Just in time for the Green Box Arts Festival, Cantina Verde restaurant opens next week in the historic El Pueblo building in Green Mountain Falls.

With foods of the Southwest, in addition to steaks, hamburgers, wild game and vegetarian dishes, the menu reflects the culinary skills of Molly Ambrose, a distinguished chef whose classes during previous festivals inspired cooking adventures intended to remove the drudgery of preparing meals.

“Molly and I have talked about opening a restaurant for the past 20 years,” said Jesse Stroope who, with Jordy Berson and Joe McDonald, owns the restaurant. “This is really Molly’s; we are helping her and enjoy working with her, but this is Molly’s thing.”

Berson, who grew up in Green Mountain Falls, and McDonald are friends who happened to meet Stroope last year. In an informal chat, the three cooked up plans for opening a restaurant. When the Mucky Duck closed, the partners pounced and obtained a lease on the space.

Two weeks before opening, Stroope was overseeing quality control. As Ambrose refines her recipes, Stroope is the top taster.

“We’ve been doing a lot of food testing, margarita testing,” Stroope said. “That part’s fun.”

The menu will offer a fusion of Southern and Colorado flavors, including dishes with elk sausage and bison.

“The testing has been mouthwatering,” he said. “Molly is a dynamic chef.”

The menu bonanza includes something new and different, a gustatory gimmick that sets Cantina Verde apart from others.

“I’m most excited about our salsa flights,” Stroope said. “We’ll have tequila and dessert flights.”

So far, the dessert menu will include tres leche cake and Mexican brownies with ice cream.

In a town known for its lush mountain ambience, streams, lake, parks, trails and fitness court, Cantina Verde’s rooftop dining is a palette paradise on another level.

“We’ll have a special rooftop menu,” Stroope said.

A business plan that taps into a variety of tastes, Cantina Verde will offer a pop-up coffee shop inside.

“We have a beautiful espresso machine and we’ll be ready to start cranking out espressos,” he said.

In the adjacent building, a former coffee shop, Ambrose is opening Chica, a separate space for special dinners and parties. In their brainstorming session last year, the partners came up with a theme.

“There is a social aspect missing here so we want to have a community hub with good food and good prices,” he said.

As the time narrows for opening day June 26, the four are working at a feverish pace.

“We’re doing a cosmetic makeover with new paint, fixtures and a lot of new energy,” he said. “We don’t want to touch the historical nature of the 100-year-old building, but it feels really good to get it cleaned and gussied up.”

With the addition of catering by Ambrose, the business has already attracted gigs to include lunches for participants in the Art Desk conversations during the arts festival that begins July 1.

The partners are leasing the space from the building’s owner, Monica Hobb.

“She is super excited about the energy we’re bringing in,” Stroope said. “Right now, I’ve seen more potential in Green Mountain Falls than I have in a long time.

“The energy is great, the synergy, you can feel it.”