La Charreada

La Charreada is a Mexican restaurant and lounge at 1720 N. Walnut St., on the north side of Bloomington, a short drive from Indiana University. You will know it by the red-posted tower over the front walk, with a painted bull on its side, and by the glass-walled dining room under a slate-blue roof, which glows orange and yellow at night. Inside are wooden booths with louvred backs, colorful plates and folk paintings on the walls.

The menu is the big, familiar kind: a taco salad comes in a fried tortilla shell heaped with guacamole, sour cream, cheese, lettuce and tomato, and the table gets queso blanco, red and green salsas and pickled jalapeños to go with it. There is a lounge as well as the dining room, with a patio on the stone-faced side facing Walnut Street. The hours painted on the front door are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, signed “Gracias, Go IU!”

Bloomingpedia says the Montano family opened La Charreada here on May 5, 1992, in the building that had been a Howard Johnson restaurant. A La Charreada in Marion, Indiana was started by Socrates and Alvaro Montano, and the City of Marion says Socrates also owns restaurants in Bloomington. The restaurant’s old website no longer works, so call (812) 332-2343 to ask about specials or large groups. Find it on the 3D map, or browse more Mexican and Latin American restaurants in Bloomington.