Not Burned Down Anymore: El Paisa of Aurora is Open For Business Again

Over my blogging tenure, I have reported on so many small, niche and out-of-the-way restaurants that it is inevitable that some would end up closed. I try to find out when I can so that in the odd case that someone happens to try a restaurant based on my recommendation, they don't arrive only to find it shuttered. Over the years, none of the restaurants I have reviewed have closed quite as dramatically as El Paisa, one of my favorite little Aurora Panaderias, which burned to the ground in March of 2010.

While I have been known to get sentimental about the closings of my beloved eateries (good thing you can't see my tears as I type, that would be horribly uncomfortable for the both of us), I have never had the pleasure of seeing one re-open (tears of joy are just as salty). Where I'm going with this: two-and-a-half years later El Paisa is back and badder than ever (bad meaning good, of course).

While the digs are new, the pan dulce might be even better: I sampled my favorite, the anis-flavored cochinito, and it was flakier and more moist than before. It also looks like they have cleaned up the operation a little. For example, no longer is the back door to the bakery propped open for the pigeons to wander in and out as they please.

So for all you readers out there that have been waiting for the past two years or so to get back into El Paisa, grab your tray and tongs and get to it. Hooray!