It�s good to see culinary virtue rewarded over in Chiantiville with more than the usual suspecti. Federal Hill now has so many good Italian restaurants that it could spare one of the best. (L�Epicureo recently moved to the Hotel Providence, to satisfy the gnocchi cravings of the guests, neighborhood condo buyers, and other downtown visitors.)

Don José�s Tequilas is a top-shelf Mexican restaurant, although its name makes it sound like the only protein you can get there is the worm at the bottom of a bottle of mescal. While Taco Bell is doing its darnedest to convince us that the gordito is the height of gustatory excelencia, Mexico remains the home of one of the most refined and complex cuisines in the world. I�m not saying that Don José�s is a Mexican Lut�ce, just that it knows its way around a spice shelf and offers more than the obvious.

It�s celebrating its fifth anniversary on the Hill, but we discovered it a year before that arrival, when it was a dinky cantina in Olneyville. You had to hunch your shoulders if there was more than another couple there, the waitress spoke no English, and I had the most delicious ceviche of my life. When we passed by a few weeks later, it was closed. I mourned.

Now there are framed Diego Rivera posters on the walls, not cracks. In addition to Mexican restaurant staples, the menu includes not the typical combination plates, but dishes you won�t find elsewhere around here. Fried calamari (a rental contract codicil on the Hill) comes with pico de gallo and chipotle sauce instead of pepperoncini. I started with a sopa poblano ($4.50/$6.95), and the mild namesake pepper made it not only look but also taste green, a refreshing liquid harbinger of spring. Johnnie had the brazo de reina ($5.95/$8.95), which is thick slices of a tamale filling, sans husk, made with eggs, spinach, and ground pumpkin seeds, as well as corn meal. It was tasty but a little dry, so it could have used some more of its salsa topping.

Proprietor Jaime Gaviria � namesake José Garcia moved back to Chicago � relies on head chef Raquel Diaz to make this all work as well as it does. She�s from the Yucatan, so not only are the camarone recipes informed by regional technique, the shrimp themselves are flown in from there. Of the seven seafood dishes on the menu, four are shrimp and only one � the pan-fried flounder filet � does not contain any of the shellfish. The paella a la Mexicana ($18.95) was about to get my vote, when an overlooked opportunity widened my eyes.

My molcajete Azteca ($19.95) came out sizzling to beat the mariachi band playing in my head in anticipation. A molcajete is a large black clay mortar without a pestle. Draped over it, or sticking out of a spicy chipotle sauce, were strips of sirloin, chicken breast, shrimp, the spicy Mexican sausage known as chorizo, and � wait for it � cactus. Plus a piece of viajero (:traveling:) cheese, tasty and dry like string cheese. Corn tortillas on the side invited me to make fajita combinations for dipping in the delicious sauce. The clay pot retains heat better than an iron skillet, so when I was ready for my perrito bag, the hot pot still sounded like applause fading in the distance.

Johnnie didn�t do too shabbily either. She chose to have her enchiladas with mole sauce ($12.95) as vegetarian, instead of with chicken, cheese, or shrimp. The filling was mostly red bell pepper and zucchini, and the spice and chocolate sauce was a delicate blend, more sweet than bitter, but still full-flavored. Both our entrées came with refried beans and Spanish rice, perfectly acceptable versions in both cases.

As for desserts, most are $4.95 or less, such as flan, chocolate cheesecake, and fried ice cream. I was going to order the latter, because it�s so hard to do right, and with something to whine about, I might redeem my credibility here. But we couldn�t pass up the Tres Leches ($4.95). Condensed, evaporated, and regular milk in the not-too-sweet icing, fresh fruit in a layer, and a touch of Triple Sec. Yum. Rats.

The tequilas add-on to the restaurant�s name and menu was largely a marketing attraction, but not entirely. Gaviria is proud of being able to offer some premium brands to those who, unlike me, can appreciate them.

Five years and enthusiastically counting for this restaurant. We�re all invited to help Don José�s celebrate on Tuesday, April 5, with a free buffet and $3.95 gold margaritas between 4:30 and 7 p.m.