Taqueria Puts Its Chips on Flavor, Freshness
Poquito Mas is a pint-sized taqueria located on Cahuenga Boulevard just east of where it turns into Ventura Boulevard. Its specialty is crackerjack Mexican food that appeals to both the kid and adult in most of us.
A purist might grumble that this is a glossy style of cooking. The tacos, burritos and quesadillas are so neat they look almost sanitized. This is no place to revel in the aromas of a grandmotherly stewpot.
Instead, it’s a bright, modestly upscale cafe featuring a salsa counter, a charcoal grill, a few plastic tables and a trellised outdoor patio with electric heaters for the cold months. The only local color is provided by a wall of signed celebrity head shots. Apparently, Rene Russo and Janis Ian eat here--plus Paul McCartney, of all people.
Well, why wouldn’t they? Everything you order at Poquito Mas tastes good. The meat is lean, the side dishes prepared with a minimum of oil, the tortillas squeaky-fresh, the salsas flavorful and biting. And the prices are reasonable.
Poquito Mas is a hot spot for kids, because it’s easy to feed three or four people for under $25. Lively Mexi-pop music plays constantly on speakers, while the cooks and servers actually sing along in harmony.
While waiting for your order (which will be filled with amazing speed), you can stop at the self-service salsa bar, where the salsas are ranked on a scale from one to 10 for hotness. (Salsa roja, at 9.5, is the killer.) The bar is stocked with plastic cups, jalapen~os, cilantro, chopped onion, that smoky salsa roja, the thick green salsa media, a mild salsa that could pass for cherry applesauce, and a delicious pico de gallo.
The menu is simple. A large array of burritos, tacos, enchiladas, tostadas and quesadillas are available with chicken, beef or pork al carbon, or with nongrilled options such as simmered chicken or even shrimp. Everything is first-rate. Poquito Mas even does the food stand concept one better, including such dishes as tortilla soup, ahi tacos and a flan that is unmolded before your very eyes.
One of my favorite things to nibble on here is Tacos San Felipe. You get two tacos with flavorful rock shrimp, shredded cabbage, chopped onion and cilantro--on two tortillas made on Poquito Mas’ own tortilla machine, as with any taco here.
The ahi tacos, also two to an order, involve a hefty chunk of blackened ahi tuna smothered in rose-colored chipotle mayonnaise. Perhaps this is an only-in-L.A. dish. I offered a friend from Santa Maria a bite but he politely refused.
*
On the other hand, he ate everything else with incredible relish. He loved the mild tortilla soup with its two kinds of gooey cheese melted into the tomato broth and the handful of semi-disintegrated fried tortilla strips hovering near the bottom of the plastic bowl.
And he was hard pressed even to share his burrito carnitas, ordered mojada style for 75 cents extra. Poquito Mas makes burritos without beans--they’re basically just huge pouches of meat--and the burrito carnitas must contain 12 ounces of moist, delicious roast pork. (Mojada style means blanketing the whole thing with a spicy red enchilada sauce and melting cheese over the top.)
I’m going back for another steak quesadilla, made with beautifully blackened carne asada. The bits of steak taste a bit dry in a taco, but they work perfectly as part of this textbook crisp quesadilla, where they are embedded in a mass of melted Cheddar and Jack cheeses.
If you’re absurdly hungry, order a tostada, served inside an enormous bowl-shaped fried tortilla. I asked for the tostada vegetariano, and the thing must have weighed two pounds. The bottom is smeared with lard-free refried beans, and on top of that came layers of shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole.
Accompanying most dishes are a fragrant Spanish rice, a choice of pinto or black beans and, upon request, extra tortillas. You can wash it all down with horchata, a milky white punch made from rice, sugar and sweet spices.
DETAILS
* WHAT: Poquito Mas.
* WHERE: 3701 Cahuenga Blvd., Studio City.
* WHEN: Open 10 a.m.-midnight Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
* HOW MUCH: Dinner for two, $9-$16. Suggested dishes: tortilla soup, $1.25-$1.75; ahi taco, $3.95; shrimp taco San Felipe, $3.25.; burritos, $4.25; quesadillas, $4.25.
* FYI: No alcohol. Parking lot. American Express, MasterCard and Visa.
* CALL: (818) 760-8226.
