Maria Garcia, founder of Tucson’s acclaimed La Indita, has always been ahead of her time. Garcia, who celebrated her 96th birthday on March 8, emphasized the importance of cooking with fresh local ingredients long before it was trendy – and long after the arrival of conveniences that would have made life easier for the kitchen. She was also a pioneering female entrepreneur, selling vintage clothing to outlets like Buffalo Exchange to help finance the restaurant she opened in 1983.
And she has always been a social justice warrior who proudly embraced her native heritage at a time when negative stereotypes of indigenous people were casually bandied about.
Garcia was born in Michoacán, Mexico, home to the Purépecha, whose civilization was as important as those of the Maya and Aztecs in their heyday. When she named her restaurant “La Indita,” it was a fond tongue-in-cheek reference to her background as well as to her small stature.
“One time a native man from Mexico City told me that the name is insulting,” Garcia laughed. “Why would anyone call themselves a little Indian woman?” She explains that the Purépecha are generally diminutive, like she is. And although many prefer to be called by the name of the nation they are part of, the term “Indian” holds no negative connotations for her and for many others, especially elders.
Along with her Purépecha roots, Garcia has strong ties to the Tohono O’odham community. Her second marriage, to a Tohono O’odham man, brought her and her six children to a tiny village outside Sells, where they lived for several years before moving to Tucson.
Nods to Tohono O’odham traditions in the restaurant’s decor include the large Man in the Maze symbol near the back entryway and the traditional wa:ato (ramada) recently built on the patio. Using materials from the Sonoran desert, including ocotillo and creosote, the shelter provides shade and, when it rains, the wonderful fresh smell that follows desert downpours.
One of Garcia’s daughters, Denise “Ixchel” Schafer, oversees to the day-to-day operations of the restaurant. She explained its philosophy: “A lot of times, people and businesses try to cut corners to make money. I think staying true to ourselves and to our culture, being really honest with your ingredients, is the substance of what our food brings.”
As an example, Schafer described the creation of their green corn tamales: “We make our own masa from fresh corn, shucking it and grinding it.” Similarly, the cacao beans used in the wonderfully rich mole – not chocolate, Schafer emphasized – are roasted, peeled and ground in house (see Tucson’s Foodie Cacao Now feature for more details).
The names of many items on the menu may look similar to those of Mexican restaurants around town but they have distinctive flavor profiles and, often, different ingredients. Several of the recipes include a Mixteca, or Aztec, spice mix, a smoky and piquant blend of flavors that incorporates chiles, cumin, paprika, and indigenous herbs like epazote. The rice served with most entrees also stands out, featuring bits of potato, peas, zucchini, and other vegetables.
A dish that can’t be found anywhere else in Tucson – or, possibly, anywhere else in the U.S. – is the Tarascan taco. (Note: a term commonly used in the past, Tarascan was the misnomer the Spanish gave to the Purépecha.) More like empanadas and pasties than traditional tacos, these half-moon masa pockets are lightly pan fried and filled with cheese, potatoes, spinach, carne seca, chicken, or beans.
Not unique to La Indita but found in only a few places around town are the Tohono O’odam-style fry bread dishes: the Indian tacos are heaped with beans, cheese, beef, red chile, and salad, while the dessert popovers are served fresh hot and dripping honey.
Garcia was praised for her cooking from a very early age – “My father told me he loved what I made when I was six years old,” she said – and over the years she was repeatedly encouraged to open a restaurant. When she finally did, she shared cooking duties with her best friend, Lupita Vasquez.
Their eventual retirement didn’t lead to a break with tradition, however. The current chef, Manuel Alvarez, is Lupita’s nephew. Schafer said of Alvarez, “He grew up in the kitchen. He was about 11 or 12 when he started coming in and began helping with cooking at about 15. That was some 30 years ago.” She added, “ He’s been able to be true to the food and to be consistent, the hardest thing in the restaurant business. When people come, they expect the same taste every time.” Equally important, Shafer said, “He has been able to transmit the love that [my mom] has for food into his cooking.”
While Schafer oversees operations, other members of the family are also very involved in the restaurant. One of her daughters, Meleena Karger, shares chef duties with Alvarez and is the kitchen specialist and recipe keeper. Another, Nicole Carrillo, is in charge of the cocktail program, and also sings jazz when La Indita has live entertainment.
But it’s the embrace of a larger family, the Tucson community, that distinguishes La Indita from many of its culinary counterparts. When, in 2021, the restaurant was forced out of its longstanding Fourth Avenue venue because of its neighbor’s expansion, the owner of a historic adobe on Stone Avenue reached out and offered to rent space to them. It turned out to be an ideal opportunity: the home of the former Tasteful Kitchen was not only fully equipped for cooking and architecturally appealing, but it also offered more convenient parking to customers than the 4th Avenue location did.
It was an apt reward for the generosity that Garcia and her extended La Indita family have always shown to those in need. Schafer’s future vision of community engagement, including classes on cooking with native ingredients and a range of youth oriented programs, was inspired by her mother, who showed her giving nature as well as her cooking skills from an early age. Schafer tells the story of when Garcia was a child and got in trouble with her stepmother for taking food from the pantry to feed an old man on his deathbed. Years later, in Los Angeles, the man’s daughter came up to Garcia and thanked her profusely.
Schafer said, “You never know who your kindness is going to touch, You can always come to La Indita and get a rice and bean burrito on the house if you are in our community and you’re hungry, and for whatever reason, you can’t pay.”
La Indita is located at 722 N. Stone Ave. Keep up with La Indita on Facebook and Instagram.
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