Prior to the Covid Pandemic of 2020, various renditions of the Taco salad were a mainstay in my diet and had been for several years. How many years? I don’t know. Back when I had a lot of time on my hands, I spent many an hour trying to discover when and where I first enjoyed a taco salad. (1)  According to the Internet, the taco salad has been around since the 1960’s (2)  but having been raised on meat and potatoes and refusing to eat anything else, it would have been at least the 1970’s before I would have tried any kind of what I perceived to be foreigner food.  

One day soon, I hope to delve into this question but in today’s drivel, I just want to make note of the passing of a restaurant that served a favorite version of the dish.

During the early stages of the pandemic and prior to the introduction of the vaccine, Susie and I spent many months rarely venturing outside and only then, in search of food. Thank the Kroger Company for introducing the pick-up  grocery order.

During that time, we went without eating any prepared foods, including my taco salads. Only after we were vaccinated did we dare to try restaurant food and even then, we only ordered carryout. An internet search for taco salads led me to a restaurant called Leonardo’s not far from home, 1.2 miles to be exact. Their version of the taco salad contained the ingredients I wanted; shredded beef, refried beans, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. Even though the restaurant had inside seating, they were only offering carryout dishes picked up at their drive thru window. I liked that window; I did not have to leave the car and risk infection by going inside. Because of that, I forgave the sometimes long wait when they only had two people working  (I also never saw the same people) I also went along with their occasional substituting ground beef when they had no shredded beef; I did, however,  briefly look for another taco salad supplier when they forgot an integral part of a good taco salad, the refired beans and then denied it when I called.  But the other places I found did not put refried beans in their version of the salad.  So I returned to Leonardo’s.

Then, in mid-August of this year, I called to place an order and the phone had been disconnected. Hoping that there might be a glitch in the phone system but dreading the obvious truth, I drove to the pickup window and found this hastily scribbled sign taped to the glass.

It read ‘Dear Customers, we are writing today to inform you that Leonardo’s Mexican Food (Southport location) will be closing doors on August 1, 2021 due to our lease expiring this month. We appreciate everyone’s support and thank you for your feedback over the past 5 years of operation. It was a pleasure…..

At that point, the marker they were using must have ran out of ink and I could not decipher the rest of the note. Was it really the lease or could it have the lack of help or not enough business.?  The answer made no difference, they were gone, vamoosed into thin air and I was going to have to find a new place to get my taco salads. I peered into the darkened interior where nothing looked out of place. It appeared as if they had  just turned out the lights, locked the door and walked away, not even stopping to remove their Tip container, an object that had surely been a coffee can in a former life.

I had never put money in there before, always just adding a tip to my credit card payment. I would, on occasion, speculate what brand of coffee it might have been, Folger’s perhaps or maybe Maxwell house. It might have even been something more trendy, Starbucks or Green Mountain although,  on second thought, I don’t think the fashionable brands come in cans. It was a futile gesture on my part but I wanted to do something to note their closing. I grabbed a nickel out of our car’s console and threw it in the tips can. It was a futile gesture on my part but I wanted to do something to note their closing. Que Sera Sera, I suppose.

As to a new source for my taco salads – I’m still interviewing.