San Jose Mexican Restaurant will soon serve traditional Mexican cuisine in Valparaiso that will be familiar to many Region diners.
The owners of Fat Burrito in Crown Point and Vaqueros Restaurant in Westville plan to open the new restaurant at 3907 Calumet Ave. on Valparaiso’s north side. Brothers Benjamin Paredes, Jose Louis Paredes and Javier Paredes hope to call Monday to schedule a final inspection and to open by the end of the month.
San Jose Mexican Restaurant will offer largely the same menu as Fat Burrito in Crown Point. It will have the signature Fat Burrito, a 16-inch flour tortilla stuffed with meat, cheese, beans, sour cream, tomato and red or green sauce.
Top sellers include chili cheese steak tacos that are sauteed with onions and jalapeno and put on the broiler with cheese.
“We sell a lot of those in Crown Point,” Benjamin Paredes said.
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Other top sellers include quesabirria tacos, carne asada, ribeye steak with fried shrimp, Camarones a la Diabla, the Mexican sampler, Cecina tacos, Pozole, sopes and gorditas.
The brothers opened Fat Burrito in Crown Point in 2012 and it took off in popularity, quickly gaining a loyal following.
“When the landlord heard the name of the restaurant, he said that sounds very catchy,” Benjamin Paredes said. “Customers are always impressed by how big the burrito is and say they are going to have leftovers for tomorrow. But they never had leftovers to take home, so it’s got to be something good. They end up with a clean plate. We’re always updating or perfecting our food. I’m always in the kitchen cooking myself, making sure it’s prepared the right way.”
They opened Vaqueros in a gas station three years ago in Westville.
Benjamin Paredes lives in Valparaiso and is opening his latest restaurant a few minutes from his home. It’s also halfway between the Crown Point and Westville locations, so should be closer for some customers.
“We have a lot of friends in Valpo who come to see us every time they stop in Crown Point or Westville,” he said. “They just like the food. Now we have a restaurant between the two locations.”
San Jose Mexican Restaurant is taking over the former Dish Restaurant space. It’s named after the family’s hometown in Mexico.
“Basically, it’s the same cooking in Crown Point,” he said. “It’s all my flavors, all my recipes. It’s how I tenderize the meat, how I fry the beans, how I made the rice. It will be the same.”
Benjamin Paredes started out doing dishes in a restaurant, worked his way up to bus boy and then learned the kitchen. Now he’s been cooking for more than 20 years.
“I like to work with fresh ingredients,” he said. “I order the skirt steak and shrimp and prep it and chop it up.”
Fat Burrito was open for six or seven years before it got a liquor license. San Jose Mexican Restaurant will start out with a liquor license and a large bar that will seat 48 people. The dining room in the 3,800-square-foot restaurant space will seat another 84 diners. It also may put a few tables out on the sidewalk when it’s warmer out but will not have a large outdoor patio.
San Jose Mexican Restaurant commissioned a large mural from Felix “Flex” Maldonado. He painted a brightly colored mural featuring the Day of the Dead’s La Catrina, fantastical Alebrijes and a sombrero-clad chihuahua.
“Other restaurants have patriotic murals. This is something different,” Benjamin Paredes said. “It’s eye-catching. It’s very nice.”
The mural stands about nine feet tall.
“I like his artwork. I’ve been following him for years,” he said. “We’ve been talking about doing something and it’s finally happening.”
San Jose Mexican Restaurant will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
For more information, call 219-242-8863 or find the business on Facebook.
Chef Nadiya Woodhouse opened Nadiya’s Kitchen in East Chicago a few weeks ago.
The restaurant at 4901 Alexander Ave, East Chicago specializes in soul food. The menu includes lamb chops, catfish, wings, fettuccini alfredo, Cajun chicken alfredo, grilled salmon alfredo, stuffed chicken, pot roast, jerk pot roast, salmon egg rolls, steak tacos and Italian beef. Sides include macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, yellow rice and collard greens.
“I’ve been cooking since 2016 and I noticed there wasn’t any soul food in this area,” she said. “I wanted to bring it to the community so they’d have somewhere to go and wouldn’t have to go to Chicago to get it.”
Woodhouse started out cooking for friends and family, who encouraged her to open a restaurant.
“I cooked for them and just enjoyed doing it,” she said. “I felt inspired doing it and went to go forth to let the world taste it. I like the enjoyment it brings when people taste the food and the comfort that it brings.”
She opened Nadiya’s Kitchen in a former laundromat that too about a year to renovate. She hopes to eventually have a spot in East Chicago’s Indiana Harbor neighborhood.
Nadiya’s Kitchen also does catering for up to 300 people with at least a week’s notice.
“It will be the best soul food you’ve had in a while,” she said.
Nadiya’s Kitchen is open from 11-8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 11-9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, call 219-354-1031 or find the business on Instagram or TikTok.
Sistas with Soul is now serving up soul food in Gary.
Sisters Pamela Junior and Alici’a Junior opened the restaurant at 1291 Broadway. It offers takeout, third-party delivery through DoorDash, catering and private events.
The traditional soul food menu includes catfish, fried chicken, pork chops, salmon croquettes and oxtails. Sides include candied yams, baked beans, macaroni and cheese and greens with smoked turkey.
Top sellers include the catfish filets and smothered pork chops.
Pamela Junior was working in construction and Alici’a Junior at the post office when they decided to follow their dream.
“I’ve been cooking since I was about 7 years old,” Pamela Junior said. “For the past two years, we’ve been doing catering outside of work and it really took off to where it was interfering with the regular 9 to 5. So we decided to just open a restaurant.”
They took over a former ABC Cellular cell phone store in Gary and turned it into a restaurant that focuses on carryout and catering. It typically asks for a week’s or two weeks’ notice for a catering order, depending on the size of the party. It can host up to 75 people for events like baby showers, birthdays parties and employee appreciation lunches. The sisters hope to break into weddings.
“Originally we were catering birthdays, baby showers and parties,” she said. “It was just a side hustle that took off.”
Sistas with Soul hopes to help the less fortunate, such as by feeding the homeless for Christmas. It’s looking to expand in the future, potentially to Portage and Wisconsin.
“Cooking is my passion,” Pamela Junior said. “I didn’t know I would wind up with a restaurant as quickly as I did. Cooking brings my peace. I just like creating things. We also have a bakery that bakes cakes for parties and other goodies. We enjoy creating things and when people taste our food. Cooking makes me happy. We have homecooked meals that are fresh daily. It’s good soul food. It’s real food with real ingredients made fresh daily.”
For more information, call 708-510-2241 or find the business on Facebook.
Taqueria Durango Express recently took over the former Sub Station spot at 3486 Michigan Ave. in East Chicago.
It’s located next to the entrances to Cleveland-Cliffs Indiana Harbor Works and the BP Whiting Refinery, catering heavily to steelworkers and refinery workers.
“A majority of our customers work at the steel mills and BP,” owner Jesus Venegas said.
The restaurant is a spinoff of the sit-down Taqueria Durango restaurant in south suburban Blue Island. It specializes in fast food, both Mexican and America. It offers tacos, tortas, burgers, hot dogs, Polish sausages, Italian beef and horchata. It caters to carryout traffic but can seat about 16 people inside.
“The majority of customers come to pick up lunch or dinner,” he said. “Everything is made fresh. It’s good authentic Mexican food. The American food is good as well. It’s all quick service. We would like to extend our hours into breakfast to catch workers in the morning.“
The restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
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