Our lady of cheesy goodness

As much as I adore the fresh, delicious food at Tacubaya, Nopalito, and all the other nuevo Mexicano places popping up  — and as much as I’m thrilled that they espouse the sustainable/local food ethics so near to my heart — I also have an incurable weakness for the combo-plate Mexican food of my childhood days in Southern California.

I’ve been known to plan my weekly menus (not to mention my Southland pilgrimages)  around the days that my favorite south-of-the-border haunts are open. The first place I head when I’ve had a bad day at the office is Lisa’s, a Daly City joint that looks like a biker bar from the outside, but serves up some of the most-L.A.-like combination plates this side of the Grapevine. And Cameron knows that if he wants to bribe me to come down to the peninsula, the three magic words I really want to hear are  “Fiesta del Mar“.

A platter-sized dinner of tacos, enchiladas, chiles rellenos or — let’s be honest here — all three, doused in red-chile gravy and draped with a mantilla of bubbly cheese: To me, there’s no better soul food.