Lick it Up’s chef and owner Edgar “Pato” Delfin has made the difficult decision to close the popular vegetarian restaurant. The 6-year-old eatery will close on Monday, March 31.
Delfin, whose business started as a food truck in 2017 and has been featured twice on television, said in an Instagram post it has been an amazing journey for the little eatery tucked inside the International Bar, 114 E. Mills Ave. in Downtown El Paso.
“I would like to thank everybody from Monarch (bar where he had his food truck) to International to all the people in Austin, all the patrons and also the employees that worked for me for all these years,” Delfin said in his post video.
In 2019, the El Paso Times talked to Delfin about being featured in Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” The celebrity chef got to try Delfin’s plant-based Mexican street food at his food truck. He also got to participate in and win “Guy’s Grocery Games” with Fieri on the Food Network.
“In Austin, we did so many exciting things, we had four food trucks, a breakfast taco program, a brick and mortar on East 6th Street. We had our products at the Austin Airport. We also did many festivals, including an Amazon event for Lizzo, and private parties with high-profile celebrities. It was great since we focused only on vegan food,” he said.
The chef said he is closing one chapter but is excited about what is next. He said to stay tuned for an update on his next project.
“We’ll disclose further information on our launch. We would like to circle back with some dates and details on our new project once we get closer to our opening day,” he said.
Final day hours will be:
Monday-Wednesday: 5 to 10 p.m.Thursday: 5 to 11 p.m.Friday-Saturday: 2-11 p.m.Sunday: 2-10 p.m.Far East Side Ojos Locos closes for good
The Far East Ojos Locos Sports Cantina, at 1921 N. Zaragoza Road, has announced on Instagram it has closed its doors.
There is one remaining location at 1204 Airway Blvd. No reason was given for the closure.
María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @eptmaria.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @eptmariacg on TikTok. USA TODAY contributed to this report.