ROSEVILLE, Calif. — A new Spanish tapas restaurant is scheduled to open in Roseville next summer.
Xavi Padrosa and his sister, Maria Padrosa, are the owners and founders of Telefèric Barcelona. It all started about 32 years ago when his mom opened a restaurant in Sant Cugat, bringing pintxo, a typical snack of the Basque Country, to Barcelona. The siblings, now partners, worked at their parents' restaurant for years before opening their first location.
Xavi Padrosa went to school in the United States and lived there for about 18-19 years. He was interested in opening a business in the U.S. and after talking with his sister, they wanted to bring something similar to their parents' restaurant to the U.S.
Padrosa said they opened Telefèric in Barcelona and after enjoying it for two years, decided to open their first U.S. location in Walnut Creek and slowly expanded, opening other locations in California.
"It's all very, very authentic. So basically we bring all of our staff, all of our managers, chefs, sous chefs, general manager, floor managers, hostess — everyone comes from Spain, we bring them down from Spain," Padrosa said.
Padrosa said he first visited Roseville while he was doing an Iron Man triathlon nearby and stayed in the city.
"I loved the city. I thought everyone was really nice. All the restaurants were pretty busy. And I kind of like the fact that like all these little towns, away from Sacramento, but still really, really cool, all the houses are very nice and well taken care of — it's a great community. So I thought maybe that could be a good place to land the Telefèric," Padrosa said.
The tapas restaurant is set to open in the Fountains at Roseville, which Padrosa said he enjoyed because of the Spanish and Mediterranean look and feel.
"Whenever you come to our restaurant, there's a lot of things happening. All of the sudden you're going to see me or maybe a general manager passing by with the porrón — throwing it into people's mouths, sangrias and sometimes we do like flamenco shows. So we always do a lot of things," Padrosa said.
Padrosa said they adjust the menus of each restaurant based on the location and he's planning on having some special dishes in Roseville, but they haven't decided which ones yet.
"They can come to Telefèric Barcelona and feel like they're in Spain with no passport required," Padrosa said.
There's also a market, El Merkat, planned to be next door to the restaurant with Spanish goods, such as sangrias to go, jamón ibérico and more.
"We always try to feel that each restaurant is like the mom-and-pop type of restaurant that you know as soon as you get there, that person will be taking really good care of you and you come back not only for the food but to see that person," Padrosa said.
Scheduled to open next summer, Padrosa said they're planning it to be around July, though the exact opening date hasn't been set yet.
Teleferic Barcelona also has locations in Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Walnut Creek, Los Angeles, Long Beach (coming soon), Barcelona, Sant Cugat and Seattle (coming soon).
Padrosa said they're planning more expansions in Newport Beach, Scottsdale and Dallas and have several locations opening within the next two years.
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