Anahuacalli.

This past weekend I had the truly pleasurable experience of dining at Anahuacalli. The name is a nahuatl word meaning house by the river, chosen because this little resto is near the Seine. Open since the late 1990s, Anahuacalli is owned by a Franco-Mexican family and their chef, Veracruz native Tony Spinoza, is a genius.

It's a few blocks away and several steps up from the much cheaper El Sol y La Luna, which makes for a good, casual Mexican lunch that every poor Sorbonne student can afford. At Anahuacalli, absent are El Sol's Corona chandeliers. The ceiling is, instead, adorned with exposed wooden beams. Elegant white tablecloths give the restaurant an upscale feel to it. There is a bit of refinement where normally there would be oversized mariachi hats. The walls are not dripping in Frida Kahlo kitsch and bric-a-brac.

The restaurant has about a dozen tables, squeezed into a typical, small rectangle of a Parisian restaurant. The day had not been too hot and the windows were open and yet the restaurant got a bit hot and humid, presumably due to the magic taking place in the kitchen. It actually reminded me of a restaurant that we dined in during a vacation in Mexico City last year-an upscale establishment in the Polanco area of the city, surrounded by Hummer dealerships and high-rise American hotels. I think Anahuacalli would be just as popular in Polanco as it is here. The menu, which is strictly Mexican and neither Tex-Mex nor pan-Latino, is extensive and offers several different main courses, including vegetarian.

We started our evening with the Surtido de entradas, a 34-euro platter teeming with taquitos, tostadas, ceviche, guacamole, and nopalitos. It feeds around four people for an intro (we stretched it to five with no problem). It puts nachos and chips to shame. Everything was fresh and tasty, with the taquitos and nopalito salad standing out as my favorites.

For my main course, I had chile relleno de queso-an enormous (really too big for me to finish) and soft poblano pepper baked in spicy tomato sauce and stuffed with cheese. Spicy enough but not too much and the texture of the poblano was just right.

Dessert, normally the best part of any Parisian meal, was a bit overshadowed by the rest of the food. I ordered the corn and tequila cake. It was good, but not much tequila. One of our friends, however, ordered the chocolate and rum cake; if you're a huge fan of rum or like ending your dinner with oomph, then you should order that.

And we washed it all down with Corona. I can't remember the last time I went out to eat in Paris and ordered a beer. I have to say, it's really a nice treat when you can get good food in a nice setting and still be able to kick back with a cold one.

Normally good food in Paris is expensive, especially when there is no set menu and you have to order à la carte. However, I found Anahuacalli to be affordable. We each had an appetizer, a main course, a dessert and a Corona and that came to just 40 euros a person. Given the quality of the food and the friendly atmosphere, this is a good deal.

We had a really good evening at Anahuacalli and clearly the restaurant was intended for good times. If you're going, I'd recommend taking a group of people, although it's perfectly fine for a quiet evening out just as a couple.

You absolutely must have a reservation for this popular restaurant, even on a weeknight. If you don't, you're simply not going to be dining there. Anahuacalli is not open for lunch. It's dinner only and they're so popular right now that they force a turnover of the tables. For example, you can get a 7:30 slot or a 9:30 slot for dinner. Either way, you're given exactly two hours of fun and food. It's the only restaurant in Paris I've ever been to where the waiter was begging to take our order, was quick to get us our check, and then nicely kicked us out when we were done eating. Normally we have to ask the waiter to please come take our order and to please, please give us the check.