So you’re on the Near Northside, somewhere around 38th Street, and you’re wondering where to eat lunch without spending twenty dollars or waiting for a host to seat you. I’d point you straight to Festiva Supermarket & Taqueria on North Keystone Avenue — a Mexican grocery with a taqueria counter running along the back wall, where the cooks are going since before most restaurants have finished their opening side work.
I found this place the way most people do: following someone who already knew. A coworker from the westside took me there on a Friday, warned me not to overthink the menu, and ordered for both of us in about forty-five seconds. That’s the right approach. The menu at the counter covers the basics — tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas — and what you want are the tacos. Specifically, the al pastor or the barbacoa, depending on what time of day you show up. The al pastor comes off a trompo spinning near the kitchen window, shaved onto a small double-stacked corn tortilla with onion and cilantro and a bright green salsa that earns its heat. The barbacoa is slower and richer, the kind that drips before you’ve even picked it up.
Two tacos and a agua fresca runs you somewhere around six or seven dollars. That math is part of the appeal, but it’s not the whole story. The food would be worth it at twice the price — the tortillas are fresh, the proteins aren’t dried out from sitting under a lamp, and the salsas on the counter are made in house and rotated through the day.
The room itself is the grocery store. You order at the counter, pick a number, and find a spot at one of the small tables squeezed near the front windows or at the counter that runs along the side wall. Most of the other customers are doing their grocery shopping and grabbing lunch in the same trip. The refrigerated cases hold Mexican cremas, fresh cheeses, dried chiles in bulk bins, and a solid selection of imported sodas. I usually pick up a Jarritos tamarind or a glass-bottle Coke while I wait.
The weekend lunch rush — roughly noon to two — is when the place hums hardest. Families, construction crews, neighborhood regulars, the occasional person who just happened to notice the parking lot was full and took it as a good sign. That instinct is correct. If you go midweek around eleven-thirty, you can eat at a quieter pace and get your order faster, though I’ve never waited more than fifteen minutes even when it’s packed.
The Near Northside doesn’t get written about much in the food context, which is partly why spots like Festiva slip past people who stick to Mass Ave or Fountain Square. That’s their loss. The taqueria here is as consistent as anything I’ve eaten in Indianapolis, without any of the production that tends to surround places that know they’re being watched. Nobody’s going to bring you chips and salsa and ask how you heard about them. You just order, sit down, and eat.
If you’re making a first trip, go for tacos. Order three. Try one of the housemade aguas frescas — the horchata is excellent when they have it. And don’t skip the salsa verde, even if you think you can’t handle the heat. You probably can.
