Paco's Mexican Cuisine
Paco's birria tacos will return to Magnolia Avenue, but this time with a Japanese twist.
Less than two months after closing Paco’s Mexican Cuisine, owner and chef Francisco “Paco” Islas is set to launch a new concept in the same Magnolia Avenue space.
Slated to open March 28, Shōgun Taqueria will take over the Near Southside spot at 1508 W. Magnolia Avenue, where Paco’s served birria tacos, huarache, tlacoyos, molcajete and other staples of traditional Mexican food for eight years.
Reflecting its name, the new restaurant will offer a fusion of Mexican food and Japanese cuisine, Islas says.
Dishes will include quesadillas stuffed with kimchi and Oaxaca cheese; Asian dumplings filled with chicken, chipotle peppers and ginger seasoning; tonkatsu con mole, a dish comprised of a deep fried pork cutlet dressed in a housemade red mole sauce; and menudo ramen.
Other menu items will include shiitake mushroom tacos, served on housemade corn tortillas, and a Japanese rendition of pozole, a traditional Mexican soup. The restaurant’s showstopping dish could be its tableside parrilla, a Mexican meat dish given an Asian-influenced flair, with meats such as pork belly and short ribs served on a sizzling hot stone.
Cocktails, too, will blend Mexican and Japanese flavors. There will be a margarita made with sakura, a Japanese cherry blossom; a mezcal with yuzu citrus and Tajin; and hibiscus sake sangria.
When he closed Paco’s in January, Islas had said he wanted to focus on the restaurant’s other location in Sundance Square, which opened in 2022.
“The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try something new,” he says. “This is an idea I’ve had for years now.”
The seeds of the restaurant were planted in 2021, when Islas and fellow Fort Worth chef Kevin Martinez teamed up for a Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival dinner. Because of the pandemic, the festival had been canceled that year but organizers put together a 20-night dinner series in which 40 local chefs participated, two per dinner.
“It was a great experience working with Kevin,” Islas says. “Much of what we cooked was a fusion of his cooking and mine, and that’s where the idea for Shogun started.”
Islas says he’s planning to add a speakeasy component to the restaurant but those plans have not been finalized yet.
In a way, Shogun echoes Paco & John’s, a small restaurant on Eighth Avenue that served Mexican and French cuisine. It was opened by Islas’ father, who is also named Francisco, and Bernard Tronche, the well-known chef and owner of French restaurant Saint-Emilion. Paco & John’s served dishes such as escargot tacos and crepes filled with Mexican ingredients.
“They did serve a few fusion dishes, but Paco & John’s had more of a French menu and a Mexican menu,” Islas says. “Our menu will be more true fusion.”
Paco & John’s was open from 2007 to 2014. After it closed, Islas took over the business from his father, moving it to Magnolia Avenue, where it reopened as Paco’s Mexican Cuisine in 2016 in the spot originally occupied by Temaki Sushi, one of the first restaurants to take a chance on the then-burgeoning Magnolia Avenue. Islas closed the restaurant in January, paving the way for Shogun (the Sundance Square location of Paco's remains open).
“The Near Southside has been our home for many years, as both Paco’s and Paco and John’s,” Islas says. “It’s been a part of my family. I thought if I’m going to open a new concept, I should do it here, in an area my family and I know and love.”
