Fonda de Paula
By Naperville Magazine
March 2026 View more Table for Two
By Phil Vettel
Mexican café showcases Grandma’s recipes
A new restaurant in Downers Grove hasn’t turned into a hot spot—yet. This is good news; you can visit this undiscovered gem before it gets crowded—as I suspect it eventually will.
Fonda de Paula (1012 Curtiss St.), not quite five months old, occupies the space that once housed Bar Chido. That may explain the slow road to popularity; Bar Chido was a very good restaurant that, after it was sold to new owners, was no longer very good. (I ate there three times after the change.) It may take the public a while to realize that the latest Mexican restaurant at this location is the best of the three.
Opening in Downers Grove represents a bit of a homecoming for principals Juan Luis Gonzalez and Eddie Nahlawi, who years ago ran the kitchen of Bomboleo, about half a block away from where Fonda de Paula now sits. Fonda de Paula is a sister concept to Mago Grill & Cantina, which has locations in Bolingbrook, South Barrington, and Arlington Heights. Each Mago menu has a section devoted to “La Recetas de Doña Paula” (Grandmother Paula’s recipes), but in Downers Grove, Gonzalez and Nahlawi decided to focus entirely on Gonzalez’s grandmother, who still runs a fonda (casual café) in Mexico City. “Fonda is the little sister of Mago,” says marketing director Daniela Carrera, “but it wants to be a lot more traditional and take customers back to the Mexican food of the ’60s.”
For instance, the appetizer list is pure Mexican 101, filled with familiar, but extremely well-executed, staple dishes. Start with the guacamole, prepared tableside with care but an absence of theatrics, and a very good ceviche rojo of marinated shrimp, olives and avocado in a tomato sauce, lively (but not too lively) with jalapeños, and served with saladitas (Mexican saltine crackers). Totopos (nachos) are piled high and striped with crema; you can add protein (chicken, beef) for a few bucks more, and I recommend that.
The main dishes are grouped under “La Mesa de Paula” (Paula’s Table), where the kitchen’s skill with sauces are on full display, from the mole poblano served with sautéed chicken breast or the mole verde accompanying the beef tenderloin. I’d steer you to the excellent carne asada tampiquena, an ancho-marinated skirt steak in red chimichurri sauce, served with a cheese-stuffed enchilada smothered in mole poblano. Even better is the salmon Veracruzana, a very traditional roasted-salmon dish in tomato sauce with olives, capers, and more; I’ve had this dish a dozen or more times elsewhere, and this version might be the best yet.
Also on the menu are various salads, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, and tacos. At $6 per, the tacos might sound pricey, but these overstuffed beauties justify the cost. Get two—I recommend the quesabirria (short rib) and the arabes (spiced pork on a flour tortilla)—add red rice and black beans for an extra $4, and you’ll be full.
And when it’s available, the birria grilled cheese—shredded beef and melted cheeses on sourdough bread, accompanied by a cup of creamy tomato soup with smoky salsa macha—is perfect cold-weather eating.
My research did not extend into the dessert selections—too much food, too little time—but I note the presence of a cute churro cart (a mini cart with churros, dipping sauces, and gelato), a Mexican version of the classic Italian affogato, and a flan that changes daily.
The beverage program includes a long list of sipping tequilas and mezcals, a handful of beers and wines, and a nice assortment of nonalcoholic options. The dozen or so cocktails include some very good margaritas (opt for the Tajín rim, rather than the standard salt rim). The Maria Ahumada, a mezcal margarita with agave nectar, is my go-to cocktail until further notice.
A fonda, by the way, is a kind of informal place where locals get their morning coffee and also their evening cerveza, and Fonda de Paula strives for that all-day neighborhood vibe. There are already a few breakfast items offered on the specials card (the custardy rompope French toast is particularly good, as is the café de olla, a rich coffee spiced with cinnamon and star anise.) By the time you read this, Fonda de Paula may have added breakfast hours (if not, then soon), and the 25-seat outdoor space is just a few weeks away.
Photos: Kira Anderson Photography
