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Paco’s, one of Central Florida’s older restaurants, will close permanently after nearly 35 years at its West Fairbanks Avenue address.
In a post on its Facebook page, Paco’s cited the “big-box chains that are popping up all around us and drawing so much of our business away,” a reference, apparently, to such recent openings as Chuy’s on Orlando Avenue.
Paco’s billed itself as a Mexican Restaurant, and it was one of the first places I lined up for a refreshed review after moving to Orlando in 1988. That’s because I had moved from Phoenix and was homesick for some honest to goodness Mexican food, and so many of my new colleagues and acquaintances assured me that Paco’s was the place to go.
Paco’s, it turned out, was not authentic Mexican. It wasn’t even Tex-Mex — it was there that I first coined the term Flori-Mex. But as I said in my review of September 18, 1988, “the food isn’t completely authentic, it’s pretty close, and certainly good enough for a fast frijoles fix.”
Marjorie Myers, the owner of Paco’s, died in 2009 at the age of 59.
According to the online post, Paco’s last day will be October 15.
A call to the restaurant went unanswered.
