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Francisco's Centro Vasco Closes After 38 Years on West 23rd Street

By Maya Rajamani | August 1, 2017 10:42am
 Francisco's Centro Vasco at 159 W. 23rd St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues.
Francisco's Centro Vasco at 159 W. 23rd St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues.
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DNAinfo/Maya Rajamani

CHELSEA — A longtime Spanish seafood restaurant on West 23rd Street has shuttered as its owner prepares to sell the space and move on.

Francisco’s Centro Vasco, at 159 W. 23rd St. between Sixth and Seventh avenues, served its final meal last week after more than more than 35 years in business, Bedford + Bowery reported.

Owner Javier Quintans, who took over the restaurant after his father Francisco Quintans Suarez passed away in 2015, ultimately decided to close it for personal and financial reasons, he told DNAinfo New York Monday.

“I felt like the business owned me, as opposed to me owning the business. I felt like I spent all of my time here,” Quintans, 34, said.

“Financially, things were going OK, but for a long time, business hasn’t been as it used to be,” he added.

The Spanish eatery opened in 1979, occupying a few different buildings on West 23rd Street before landing in its current space in the '90s, said Quintans, who worked in the restaurant growing up.

His father cooked, tended bar and operated the restaurant for many years before the eatery hired another chef, he noted.

Quintans now plans to sell the building and the restaurant space — both of which were owned by his father, he said.

“Even though [the closing was] disappointing and saddening to me and a lot of people, I think this is the best thing for everybody involved. I feel bad, but I know it’s for the better,” he said.

“We really are appreciative of the people that have patronized us over these years,” Quintans added.