The Dish: Paci’s Lounge and Dining Room
Holly Tonini
Todd and Diana Fisher own and operate Paci’s Lounge and Dining Room.
Holly Tonini
Featured is a Paci’s house salad.
Holly Tonini
Paci’s famous flippers are shown here dipped in a butter and garlic sauce and served with a grilled roll.
Holly Tonini
Paci’s Lounge and Dining Room has a menu from 1963 framed on the wall. On the menu, you can find their “flippers” or chicken wings for $.65. The same recipe is still used today.
Paci’s ho-ho cake is one of the dessert offerings.
Holly Tonini
Family-run for three generations, Paci’s Lounge and Dining Room offers homemade food and desserts, a bar full of craft beers, historical and ghostly tales and the original “flippers.”
Owners Diana and Todd Fisher took over Paci’s about four years ago.
“It’s always been my husband’s dream to own the place,” said Diana Fisher. “He admired his grandfather who was a well-respected man in the area.”
Todd Fisher’s grandfather Tony Paci opened the restaurant in 1962 and almost instantly became famous for his crispy chicken wings, which he started selling in 1963 calling them “flippers.”
But interestingly, Todd Fisher says the oldest claimed wings were made in 1964.
“My grandfather was cooking them before they were even eaten,” Todd Fisher said.
Paci began cooking chicken wings because he got them for free from Fredericktown Butcher Shop owner Albert Giles.
Back then, chicken wings were known as the dirty part of the animal and were typically either used for soups or thrown away, Fisher said.
“It definitely helped create our fame around here,” Todd Fisher said. “We figure he’s been making wings since 1962 or ’63.”
While regular “flippers” were the most popular kind of chicken wings served at Paci’s in the early 60s, the Fishers have created a new bestseller since they took over.
The Fisher’s “ghost wings” are named for their special sauce, which is made from a ghost pepper. They are also named after a haunting rumor.
It is said there might be ghosts hanging around Paci’s, which was once a horse stable set up along the Old National Pike awaiting travelers. Some say an old man has been seen walking around in the dining room. Other customers say they have felt someone touching them, only to turn around and find no one standing there.
But Paci’s is known for more than its unique history and ghost stories. What really draws the locals in is the food.
“We strongly believe in homemade. Everything is made as natural as possible,” Diana Fisher said.
During the summers, she ventures down to the Brownsville Farmer’s Market each week to stock up on local ingredients.
All raviolis, gnocchi, sauces, soups, salads and entrees are made from scratch.
“It’s guaranteed that if you’re ordering a special, you’re going to get it homemade,” Diana fisher said.
Some of the most popular specials include chicken n’ biscuits, bacon and spinach-stuffed meatloaf, Texas beef brisket and alfredo pasta.
The Fishers also host a made-to-order pasta night each Thursday for customers to choose their sauce, type of noodle and toppings.
Although the fisher’s kept their menu as original as possible, they added a couple of their own recipes with Todd Fisher’s buffalo chicken soup rising in popularity.
Fisher created the cheese-based soup about a year ago, making sure the ghost sauce was an ingredient after it was a big hit on the wings.
The Fishers also host a steak night the first full weekend of the month, offering cut-to-order Delmonico steaks.
“We buy all of our meats in slabs and cut them ourselves. Nothing is from the deli or processed,” Diana Fisher said.
Even the desserts are homemade and from the family.
Diana Fisher’s mother Betty Johns owns Sweeties Cinnamon House in Beallsville, and supplies all of the cheesecakes, ho ho cakes, pies and other sweet creations.
The lounge also features a unique bar selection, offering craft beers from all American and local breweries.
The bar currently has six taps, but the Fishers are hoping to add four more in the near future.
“It’s never the same any given draft,” Todd Fisher said. “We are one of the few places in Pennsylvania that carry Rogue spirits. Two years ago, we were the second in the state to carry it.”
With the exception of adding a few new recipes to the menu, remodeling the bathrooms and adding waitress stations, everything else has been left unchanged.
All of the woodwork from the stable, tables, the floor and the base of the bar is original.
The Fishers do plan to get a new kitchen, and expand their hours to be open for lunch.
Paci’s Lounge and Dining Room can be found at 384 Old National Pike in Brownsville, and can be reached at 724-785-7113.
Hours are 4-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.