COBA COCINA GRANDEUR REDEFINED

Coba Cocina a newly constructed 400 seat restaurant in Lexington, KY, opened in March 2013. Career Co., the owner of the restaurant owns a number of franchised hotels and restaurants. The restaurant has bar and confectionery. Its every detail including materials used, finish, shape, illumination is so fascinating and captures the imagination of the guest.
Todd Ott, the architect of the restaurant, took inspiration from Mesoamerican Culture which went pretty well with restaurant’s Latin American inspired food menu. The design concept was to tell the story of the rich Mayan culture of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Large volume of tile and stone were used throughout the 11,787 square foot space to achieve an exterior derived from Mayan architecture and an interior conceived of a mystical experience.
To provide perfection to his creation, Todd Ott reviewed hundreds of stones and tiles before arriving to find selections. The stone was supplied by the stone collection in Denver, Co. the tile was supplied by the Louisville Tile in Lexington, KY.
Other than stones and tiles large volume of porcelain tile from Atlas Concorde was selected for the upper wall of the exterior because it had the look of a fossilized sedimentary shale often found in costal regions. Travertine tiles used contrast well with the heavy pitted pebble-dash battered base of the building. This combination captures the essence of the glory and ruins of the ancient Mayan sacred architecture of the Yucatan Peninsula and its relationship to the ocean.
Adding to the grandeur of the restaurant the reception desk attracts the attention of guests. The desk is faced with white onyx which in backlit with evolite to give a luminescent, underwater feel. To enhance the beauty of entire surrounding, the floor of the entrance has been laid with porcelain tile from Crossville’s Bluestone Collection which continues further into the dining area. The tiles laid in ashlar pattern plays on the cenote metaphor, which in most prominent in the dining room.
The Bluestone Collection porcelain floor tiles give a darker, more mysterious texture of the cavernous cenote. Its hints of turquoise, putty and amber lent itself as a perfect colour, finish and texture that would be durable enough to manage the high traffic and constant cleaning of a restaurant floor.
One interestingly attractive feature of the dining space is a column-shaped aquarium where hundreds of jellyfish live. The base of the aquarium is covered in glass mosaic tiles complementing porcelain tiles from the Bluestone collection. More ever their pallet is complimentary to the colour of the aquarium.
The other amazing features of Coba Cocina are the mezannine in its restaurant’s bar. The glass steps leading to mezzanine are paired with a wall clad in large format Travertino Chairo Lappato tile.

The bar tops are all natural stone backlit with evolite to show off the brilliance of the material. The bar’s granite pattern looks swanky, mysterious and stormy.
It look 22 months design process and 13 months of construction for the newly construction Coba Cocina Restaurant. No wonder of today the restaurant is called a playful imaginative wonder world. Its every detail is orchestrated in perfect harmony.