“We see Ocotillo as a sibling restaurant to Terlingua, and we’ve done a lot to build that brand over the years through our use of materiality, space, light, and color. We drew some inspiration from the space itself, formerly occupied by a cocktail bar called the Danforth, which was beautiful and intimate but intentionally dark. To lighten it up, we brought in some of the warm color palettes we’ve used at Terlingua and updated them to fit the space: bright oranges, peach tones, and crisp whites. One of the things we do well at Terlingua is our incorporation of the outdoors, so we worked with Plant Office to design and install a collection of plants at Ocotillo that we’re excited to see develop over the years to come.

When considering how to lighten up the space, we decided to add some clear, domed skylights in various sizes, which create interior shafts of light and shadow. The restaurant is divided into three spaces—the bar area, the main dining space, and a banquette section—and when you’re walking through, everything is connected by the light. It really draws you from space to space.

As we began setting up the space, we found some discrepancies between the seat height and the table heights in different areas of the restaurant. It’s not something most customers would notice, but we chose to replace all the table bases for a better experience. I’ve worked with Victor Plourde in the past, and he helped us build semi-industrial steel bases with a large plate on the floor connected by an exposed steel tube to another plate on the table’s underside. The custom bases are super heavy, so they anchor the tables, but they also allow for extra freedom of movement that you don’t get with traditional tables that have spider bases.

One of the areas we have yet to explore is the outdoor patio, which we’re in the process of painting. The patio had an existing standing-seam metal roof, but we took the paneling down and replaced it with polycarbonate panels to let more light in. Because we’re a brunch restaurant, we’re only operating in daytime hours, so bringing in light and a sense of airiness was essential.

It’s important for us to acknowledge all the hard work the previous owners put into the space—we had such a great base to work from. With the addition of skylights and paint, plus some material touches like the table bases and light fixtures, we could easily make it our own.”

–Pliny Reynolds, co-owner of Ocotillo and Terlingua