Coming to Lexington’s south side: New location of a popular Mexican restaurant
Restaurant owner Marcos Valdes plans to open a third Papi’s Mexican Restaurant next month, Papi’s Palomar.
And the good news for our COVID dining world: It will feature a huge outdoor patio.
The new restaurant will the first tenant to open at the new Fountains at Palomar shopping center at Harrodsburg Road and Man o’War Boulevard.
For Valdes, it’s an old dream coming to life. For 17 years, he was a server at Jalapeno’s, a longstanding Lexington restaurant. Then, about three years ago, he saw a former Rincon Mexicano spot available.
He contacted the owners about leasing the space and was set to open his first restaurant there when the plans were put on hold while the Fountains of Palomar shopping center was developed around it.
Valdes found another spot, another former Rincon Mexicano, on Euclid and opened his Papi’s in 2018. Then last summer he added a drive-through version, Papi’s Rapido, on South Broadway.
Now, he’s finally getting his Palomar restaurant after all. “I’ve been waiting three years for this spot,” he said. With the new shopping center, which will have a hotel, as well as the adjacent neighborhood, Valdes has high hopes.
He is expecting to open the new location in February. It will have a full bar as well as a menu of traditional Mexican favorites similar to the menus at his other popular locations.
Papi’s Palomar will be a dine-in restaurant with servers, he said. But with a big plus: “The patio is huge and they’ve put a little bit of a roof that covers it, which I like.”
He said in warmer weather he will have more outdoor seating capacity than indoor, a boon during the coronavirus pandemic while restaurants are allowed only 50 percent of their indoor dining seating.
Valdes said he’s excited to be part of the new development and hopes to drive traffic to other tenants, which are expected to include a grocery store and at least one other restaurant.
