The brown paper that for months covered the front windows at 107 North Side Square is finally gone. Downtown Huntsville passersby (and social media scrollers) can now see what married couple Erick and Stephanie Luther and others have been working on inside: Del Chuco Cocina Y Cantina.

This new, Tex-Mex restaurant and bar is set to open around February. The food menu will draw from the Luthers’ roots in El Paso, Texas.

“Just some things I was brought up on, that my mom used to make,” Erick says, “and [from] the restaurants around town that we used to love to go. He smiles recalling the enchiladas from Kiki’s Mexican Restaurant back in El Paso.

Taco-wise at Del Chuco in Huntsville, expect classics like pastor, birria, carnitas, pollo, etc. New-wave taco ingredients like kimchi, not so much. The plan is for different food items to rotate on and off the menu. They’ll make tortillas in-house.

“We’re gonna be traditional and laidback,” Erick says. “Get some good food, great atmosphere, hang out and have a great margarita. We’ll have some of the staples people are used to. But I think the atmosphere is going to be a little different than what everybody else.”

Gazing through Del Chuco’s front windows, you can glimpse the patina-meets-contemporary charm of Del Chuco’s oblong interior. Exposed, ancient brick. Reclaimed wood. A high, pressed-tin ceiling. Tasteful minimalist lighting.

In Del Chuco, the Luthers – with Erick as chef and Stephanie leading service, marketing and design — have put together another savvy, sharp concept.

In 2021 two blocks north on Holmes Avenue, the couple opened Standard Social Market, a restaurant/bodega mashup that topped AL.com’s Huntsville’s best breakfast list this year.

Once Del Chuco opens, the couple will toggle between both restaurants. The Luthers have experience in shifting between sister properties, from back when they worked together for a popular local restaurant group.

Inside Del Chuco, colorful murals connect the Luther’s present and past. The mural by the front entrance, a trippy swirl of Huntsville landmarks — including Monte Sano State Park and the arts center Lowe Mill — circling a giant, Dias de Los Muertos style skull.

The second mural is by a back door that opens onto a high-ceilinged patio. This mural welds images of El Paso landmarks and a trumpet-playing, zoot-suited skeleton.

The Luthers enlisted Atlanta-based artist Ryan Benefield, whose previous clients include Sweetwater Brewing, to paint Del Chuco’s 13-foot-tall wall murals.

Benefield tells AL.com, “They wanted to basically tie in the Tex-Mex theme and cultural aspects of both cities into the one space and make them unified together.”

Some stairs lead down to a subterranean lounge the Luthers have dubbed Chuco Underground. Between walls of wizened brick, the space is outfitted with tufted couches, chairs, mellow lighting and a row of TVs. There will be a second, full bar down here as well and a streamlined food menu.

Once it all opens, Chuco Underground, also accessible from the restaurant’s storefront, will probably become Huntsville’s sexiest place to consume guacamole.

And the restaurant name, Del Chuco?

It’s slang for “from El Paso.”

Erick says, “I’m very excited about this place. This is the restaurant I wanted to do before the Standard. I’m proud of the way that turned out and I’m proud of the way people have come and supported us. But his is the ultimate dream, to do a Mexican restaurant.”

Erick is half-Mexican. Growing up, his dear Mexican mom, Rachel, always spoke to him in Spanish.

Unfortunately, Rachel died right around the time The Standard opened, following Erick’s father’s passing about a month before they opened. Now, with Del Chuco, Erick says “This one is for Mom.”

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