So Far From Mexico, Such Good Mariscos: Lauriol Plaza in Washington D.C.

Strangely, Mexican food was the last frontier of "ethnic cuisine" for me. I've loved Thai, Indian, and Japanese since I was young, and more recently started experimenting with the flavors of West Africa and the Caribbean. But for a non red-meat-eating, cheese-o-phobic person with a peculiar distaste for fried things, Mexican for me was like diving headfirst into a smoldering abyss of all things cringeworthy.

Imagine how startled I was to find, in the heart of D.C., not just any old Mexican place, but a simultaneously upscale and inexpensive Mexican restaurant with food that tastes like it came right from the ground it grew in and flew straight out of my grandmother's kitchen (if my grandmother were Mexican, that is). And that place? Lauriol Plaza (18th and R, NW).

Lauriol Plaza wooed me from the moment I walked in the door. The place is huge-- 3 indoor stories, a patio, and a roofdeck offering lovely views of the city. Lauriol smells like toasted corn and warm steamy tomato-based things, and the overall atmosphere is casual and unassuming but inviting. Speaking (good) Spanish with the hosts will get you seated faster, but that's to be expected, right?

If you're short on cash, go to Lauriol for drinks and chips and salsa. The mojitos are above average, coming in lightly sweetened flavors like peach and pomegranate, and the frozen drinks are outstanding (try the strawberry swirl daiquiri, and don't drive home). The chips taste like they were toasted over an open fire, light on the oil and heavy on the crunchy sea salt. But wait, the salsa! The salsa is un-freaking-believable.

But if you are looking for more than nibbles and inebriation, Lauriol is still a steal. I ordered the salmon with marisco sauce (a pink seafood sauce, not heavy, very flavorful). The salmon was grilled to perfection, accompanied by a side of Cuban-style beans, plantains, and crispy vegetables, and 13 dollars later I was stuffed.

I'm also prone to sneaking my fork onto my dinner companion's plate when she's not looking, and that was how I came to taste Lauriol's Masitas de Puerco, a most enticingly succulent pork dish that must have been marinated for as long as I've been alive. Served with the standard rice and beans with a hint of a barbeque smoke, this dish is worth all 1,100 pennies you pay for it.

Lauriol has a number of characteristics that make it a great place for first-timers as well as seasoned fans: there's a wide variety of Latino food, including Cuban and Peruvian; it's relaxed but definitely classy and high-quality; and the food is just so good, you can't pass it up.

How did I go so long without Mexican food in my life, you might ask...and the short answer is, I don't know. Pervasive visions of Taco bell's creepy "Fourth Meal" combined with growing up without a huge Mexican population nearby or really good quality Mexican food probably helped. But I can tell you that I went back to Lauriol Plaza just a week later, and then I went back again, and back...