De Pasadita

“The new place is about customer service,” Espinoza Said. “We don’t have much customer service here. We’re not going to be like-‘Hi, welcome to La Pasadita.’” He points at one of his workers, “Look at his face. That’s not smiley face…It’s not going to be like that when most of them just got here from Mexico eight months ago and barely speak English.” Norteno music—a mix of jumpy accordions and horns from northern Mexico that sounds a bit like Latin polka—plays over a tiny stereo system. “It’s like walking in to Mexico here,” Espinoza said. “Throughout the years, man, what doesn’t happen here? The crazy Friday and Saturday nights- they start brawling or having a great time, everybody’s yelling. Everyone wants to be Mexican for ten minutes.” David Bucio, Rene’s nephew, eats a carne asado taco and drink horchata, a milky, rice based drink that workers scoop from a plastic bucket in the chest refrigerator behind the counter. His mother Rosa, Rene’s sister, manages the books for her brothers and has opened five non-Pasadita restaurants—with names like Asadas and La Palapita—in neighborhoods further west, where housing costs have pushed many of the family’s original customers.

Cuisine: Mexican

Wheelchair Access: Yes