Fonda Santa Anita, Mexico 1960
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Fondas are small, inexpensive, family-run restaurants or taverns, particularly in Mexico and Latin America, serving traditional, home-style meals (comida corrida).
This incredibly colorful and cheerful menu art suggests that a grand fiesta was to be had while dining at the Fonda Santa Anita in Mexico City.
The artwork is drawn with a craft-like sensibility and features indigenous people preparing food while being serenaded by local musicians on the shore.
The colorful dove-like birds flying above a church rendered at the top of this menu seem to bless all those who entered Fonda Santa Anita.
From research, we know Fonda Santa Anita operated in the 1950s and exhibited at the New York World’s Fair in 1967.
Inside the restaurant walls were decorated with similar colorful and vibrant imagery (the artist of these works is so far unknown) and pictures of saints. Tables were covered in white tablecloths and there was a piano for entertainment. Home-made favorites like tortilla soup and pozole were served over many decades to tourists and locals alike. No small feat.
Fonda Santa Anita closed in April 2026 for undisclosed reasons, but these wonderful menu images remain as a reminder of an inexpensive ‘mom and pop’ place that typified the vibrant soul of Mexico City.
For more information about fondas: https://www.goodfoodmexico.com/home/whats-in-a-fonda by Nicholas Gilman.
Courtesy The Culinary Institute of America
Gallery quality Giclée print on natural white, matte, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using Epson K3 archival inks. Custom printed with border for matting and framing.
All printed in USA.
