Remember those logic puzzlers from your SAT? They went something like this:

John liked the enchiladas and the torta Cubano, but not the carne asada, and he was lukewarm on the chile relleno.

The dining companion thought the carne asada was OK, but she didn’t care for anything else. Her son, a young adult, liked the tacos and enchiladas, but not the torta or rice. And nobody liked the soupy refried beans.

So who among them would return to La Fondita Mexican Grill?

Open for a year, the small, family-run restaurant on northbound Fifth Street in downtown Redmond has earned a reputation for real, home-style Mexican food. It’s well patronized by the Latino community of north Deschutes County, even though it may not be catching on as rapidly with Anglo diners.

The Placencia family from Morelos state puts the whole family to work here, from Abuela (Grandma) in the kitchen to the youngest family members. Now in their teens and 20s, they take orders at the counter and attend the dining room (which seats two dozen) and the 20-seat patio.

It makes for a dining experience reminiscent of a small town in Mexico, with the choice of pupusas and molcajete, and such burritolike dishes as sope and huarache, rarely seen in Central Oregon.

With a number of good Mexican restaurants in Bend, that in itself may not be a reason to drive 20 to 30 minutes north for a meal. Redmond residents, on the other hand, may find just what they’re looking for here.

Chocolaty mole

All tortillas and salsas are house-made. The chips, however, are very thick, and the choice of salsas extends from mild to spicy hot, with not a lot in between.

The enchiladas, in my opinion, were the best thing on the menu, at least among the dishes I sampled. A chocolaty mole came with a quartet of tortillas rolled with chicken — and on a subsequent occasion for our young-man friend, pork carnitas.

They were topped with shredded iceberg lettuce and a couple of slices of Roma tomato, crumbled cotija cheese and a ranch dressing.

I thought the generous Cubano was an excellent sandwich, even if its construction was a little out-of-the-ordinary. It featured three kinds of pork — a breaded cutlet, a slice of ham and a frankfurter, sliced lengthwise — along with a fried egg. The loaf was spread with guacamole and garnished with tomato, white onion, jalapeno and pickled carrot.

The relleno was serviceable, but short on egg and cheese. A lightly battered poblano pepper was pan-fried and served with a tomato sauce, the less-than-appetizing refritos and fluffy rice, cooked in chicken broth with a package of frozen vegetables.

The carne asada was inconsistent in quality. I had two bites of my companion’s steak, and although I enjoyed the char-grilled flavor, I found the meat to be dry and chewy. Her opinion differed from mine, however; she found the beef to be sufficiently tender.

My friend’s son was pleased with an order of chicken tacos, pan-fried mouthfuls of seasoned poultry in the house-made tortillas with tangy salsa.

Uncommon fare

There are too many items on La Fondita’s menu to have tried them all in a couple of visits. Burritos and tamales are standard at most Mexican restaurants in the Northwest; chilaquiles and Salvadoran pupusas are not uncommon.

But I had to research some of the other foods offered at La Fondita, such as sope, which I learned is a typical southern Mexican street food, like a fist-sized tortilla with vegetable and meat toppings and a base of fried masa cornmeal. Its relative, the huarache, is larger and oblong, with a chicken or beef topping.

And then there’s cecina, a specialty of the small town of Yecapixtla, where the Placencia family has its roots. Thin slices of beef or pork are salted, then coated with chili pepper and laid in the sun to marinate and dry.

This sounds like a good reason for a return visit.

— John Gottberg Anderson can be reached at janderson@bendbulletin.com.