Paso del Norte rebuilds itself after kitchen fire

Paso del Norte owner Miguel Ramos is back doing what he has done for 30 years, feeding the Blaine community, after a kitchen fire closed the restaurant for nearly a year.

“We didn’t expect to be this busy,” Ramos said of the January 16 reopening. “The first week and a half was crazy.”

A kitchen fire on March 29, 2024, that damaged the hood ventilation system was only expected to close the restaurant for a couple of months, but extensive repairs and renovations caused delays. In addition to kitchen repairs, Ramos redesigned booths and the layout in the downtown restaurant, at 758 Peace Portal Drive.

“I wanted to change the restaurant,” Ramos said. “It’s like limbo though because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Ramos struggled to receive funding from insurance to pay his employees after the restaurant closed, which included paying all staff for the first three months and paying his six longest tenured employees for the entire closure.

To help pay the bills, Ramos started traveling to Seattle to remodel homes and do landscaping.

A GoFundMe raised $6,420 for Paso del Norte through community donations shortly after the fire.

“It made me cry,” Ramos said. “It helped us pay some bills.”

Now that the restaurant is open, Ramos can continue to serve burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, nachos and more.

Ramos is committed to providing an affordable and well-portioned menu to customers, but costs like free chips and salsa and soda refills have to be reflected on the menu.

“We try to keep our prices fair. I know everything is high right now,” Ramos said. “Tortillas two years ago were 12 bucks. I’m paying $32 right now for the same container.”

Ramos was born in Mexico but moved to Seattle in 1989, where he went to community college to become a welder. However, those plans were sidelined in 1995 when, at 20 years old, Ramos was passing through Blaine and stopped at the El Sombrero Mexican restaurant. The owner offered to sell the restaurant to Ramos for $5,000, which he accepted and renamed Paso del Norte. He operated Paso del Norte at 289 2nd Street for 11 years before moving the restaurant to its current location in 2006.

“We want people to feel happy and feel at home,” Ramos said. “If you give good customer service, you build a relationship with the customers, and they keep coming back.”

Restaurant recommendation: Miguel recommends readers try the molcajete or birria tacos.

This article is part of a series in The Northern Light highlighting Blaine and Birch Bay restaurants.