Taqueria y Fonda la Mexicana, Amsterdam Ave. between 107th and 108th

For authentic regional Mexican cooking, try Taqueria y Fonda.  This is not your gringo Tex-Mex place that glops sour cream and guacalomole on your cheese covered entree.  This place is the real thing -- with homemade burritos and enchiladas that don't have a just-out-of-the-bag chemical residue.  They are fresh and pull like fresh-baked bread.

You might think you're in Mexico, but for the open door and windows that look out on a Domino's Pizza across Amsterdam, parked cars, and parking meters with bikes locked to them.

The dining room is tiny -- seating maybe 16-20 people at a time.  The owner sat down at a table next to our to have his dinner around 9 pm, when things were slowing down.  I asked what he was having -- and had never heard of the dish before:  chicken covered cooked with avocado leaves and a paprika colored hot red sauce.  "It's my favorite!" he said as he sat down to dine.

We ordered more standard fare:  a giant steak burrito ($8.25) -- enough for 2 or 3 people -- that had really good steak -- not the shredded stuff you normally get, but real slices of flank steak grilled and mixed with rice, beans, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, cheese and salad.  I had the chicken mole enchilada ($8.95) which had chunks of chicken (again, not the shredded stuff you get at commercial places) -- and a brown, mildly spicy chocolate sauce made with peppers, sesame seeds, raisins and almonds in a homemade corn enchilada.   I was tempted by the chicken pipian that has a pumpkin seed sauce and cilantro and other herbs, but will have to save that for the next time.

We took home more than half of what we'd ordered (just 2 meals) and had them the next night for dinner, too.