La Indita, the family-run Mexican restaurant that was a mainstay on North Fourth Avenue for 38 years, has found a new home.
The owners posted a note on Facebook Wednesday saying they had passed their health department inspections and would be opening within days at 722 N. Stone Ave., most recently home to the vegan Tasteful Kitchen restaurant and meal prep business.
The Tasteful Kitchen sign is still on the building, along with a colorful mural that Josue Rivera, the grandson of founders Joseph and Maria Garcia, said will remain for now. He said he was hoping on Thursday, May 13, to paint over the Tasteful Kitchen sign before the restaurant opens at at 11 a.m. Friday, May 14, "but even if it's just a blank sign, we are there," he said.
The Garcia family announced in February that they would be moving La Indita, which specializes in Mexican and Native American fare, after their landlord and neighbor, IBT's Bar + Food, announced plans to expand into the restaurant's space at 622 N. Fourth Ave. IBT's is located at 616 N. Fourth Ave.
A sign for La Indita's first private party on the door of their new home at 722 N. Stone Ave.
The Garcia family hoped to move La Indita down the avenue and had been in talks with landlords at a couple of locations, but none were the right fit, Rivera said.
They also set up a GoFund me campaign to help with the moving expenses. As of Wednesday, May 12, they had raised nearly $35,000 of their $100,000 goal.
"Without the community, to be honest with you, we would have never made it," Rivera said. "Without Tucson and all of the love we got from everybody, the restaurant would have closed."
Rivera said the new location needed very little work. The kitchen is larger than the Fourth Avenue location and the new spot has two large dining rooms. The only thing missing is the outside patio, he said. All of the artwork from the original location and the booths that his uncle made are in the new spot, which for longtime diners will feel like walking into the original, he said.
"Ever since we got there, we've just felt like we're at home," Rivera said. "And it's an amazing location."
Maria Garcia, center, with, from left to right, grandchildren Josue Rivera and Meleena Karger, and children Salvador Sandoval and Denise Ixchel Schafer, outside the original location of La Indita at 622 N. Fourth Ave.
The family plans to plant an herb garden in the back much like the one they had on Fourth Avenue and put up a brick wall in the back that will be stuccoed as a murals canvas.
La Indita will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily except Tuesdays, when it will be closed.
The Tasteful Kitchen, meanwhile, has closed the restaurant side of its business and is focusing instead on its vegan meal prep delivery service, the owners said. The business is using a commercial kitchen and does not have a permanent brick-and-mortar location.
