Looks like fast food, tastes like sit-down

DINING OUT

Azteca’s, the Mexican place on the corner of Beach Boulevard and

Slater Street, will fool you. At first it looks like fast food, but

it isn’t. You order at the counter, but the food is restaurant

quality. The ambience is simple and colorful, and there’s an

unbelievably extensive menu of 120 items -- all numbered.

At Azteca’s, named for the Indians of south central Mexico, you

can drink horchata ($1.45) or take home a 6-foot burrito ($69.99),

but one thing is certain -- you’ll never go away hungry.

On one visit, I selected a taco ($4.50, a la carte $1.95), my

litmus test for Mexican food, and it was very good. The U-shaped

tortilla was ordinary, but overloaded with seasoned shredded beef,

fresh lettuce, tomato and cheese. Spoon on some of the salsa served

with it or turn up the heat with tapatio or chile Habaneroavailable

at your table.

Among the most popular plates is No. 67, camarones rancheros

($9.95), six delicious sauteed fat shrimp in a distinctive thin

ranchero sauce with green bell pepper slices. It’s served with beans

and salad-like shredded lettuce topped with homemade guacamole.

Everything at Azteca’s is made on the premises by head cook

Ottoniel Rubio. The camarones rancheros is a dish of quality that

rivals anything served in a more elaborate place. The tamale on the

combination plate ($4.99, a la carte $2.95) is filled with shredded

pork, a mainstay of the Mexican diet since it was introduced by the

Spanish. The masa here is grainy corn meal, not too thick, a tamale

with lots of meat.

There are three sopas (soups), (cup $2.50, bowl $5.99) that make

great quick lunches. The cup is large, and the albondigas is super --

a big meatball nearly the size of a tennis ball in a broth thickened

with rice, celery and carrot, served with warm tortillas.

Flan ($1.95), a traditional Spanish baked custard, is nearly twice

the size of most, served with lots of thin caramel-flavored brown

sugar syrup. It tastes as if it had just come from the oven and can

easily serve two.

The servings at Azteca’s are as generous as the ambience is

friendly. The free-standing corner cafe, the second owned by Alfonso

Aguilar and Alicia Ramos, is like many you’ll find in Mexico, with a

casualness that belies the superiority of its kitchen. Service can be

a little slow, as everything is made to order. Call ahead if you need

a quick lunch.

The restaurant is lively with mariachi music, and its servers,

Auna, Rosario and Gerardo, are bilingual -- they seem to know by

instinct the diner’s language of choice.

* MARY FURR is the Independent’s restaurant critic.Reach her at

(562) 493-5062 or [email protected].