Perfectoβs Mexican Grill Express, the fast-casual spinoff of Perfectoβs Mexican Restaurant on South 12th Avenue, quietly closed in early summer, a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The restaurant, owned by the LeΓ³n family, was open just shy of three years.
βEverything was fine, but the pandemic hit them very hard,β Judith de la Rosa, the youngest daughter of family patriarch and the restaurantβs namesake Perfecto LeΓ³n, said Monday as news of the closing started to spread on social media.
Perfectoβs Express, in a former Sonic Drive-In at 1055 E. Irvington Road, was set up similar to Chipotle, where diners could customize burritos or bowls with different meats, vegetables, beans, rice and other toppings. The restaurant also featured LeΓ³nβs popular tamales, the cornerstone of his 11-year-old restaurant at 5404 S. 12th Ave.
De la Rosa said business at Perfectoβs Express had been holding its own early this year. But then the pandemic happened and the family decided early on when the state ordered restaurants to close their dining rooms in March and offer takeout only, to temporarily shutter both their restaurants.
They reopened weeks later, but Perfectoβs Express was not the same, she said.
βThings were a little slow with everything with the pandemic, so they had to take the drastic decision to close it down,β de la Rosa said.
Perfectoβs on South 12th, meanwhile, is still going strong, driven in part by the popularity of LeΓ³nβs tamales, which he has been selling to customers on the south side long before opening the restaurant in 2009.
LeΓ³n, nicknamed βThe Tamale Manβ by his devoted fans, used to sell between 150 and 200 dozen tamales a week from a grocery cart he parked outside the doors of an area supermarket. His tamale business supported his family and helped him put his five children through college.
Perfectoβs Express is the latest Tucson restaurant to close in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Other casualties include Bianchiβs Italian and Village Inn, both in Marana, and the historic Athens on Fourth Greek restaurant on North Fourth Avenue.
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