Fonda Rosa Head Chef Hugo Hernandez (Right) IMAGE: Baker Poulshock

As the restaurant row at East Burnside Street and 28th Avenue (the neighborhood infuriatingly referred to by some in the press as “TweBu”) has gradually filled out over the past four years, the bar for a new restaurant opening in the area has risen steadily higher. And to open a midscale Mexican diner three doors down from hip Taqueria Nueve, two blocks from overrated Tex-Mex cantina Esparza’s and a five-minute walk from Olé! Olé! taquería seems near suicidal. But that’s exactly what Hugo Hernandez and Michael Schnidrig, co-owners of pleasantly casual Fonda Rosa, have done.

To be fair, Puerto Vallarta-born Hernandez had a stake on the street long before most of his competition even opened. He and his wife, Teresa Brooks-Hernandez, who grew up in the neighborhood, acquired the Second Thoughts women’s resale store in 2001 with the intent of eventually opening a restaurant in the space.

Their plans came to fruition last spring, when Hernandez and Schnidrig, whom he met while both men were working at Manzana in the Pearl, finally started remodeling the bright pink building. Fonda Rosa opened last November, and has been quietly attracting customers since.

Can it compete with always-busy Taqueria Nueve? We think so. While the two restaurants both serve Northwest-inflected fare heavy on seafood and organic produce, Fonda Rosa has one thing Billy Schumaker’s margarita mill lacks: excellent handmade tortillas. And we do mean handmade. “We went to Mexico to get a tortilla maker—nothing fancy, just the hand-cranked kind—and the woman who makes [tortillas] for us took one look at it and said, ‘No,’” Brooks-Hernandez says.

The tender, sweet tortillas ground all of Fonda Rosa’s best dishes: the enormous platter of chips with salsa and guacamole ($5), tasty even in the dead of winter; juicy carnitas tacos ($14), served with a hearty but underspiced bean soup; chicken enchiladas with cotija and beans ($11). Non-tortilla dishes fall slightly short. On one visit, a bowl of mussels and clams with chorizo ($8) had a tasty broth, but the bivalves themselves were tough and flavorless. Salads ($7-$8) were uninspiring, but it may serve us right for even trying in late winter.

Fonda Rosa is still very much a restaurant in development—lunch hours have recently been added, and, when WW spoke with Schnidrig in late March, window coverings were still on the to-do list—but it is warm, the food is fresh and the tortillas will keep you coming back.