DINING REVIEW: Delicious, authentic Mexican food hides in ugly strip-mall locale

Crowded restaurants draw crowds. Empty restaurants can immediately make diners feel as if they have made a mistake.

Maybe is it is a holdover from a primal past, when a group of eaters signified a safe food source. Maybe it is just our innate urge to fit in, but it often leaves otherwise good restaurants in the shadows.

El Siete Mares is one of these quiet places, a small strip-mall café that deserves a larger audience. It’s a classic among the Taco Triangle joints — humble, family-owned establishments of east-central Colorado Springs run by Mexican immigrants and primarily serving Mexican immigrants. These places often have the best traditional Mexican cuisine in town, but their usually Spartan digs scare away many non-Latino diners. At El Siete Mares, the shabby storefront often does not have the “open” sign turned on. The interior is a dreary mix of mostly empty second-hand booths, plastic quinceañera decorations and a tank of four goldfish.

The menu is a collection of standards: rellenos, tacos, fajitas and burritos.

There does not seem like much to recommend until a taco ($1.25) arrives with a fresh, ripe confetti of onion, cilantro, tomato and jalapeño — a bright, lovely pico de gallo. The carne underneath is well seasoned and properly browned. It is almost a perfect taco.

Before long it becomes clear that beyond the plainness of the dining room, someone can really cook.

That someone is the owner, Michelle Lucero. Her smothered tamale ($2.50) is packed with tender shredded pork simmered in a mild red chili, then sloshed with tangy green chili sauce.

The guacamole available on the side of every plate is what guacamole should be: Made only when it is ordered, flecked with bits of tomato and cilantro, and just a bit chunky so diners can taste the ripe avocados.

Lucero’s burritos are huge, stuffed with steak or shredded chicken or ground beef, plus beans and cheese and chili. All of them have the same care for seasoning and marks of being freshly made.

Despite the name, El Siete Mares (Spanish for “The Seven Seas”) offers only a scattering of fish dishes, but it does them right. Fish tacos, for instance, hit their mark. Lucero sautés diced catfish fillets until they are browned on the edges but still moist, then serves them with more of that fresh pico de gallo. I’m not a big catfish fan, but these tacos were great.

Service is less dependable. Twice I visited and twice part of my order was forgotten. The friendly staff righted their mistakes, but the goofs pegged them as amateurs. They also messed up when plating the tacos. Liquid from the pico de gallo spread on the plate before the soft tortillas were laid down. Mush ensued.

El Siete Mares, like most of the Taco Triangle’s eateries, may never attract the crowds found at many chains, but with the good cooking coming out of the kitchen, it deserves to attract a large-enough following to last.

Siete Mares

*** (great food, not great decor or service)

Address: 1512 North Academy Blvd., Suite A

Phone: 597-5048

Entrees: $4-$11.75

Hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily

Vegetarian: Yes

Alcohol: No

Credit cards: Yes