At the corner of Prospect and College avenues in Fort Collins sits a United Nations of food.
Bypass the Chuck E. Cheese’s in the center of the parking lot and check out the international offerings in the surrounding shopping strips. To the west, you’ll find Taqueria los Comales, a bright and friendly Mexican diner.
Its neighbor to the south, Arirang Korean Restaurant, opened in April. Just past the cigarette store, the tiny Las Delicias market and Kevin’s Pub lies Hong Kong Buffet, serving a vast menu of Chinese dishes.
And the Middle East? To the south, you’ll find Mabrook International Food Market, right next to Tortilleria Las Americas IV, home of the freshest tortillas and friendliest bakers in town.
We like Taqueria los Comales for its to-order preparations and the salsa bar with six fresh sauces, ranging from a creamy jalapeño-guacamole to chiles toreados, onions and chipotles in a thick, burnt-sienna-colored pepper sauce.
Owner Armando Lucero hails from Durango, Mexico, and says the dishes he serves are typical of his hometown.
Los Comales focuses on roasted and grilled meats of all sorts: al pastor (marinated pork), carne asada (grilled beef), carnitas (shredded pork), chorizo (Mexican sausage), pechuga (chicken breast), chuleta (pork chops), tripa (tripe), lengua (tongue), buche (pork stomach) and barbacoa (here, beef brains).
The cooks tuck that tender meat into soft corn tortillas with chopped onion and cilantro for tacos ($6 for four) or flour tortillas with beans, cheese, lettuce and tomato for burritos ($4.50).
When my kids asked about the creamy beige and bright orange drinks in dispensers, the waitress brought them samples: horchata ($1.25), a sweet rice-based drink spiced with cinnamon that tastes like chai tea; the agua de melon ($1.25) tasted of fresh cantaloupe.
Lucero’s favorite dishes are the chilaquiles ($8.95) and the fajitas ($8.95). The chicken or beef fajitas come sizzling with grilled bell peppers, caramelized onions and cheese. Ah, and crispy slivers of bacon.
“Chilaquiles” is a fancy way of saying “clever use of stale tortillas.” Crunchy fried corn tortilla triangles and the creamiest refried beans I’ve ever swooned over nearly outshined the grilled sirloin cubes served on the side.
Maybe because Lucero ate “frijoles, no mas” (“beans, that’s all”) growing up in Mexico, he knows how to make them taste like heaven, if heaven’s just over the border.
Staff writer Kristen Browning-Blas can be reached at 303-820-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com.
Taqueria los Comales
MEXICAN|111 W. Prospect Ave., Fort Collins; 970-407-9998|$1-$9|9:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday; Saturday-Sunday 8:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Visa, MC, no checks; parking.
Front burner: Creamy, bacony refried beans, perfectly grilled beef, pork and chicken. Made-to-order breakfast burritos. Friendly service in an international strip mall.
Back burner: No liquor license, so you’ll have to cool your tongue with horchata or agua de melon.
