TITO'S CANTINA,

Sample the menu and you'll know you didn't step into the neighboring Taco Bell next door, like a can of Cheez Whiz next to the brie. There are more than a dozen appetizers, from black bean soup ($3.25) to jalapeño poppers ($5.75) to our ubiquitous state appetizer, fried calamari ($5.95), plus nachos variations and salads. You can wash them down with any of a half-dozen Mexican-beers, sangria or, yes, a margarita. While perusing the menu, you get to sample a complimentary portion of hot chips and a chunky house-made salsa with plenty of cilantro. (The temperamental herb comes across less strongly in looser salsa that's available to go, in sizes up to gallon jars, along with Tito's house-brand organic corn chips.) Entrees include mesa rojo "lasagna" ($7.95), consisting of both blue and yellow corn tortillas layered with your choice of chicken, veggies, or ground beef, along with ricotta and other cheeses, and the California chimichanga ($7.95), a fried flour-burrito filled with, my choice, a wonderfully smoky barbecued pork.

Full review.