The front of La Pasadita,

By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

Column Note: This is the 17th column in the Dives and Diners series in which a small group of Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club members and their guests road trip to explore the diners and dives of Kosciusko and the surrounding area.

WARSAW — Looking for some amazing new tacos for next Tuesday? Look no further than across SR 15 from the Warsaw Foundry at 1303 N Detroit St in Warsaw.

You’ll find La Pasadita in a small strip mall in the same place as La Michoacana, down from the Tacos Jalisco truck and O’Reilly Auto Parts. The most visible thing about the front is the bright yellow word TACOS in one window. Take this as a command and come in for lunch.

As I settled into the dark, comfortable interior at La Pasadita, I heard my name and turned to find my friend Benjamin Navarro with his enormous grin at a nearby table. “Hey! Diners and Dives, right? Have you met the owner yet?” Ben inquired. “You’ve got to meet Martin. You know he was the first to open a Mexican store in Warsaw, right?”

Waitress Melissa with REMAX Jeff Owens.

Martin heard his name and peered out from the kitchen. “Yes! Back in 1998,” he told me. “I was the first one! La Pasadita used to be downtown back then.” Martin is tall and friendly. We saw him come out from the kitchen to chat with regulars when he had the time.

Biking Vikings

Our second wildcard arrived, Terrill Hooks. I had asked Terrill what she wanted to talk about ahead of time and she mentioned the trouble she had biking through various parts of town when she rode to work. “Biking!” I waved her over.

REMAX Realtor Regular Jeff Owens heard “Viking” through his tortilla chips.

“You do kind of have to be a Biking Viking to risk your life on the road in Warsaw sometimes,” I offered.

Terrill vigorously agreed as she scooted across the bench next to me. “When I bike, I definitely want to risk my exposure on the road, but it’s hard. It’s nearly impossible on SR 15! Even when I biked early in the morning before traffic.”

REMAX Jeff, who is famous for biking around town and across 30 to the YMCA with his yellow vest, rose to the topic. “Here’s my soap box,” he said. “It’s dangerous to ride on a bike with the cars coming behind me. Too many people on their phones. I don’t want to be whacked in the back by a mirror or worse. Probably no one will agree, but I think we should be able to ride on the left side like walkers.”

Waitress Melissa with her daughter, Jade.

“So, you’re a big biker then?” Terrill asked.

“Literally.” REMAX Jeff pointed at his stomach with a chuckle.

Our waitress Melissa arrived before I could rant about my own experiences riding across SR 15 near Center Lake Park. We certainly would eat more in downtown Warsaw if it didn’t require risking our lives to take a nice evening bike ride. We all agreed that a more bike-friendly Warsaw would encourage us to spend more time and money in-town.

Corn Or Flour?

Melissa walked us through the specials (written on a blackboard above my head). She also mediated a small argument about tortillas for the fajitas. One of our wildcards, Cheryl Hastings, put forth that: “Corn tortillas are more authentic.”

REMAX Realtor Jeff Owens advocated for flour tortillas, especially hand-made ones. This harkened back to a previous guest — Attorney Antony Garza who had voiced strongly held opinions about flour tortillas. Melissa considered the merits of their arguments for a moment. “Flour tortillas are often more Americanized. But only mostly. Not 100%. Flour can be authentic too.” This made everyone happy. We ordered burritos and fajitas and tacos and ate chips with salsa, guacamole, cheese sauce, and Pico de Gallo (why not get everything, right?) while we waited.

We didn’t wait long as the steaming plates of food arrived quickly from the kitchen even though the restaurant stayed mostly full.

As we ate, we watched groups of working guys in matching t-shirts arrive as did another group we recognized. In came Optimist Members Retired Basketball Coach Kessler from Grace College, former President of Grace College Bill Katip, and Bill Gordon, professor and originator of the Gordon Institute at Grace College. After some convincing, they agreed to join us for an official diners and dives picture. They also gave us the $1.99 taco Tuesday tip.

Ice cream at La Michoacana.

I ate and licked my plate after two excellent tacos — steak and barbacoa on corn tortillas with onions, radishes, and cilantro. The meat was perfectly seasoned, and the veggies were fresh.

My companions also ate their fajitas and burritos with gusto. Waitress Melissa returned to check on us with a special person in tow, her daughter Jade dressed in a gorgeous pink dress. Summers without school can make scheduling tough for parents. Thanks for saying hello to all of us and for sharing your mom, Jade!

What Does Pasadita Mean?

I looked up the translation of “La Pasadita” and found numerous literal and figurative possibilities. Since I didn’t ask, it seems fair to say that the word derives from the word PASAR which means past, or “little past.” My La Pasadita meal is in the past, but YOURS doesn’t have to be.

Tip

La Michoacana ice cream and paletas (amazing Mexican popsicles) is located next door. After tacos, we checked it out. You can get one enormous scoop of something interesting like pinon, gansito (vanilla with chocolate and raspberry jam), or coconut (or the regulars like rum raisin, chocolate, and vanilla) for a mere $2.99.

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