END OF AN ERA: The last Pepito’s Mexican restaurant shuts its doors after more than 35 years

The new Mexican restaurant will not carry the Pepito's name, however. It will open as Jorrge's Restaurante Cantina, according to Rodriguez, who said he is assisting in the venture with former Pepito's general manager George Andrade. Jorrge's Restaurante Cantina will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, and dinner on Monday, Rodriguez said.

The closure of the Pepito’s marks the end of an era for a local Mexican restaurant chain that once boasted six restaurants throughout the Miami Valley.

>> Budweiser Clydesdales team adds a Dayton stop to its schedule this weekend

Here’s what Chris Bucio, the son of the Pepito’s Mexican Restaurant’s co-founder and owner, Ramon Bucio, told this news outlet in 2013, when the original Pepito’s on Catalpa Drive in north  Dayton shut down after what was then 33 years in business:

“My father Ramon Bucio created the concept of Pepito’s with his brother Ignacio Bucio in 1980, and by the mid-1980s, Pepito’s became arguably the most well-regarded Mexican restaurant in the Miami Valley. In its heyday, there were six Pepito’s stretching all the way north to Sidney.”

>> Landlord sues Zoup! franchisees for 'abrupt' closure of Cornerstone of Centerville restaurant

It's time! Nominate in Dayton.com's Best of 2018

The nomination period in Dayton.com's Best of 2018 contest has started! Click the button below to start teling us your favorites.

One of those six Pepito’s locations was the Kettering restaurant, which George Andrade oversaw at that time as its general manager. It opened in 1983, just three years after the chain was founded.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: New Merit Grill to open on Wilmington Pike in Kettering (February 2017)

Ramon Bucio  said his father and uncle “helped teach Daytonians how to enjoy and experience Mexican cuisine and culture at a time when Hispanics were not as easily accepted.”

Neither Andrade nor Bucio could be reached for comment. The restaurant's relocation to the former Merit Grill was confirmed on its Facebook page and on a sign taped to its front entrance.

>> Where to find Veterans Day meals and deals in the Miami Valley

Merit Grill has operated at 3800 Wilmington Pike since March 2017. The building it occupies was built as a Friendly’s restaurant decades ago, and subsequently housed the Bar-B-Q Hut, a mainstay in Kettering for 25 years before it closed in October 2011. In 2014, the Kettering Grill & Cafe opened in the space before it was replaced by Merit Grill nearly three years later.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Kettering restaurant scales back its hours, will be open for dinner only

The new Jorrge’s will not be serving alcohol initially while the transfer of a liquor license is pending, a  process that will like take a couple of months, Rodriguez said.