Anchos

With its flour tortilla-making gizmo, Anchos may be gimmicky; but it feels more earnest than hokey. Besides, it serves undeniably good mesquite-grilled skirt steak.

We come for nachos, which are as carefully detailed as sushi. Each chip is individually topped with just the right proportions of beans, cheese and meat. The portion of individually dressed chips may seam meager compared to the haphazard piles typically presented as nachos, but they are all completely blanketed with smooth refried beans and jack cheese. If you need more chips, unlimited baskets come free. If you’re just getting nachos and not much else, have them topped with excellent mesquite-grilled skirt steak. If you’re getting fajitas, it’s probably not necessary to eat this much steak, but that’s up to you and your physician.

Fajitas feature superb mesquite grilled meats, but limp peppers and onions lack crucial cast iron caramelization. The plastic rimmed trays on which they’re served seem like a suggestion of an insurance company rather than the inspiration of a grill master. Still, perfectly cooked steak hits the spot when slid into a fresh flour tortilla with a schmear of guacamole.

Costillas (ribs) are cooked tender with nice wood flavor in their meat. Ancho BBQ sauce is a good complement. It is spicy, not really sugary at all, and appropriate for Texan flavors. These may not have been all-day pit BBQ-level ribs, but they satisfy.

The rib and fajitas combo comes with rice and beans. The rice is tired but basically enjoyable due to an herbaceous lift. The beans sit in a watery cup off to the side with a chunk of bacon on top. They are best when combined, the wet beans and dry rice effectively solving each other’s fundamental problems.

A seafood enchilada is well-stuffed with plump shrimp and crab leg meat, the seafood gently poached in butter. Its red and green sauces are disturbingly too mild, but that’s OK: this shellfish doesn’t need much dressing anyway.