Good (and authentic) things come to those who wait

"Why is it taking so long?" asked my impatient son, waiting for his soft tacos with carne asada at Cocina Esperanza.

"Because they're not cooking our food in the microwave," I explained, as I wrapped my fist around a cerveza — served with lime and without a glass — and cased this colorful little Mexican restaurant. "These are the best tacos I've ever had," junior said later, as a shower of pico de gallo and beefsteak fell from either end of his warm tortillas.

The kid's not the first person to speak in superlatives when it comes to Esperanza, set to celebrate its third anniversary in December. When a friend recently told me, "It's even better than La Carta de Oaxaca" — another Ballard favorite — the gauntlet was thrown, and I hustled down to Sunset Hill to see whether he was right.

My verdict? I wouldn't compare the two restaurants: They're manzanas and naranjas — apples and oranges. La Carta's more of a hungry hipster's humble-food hangout, complete with a tequila bar and great, cheap food. Esperanza is a neighborhood bistro with a Mexican accent, and it has the New Ballardian demographic down pat.

This place attracts doting young parents tending darling young children by offering the kids crayons with their quesadillas. Yet it holds equal appeal for singles who love quality Mexican food, and middle-aged neighbors lavishing attention on their pooches (parked outside) and their paunches (thank you, Dos Equis).

Now, if your knowledge of enchiladas (and tacos and chiles rellenos) is informed by the hearty, if homogenous, Tex-Mexified places dotting our restaurant landscape, prepare for some culture shock. Here you'll find a cozy little spot in an old brick building — hold the nuke-box, the chimichangas, the combination platters and the full fiesta regalia.

In keeping with bistro basics, Esperanza's painted like a pumpkin, with a high ceiling, distressed concrete floors and fairy lights to set the mood. In the small open kitchen, owner-chef Marcos Delacadena works at a careful clip, using first-rate ingredients to create the deep, clear flavors of his "authentic regional Mexican cuisine." His restaurant, run with the help of his partner, Cara Mia Villalobos, offers a dozen tables, a sideboard where wines with Latin labels stand at attention and a blackboard touting the day's specials.

That litany frequently includes gently fried, cornmeal-crunchy tilapia, though we won the jackpot one night with wild salmon tacos — the fresh fish grilled to a "T" for terrific ($14.95). There's always a pork special, often "chuleta" — pork tenderloin rubbed with a spicy chile paste and crowned with grilled tomato, onion and roasted green chiles ($15.95). And those chiles rellenos! They're served "traditional" (when the big roasted pasilla chile is stuffed with ground meat, raisins and stone fruit, then topped with tangy crema), vegetarian (enfolding the likes of spinach, corn, mushrooms and eggplant, draped in salsa rojo) and, occasionally, stuffed with seafood.

Choosing between the rellenos and the enchiladas is a tough call.

The latter arrives as four (!) corn tortillas filled with chicken, chorizo, veggies, cheese or — my hot pick — roasted pork ($11.25). These arrive with a ruddy (not muddy) salsa rojo, or its bright tomatillo-green verde-sauced equivalent.

Service here is friendly, but you must be forgiving: There rarely seems to be more than one competent server working the room at a time, assisted by someone who can fetch drinks, pour water and clear tables. So with the place filled up, a line forming out the door, your waitress explaining the day's specials to the folks next to you and your table clamoring for more of that chunky guacamole or another pitcher of fruity, cinnamon-kissed sangria, well ... relax, you'll get it — eventually.

That said, I'd wait as long as it takes for another order of crab sincronizadas ($9.95) — which might be the best crab cake never advertised as such. Picture a "cake" composed of two flour tortillas spread with fresh Dungeness and queso fresco, garnished with crema and a spunky slaw.

That slaw, with its chipotle kick, centered another sassy starter, camarones mojo de ajo: a heap of beautiful butterflied shrimp sautéed in butter and garlic.

Next time I'll try the queso fundido — chip 'n' dip with chorizo, mushrooms or spinach putting the "fun" in the fundido, but I couldn't resist the special "baked cheese": a mini-casuela filled with oozy queso fresco, fresh cow's-milk cheese meant for spreading on warm tortillas.

Nor, despite being full of beans (creamy black ones and al dento pintos), can I resist the creamy orange-scented flan. That sweet treat is a fine finish to a fun evening and yet another excuse to return to this bustling cocina.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com.

More columns at www.seattletimes.com/nancyleson.

Sample menu

Camarones mojo de ajo $7.95

Side of guacamole $2.50

Enchiladas with roasted pork $11.25

Pork chuleta $15.95

Vegetarian chile relleno $13.95

Pitcher of sangria $11

Flan $3.75