Mexican classics

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La Fonda del Gusto’s braised short ribs are flavorful and falling-off-the-bone tender, and served alongside rice and charro beans. | keith hale~sun-times photos

LA FONDA DEL GUSTO ★★

1408 N. Milwaukee; (773) 278-6100: lafondadelgusto.com

Hours: Dinner nightly; lunch and brunch, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Prices: Appetizers, $5.95-$8.95; tacos, 4 for $10.95; main courses, $13.95-$17.95; desserts, $6.95-$7.50.

Try: Guacamole, tacos, beef short ribs, grilled chicken, chocolate-pecan pie.

In a bite: Very good Mexican food served in a pleasant and pristine atmosphere without going over the top. Booths in the front, with tables and a bar in what might be termed the “back dining room.” Service was friendly and in touch with the workings of the menu. Margaritas were reasonably potent. Weekend breakfast features a range of egg dishes, quesadilla, soups and salads. Reservations suggested. Good for children.

KEY: ★★★★ Extraordinary; ★★★ Excellent; ★★ Very Good; ★ Good; Zero stars: Poor

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Updated: December 9, 2010 2:01AM

La Fonda del Gusto can be translated as “The Inn of Pleasure,” or “The Restaurant of Good Eating.” Let’s go with the second iteration. One thing is certain: There is a lot of pleasure to be had at this smart Mexican restaurant on North Milwaukee Avenue.

There are two names listed on the menu: chef/partner Dudley Nieto and chef de cuisine Raul Abarca. Regardless of who was cooking, the food that hit our table on two separate occasions was as fine as I could ask for.

Having said that, there isn’t a lot on the menu that I haven’t seen on those of many other Mexican restaurants around town. Let’s face it, most Mexican restaurants (yes, even Topolobampo and Frontera Grill) sing from the same culinary songbook. It’s all about hitting the right notes when it comes to flavor and how the tone and passion is translated into overall goodness.

Nothing pulls a Mexican restaurant together better than a finely tuned guacamole, and La Fonda del Gusto puts forth a delicious variety. Chunks and pieces of avocado mixed it up with the requisite guacamole ingredients, so there is a range of textures and good flavor and delicious creaminess that keep the chips a dippin’ straight out of the molcajete. You can get the “traditional” version with the usual (avocado, garlic, jalapeno, onion, cilantro), or a guava version in which chunks of guava get it on with the same ingredients that are in the traditional version. If more heat is desired, you can spoon in some of the extra salsas (green and red) that appear along with the chips.

The dinner menu is arranged somewhat in the style typical of Mexican restaurants — appetizers, tacos and burritos, salads, soups and rice, and “Platos Fuertes” or main courses, which include seafood, and four dishes labeled as “La Fonda Favorites.”

And it was one of those “favorites” — “Plato Revolucion” — that held me enthralled: braised beef short rib basted with pulque, white rice, green and red salsas, charro beans. Pulque is a fermented alcoholic beverage that’s in the tequila family. Whether it was used here as a marinade to tenderize the beef or as part of the braising doesn’t matter. This was one of the better short ribs I have had in a while. The meat, and there was plenty of it, was flavorful, falling-off-the-bone tender and enjoyable down to the last morsel. The rice and charro beans, though quite good, played second fiddle in this arrangement.

Another plato fuerte that held its own against the short ribs was pollito en mole de xico. The translation is grilled chicken (half) with a mole sauce (the xico part, which is traditional in the city of Xico in the central part of the state of Veracruz) made with almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts, pasilla and mulato chiles. The chicken on its own was excellent, but the mole sauce was a fine piece of work. Dark (brown-black in color) and thick yet smooth with a soft back taste of chocolate, the sauce flowed over and around the chicken in a manner that ensured that some of that fine mole sauce tagged along with each morsel of chicken. The goodness of this sauce was centered around the variety of nuts used and the authentic mulato chiles, which imparted just a hint of heat. On the plate with the chicken was a mound of epazote rice (epazote is a Mexican herb) and black beans. As pleasing as this dish was, so was the price of $15.95.

Tacos are served as a quartet along with two salsas and charro beans. The choices are pastor (pork), steak, chicken and catch of the day. Al pastor sets the tone for tacos the way I see it, and these tacos had a depth of flavor that was as good as you will find around town, and there was no skimping on the quantity, either. Ditto that for the tacos rajas con queso. With these, the tacos were loaded with strips of roasted poblano peppers and then finished off with Asadero cheese, niblets of corn and a silky crema.

Desserts were acceptable but not extraordinary. The flan boasted a hint of orange flavor along with kahlua caramel sauce. I passed on the Mexican bread pudding (with coconut ice cream). The dense chocolate pecan pie with ice cream and whipped cream was interesting but nothing all that innovative.

Pat Bruno is a local free-lance critic and author. E-mail brunoeats@aol.com . Listen to Pat Bruno talk about food and wine Tuesdays at 6:23 p.m. and 10:23 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 7:53 p.m. on WBBM News Radio 780-AM.