Our Pasadena friends, David and Julie, let us know they were going to be on the westside visiting his mom Sunday morning, so we met them for lunch at Paco's Tacos on Centinela, south of Washington. I enjoy Paco's a lot, but not for the same reasons I'm a known fanatic for El Coyote. El Coyote is living history and the scratch margaritas are the best. But Paco's charm lies in its neighborhood family restaurant feel, complimented by their eager-to-please customer service and the hot plates they serve the food on. The bucket of chips will eventually kill you, especially because they keep refilling it. Paco's serves California style Mexican food. They keep it real simple: meat, tortillas, sauce, cheese, beans and rice. But they do have fajitas and for dinner the menu includes some fish dishes the regulars ignore. Mostly, Paco's is a comfortable place with comfortable people serving you comfortable food. 
After leaving Paco's and bidding our friends adieu, I couldn't resist driving around the corner and taking a picture of the Alibi Room's latest condition. During lunch, David and me had reminisced about the one time we went to the old Alibi Room circa 1999-2000. No big deal. No drunken incident to recall. No problems. Nice neighborhood bar. Friendly bartender. Good prices. Cigarette smoking floozies sitting at the bar being romanced by grizzly bearish men wearing baseball caps. Blue collar workers chugging Buds and playing pool with old hippies and young execs. The music choices were just fine. I think I had a bag of peanuts with my beer. I liked the place and planned to return often. I think I went back a few times, then they closed the place and I spent the next year drinking at JP's at 11th and Wilshire near my house. But that's another story.
My original post 7/15/07 with 3/13/2007 photo.My 7/24/07 update with 7/17/07 photo.
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