New Albany."

Surely a sensible strategy. Also, there is this:

"The News and Tribune will be running a story on our exit and on the new owners. (Smiling) We wanted to make sure that no one thought they ran us out of business."

Coqui's garnered much praise during the past 18 months, and I wish them the best of luck reformatting the operation, wherever it takes them. My personal view is that downtown New Albany may be at (or past) "peak food and drink" pending the occupants coming to Breakwater and the construction of future living spaces ... and two-way street conversions ... and the tolling wait-and-see.

Following are the "official" Coqui's dispatches.

Coqui's Cafe

Coqui's Cafe is taking a winter break. We will continue to take orders for flan and coquito and we WILL DELIVER!

Thank you to all of our customers for all of your support over the past year and a half.

We have outgrown our little diner on the corner of Bank and Market. Sunday was our last day at that location. We have "passed the torch" to another family that will reopen the diner around the end of the month with thier own menu.
Coqui's Cafe will reopen in the spring in a new BiGGER location. STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS!

Further testimony from Elvin Torres:

Elvin DjCoqui Torres

We have decided to close our New Albany location on Sunday. It has been an amazing experience! When we opened this tiny diner I have never even worked at a restaurant. So we had much to learn. This year and a half has been a great training experience for us. We are now looking to find a bigger and better place to better serve our customers, with the same great food. At our next location we will be offering dinner and more lunch items. Some of my favorite dishes that my mom used to make and Stephanie Livingood Torres's families' favorite dishes. Thank you all for your support! We will be back bigger and better!