Fort Wayne's Best Local Mexican Restaurant: Bandido's!

As one who has been a lifelong resident of the Summit City, I would have had to be asleep for the past twenty years not to know about Bandido's! Their great food, fun atmosphere, and free birthday meals make Bandido's my number one choice all year round.

In fact, their free birthday meals are a well-known rite of passage for many Fort Wayne residents year round. This great tradition brings families together in a special way every year. Having "Happy Birthday" sung to you or yours is wildly amusing and for many embarrassing- but, who really cares? It is the enjoyment of the atmosphere, the excellent food, and the margarita's and, of course, the freebie that is so much fun!

But, there is one other very important area that made me choose Bandido's as my Mexican restaurant of choice. And, this is an area that is more significant than many may think.

Bandito's has great community spirit, and quietly, with no fanfare are taking incremental steps towards '˜going green'.

They decided to invest several thousand dollars into an Energy Star Compliant Ice Machine and Deep Fryer and then put the following sustainable actions into place:

'¢ Committed to buying only fuel efficient company cars that average at least 30 mpg
'¢ Recycle all cardboard
'¢ Replaced light bulbs with CFL's ( compact fluorescent light bulbs)
'¢ CEO Drives a Toyota Camry Hybrid-his Chrysler 300M is a thing of the past
As the creator of the Green ABC's, I don't ever want to be accused of not walking the talk, and let's face it, when it comes to restaurants it is difficult, if not impossible to not be hyper-critical.

That is why it is refreshing to see sustainable changes taking place in one of Fort Wayne's oldest Mexican restaurants. What makes this so out of the ordinary is that Bandido's took on these green initiatives on their own, with no help or guidance or ordinances. A real plus!

Fort Wayne is known to its citizens as the City of Restaurants. Many of them have probably worked on sustainable practices, and perhaps some have put in place ways not to waste so much food or water.

For many of these restaurants it would just make good economic sense to utilize energy saving appliances and practices, and find ways to employ those materials that are recyclable. Of course, this takes effort and time '" but both would be well worth the economic profit.

Bandido's is leading the way by '˜going green' in incremental ways. That's the best way to begin!