A Spicy Hot Place

Over the past couple of weeks I noticed that a new restaurant had opened in the place where one of my favorite breakfast diners used to be. I look back fondly on Jaki-Dans. The former owner of Jaki-Dans is a close friend and our daughters were friends all through school. It is hard to believe the girls are both 21 and all so grown, but I digress.



I worked from home yesterday and I decided that I would try the new place during lunch. The name of this restaurant is Picoso and it is located on the corner of 17th Street and Orinoco Ave in Columbus. From the name I assumed that the restaurant was either a Mexican or Spanish restaurant. But that was the only assumption I wanted to make because I wanted an open mind and judge the restaurant on its merits.


I arrived at 11:45 AM and it was all ready full. That gave me a good feeling because usually when a restaurant is full it usually means the food is rather tasty. I walked to the counter and sat down. The interior of the place is warm and cheery and the color scheme made one realize that this was a Mexican style restaurant. It was clean and the wait staff was cheery and made on feel welcome. After I sat down, I looked around the place. There was seating for approximately 50 people at tables and there were 3 seats at the counter. I was given the menu and I was surprised to see that the menu was quite small. There were a limited number of items. There were 3 types of tacos, one type of burrito, a Cobb salad, and finally nachos. The prices were not extravagant. There were different types of meat for the dishes and what I found very pleasing was that if you chose beef, you didn’t get ground beef, you got diced brisket. That is a traditional way of serving Mexican food in West Texas and New Mexico.


I ordered the burrito with the brisket as my meat choice. It was served quickly and I was pleasantly surprised with the portion size. It was generously filled with a wonderful lime-cilantro infused rice, perfectly cooked ranchero beans, lettuce, and traditionally shredded queso fresco cheese. The flour tortilla was grilled before the ingredients added and rolled. They then covered the burrito with fresh sour cream. The burrito comes with salsa. I chose the hot salsa and it is fresh and tasty. The salsa contained fresh diced habanero pepper. It was wonderful.


After the meal I tried their cheesecake. It was a traditional New York style cheesecake that is served on top of a lime glaze and whipped cream flaked with lime zest. It was perfect compliment to the meal. The velvety cheesecake and the lime glaze quenched the heat in my mouth from the peppers. Portion was more than adequate, as I couldn’t finish it because of the richness of this dessert. The price of this meal was very reasonable. For a burrito, drink, and dessert my cost was less than $15.00

I would highly recommend Picoso to anyone. To me, it is the best Mexican style restaurant within the city limits of Columbus. There are many places in Columbus where one can get a quick lunch, but Picoso is just as quick but provides food that shames all of these pretenders. It is my hope that Picoso becomes a success because Columbus would be at a loss if this restaurant fails. If this restaurant had opened in the new areas of downtown it would be an instant success but the meals would be more expensive to pay for the prime location. To the owners Daniel and Kimbery Heilman, Good Luck and don’t change what you are doing. I’ll be back soon for more of your delicious food.

1644 Orinoco Ave, Columbus, IN 47201

(812) 799-0358

Hours of Operation:
Monday –Tuesday 11:00 AM – 7:30 PM
Wednesday 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Thursday – Friday 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM