DINING REVIEW: La Casita locations come and go, but original appeal — circa 1986 — remains

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There are few more indulgent delights than ruffling open the foil wrap on a bundle of fresh, handmade La Casita flour tortillas, tearing off a steaming warm piece of the thick, spongy flatbread, and chewing the rich, slightly salty bite without adornment.

I like to savor a tiny piece like a sacrament, chewing it slowly just before I dig into a hearty plate of slow-cooked carnitas or spicy green chili with beans. I do it every time I go. And I’ve been going for a long time. La Casita is one of my favorite local places.

I’ve eaten everything on the menu. I’ve celebrated a number of life’s small victories at its colorful tables. But I never knew the full story of this local Mexican chain until I dug into its history.

La Casita opened its first bright pink location in an old gas station tucked almost under I-25 on South Nevada Avenue in 1986. The restaurant was set up like a fast food place: Wait in line, order, take your food away on a tray. But everything was made fresh; even the hot tortillas blistering on the grill started as a sack of flour in the back. And this little fast food place served bottles of esoteric Mexican beer from a heaping bin of ice, and fresh margaritas. It is a set-up so common now that it has its own industry label: Fast Casual. Think Smashburger, Noodles & Company and, of course, Chipotle.

But at the time, at least in Colorado Springs, owner Janet Sawyer said, “There was nothing like it.”

Mexican food in Colorado Springs then generally meant either Taco Bell or sit-down Tex Mex. La Casita was different. Besides exotic, sizzling fajitas and carnitas, the place boasted a salsa bar with four styles — unheard of at the time — and piles of fresh cilantro.

The place was a huge hit. When I discovered La Casita in 1992 it was not uncommon to see the line snaking out the door.  Naturally, Sawyer expanded. Bright pink locations opened on North Nevada Avenue and Academy Boulevard in the mid-1990s. A location opened on Woodmen Road in 2004. Expansion of the interstate forced the original shop to move to Eighth Street, and the North Academy location closed, but all locations do a pretty good job of replicating the appeal of that first store.

I consider myself an expert on the menu. Over the years, I’ve worked through it as my tastes changed. My first love was the cheese enchiladas wrapped in Christmas-red corn tortillas ($4.20). Then the steak fajita dinner — long cuts of flank, marinated and tenderized, and served with piles of sweet onion and green pepper ($7.50). They were mild, delicious and perfect in those warm tortillas. Then I moved on to chicken fajitas ($7.50), flavored with what tastes like savory bay leaf. For a long time my main dish was green chili ($5). I would order a bowl of this greasy, gloppy, wonderful stew full of tender chunks of pork, dump in a few thimbles of La Casitas’s spicy tomatillo and jalapeño salsa, and wipe the bowl clean with hot tortillas. On my most recent visit, I found a new favorite, the carnitas ($7.50). The pork shoulder is roasted for hours until it has a luscious, caramelized crust and is so tender it easily falls apart. It is hacked up with a cleaver and served as big chunks that you eat in a tortilla. And it is bliss.

But for all I know about the menu, I was surprised to find out, after talking to the owner recently, that I knew nothing about its origin.

It turns out La Casita is an idea lifted, almost entirely, from a San Antonio doppelganger  called Taco Cabana that Sawyer visited in the mid 1980s. Taco Cabana made its own tortillas. It had bins heaped with ice and cold Mexican beer. It had cheese enchiladas wrapped in Christmas-red corn tortillas. It even was, and is (Taco Cabana now has about 140 locations, mostly in Texas), painted bright pink.

At first I was a little disappointed that La Casita is little more than a copycat, but I suppose there are some concepts that gain strength and integrity only as they spread: freedom, democracy, fast fresh tacos.

And La Casita has a few of its own flourishes, like delicious borracho beans and that chunky green chili.

Of my hundreds of visits to La Casita, my most recent was the first I ever made as a food critic, and I noticed a few things I had overlooked for years that could use improvement.

The beef in the crispy tacos seems to be seasoned only with a little salt and pepper; a good base with some Tex Mex chile and cumin could jazz it up quite a bit. Same goes for the chicken enchiladas, which are overwhelmed by the flat taste of black pepper. Adding some good Chimayo ground red chile and garlic would help.

The huge, tasty churros ($1.30), slaked in sugar and cinnamon, would be twice as good if they were fresh-fried to order, like the sopapillas.

The delicious borracho beans — pintos cooked with bacon, tomato, onion and beer — should be an option as a side with every meal, not just some.

And finally, the salsa bar should have limes. Right now it has only lemons, and I never see anyone use them. Limes go better with Mexican food and Mexican beer.

Now that I have heaped criticism on one of my favorite places, I need to absolve myself. I’m going for another bundle of fresh, hot tortillas.

La Casita Patio Café
4 of 5 stars
(fresh fast food)
Locations: 306 S. Eighth St., 633-9616; 4295 N. Nevada Ave., 599-7829; 3725 E. Woodmen Road, 536-0375
Hours: 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays through Fridays, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays
Entrees: $5.80-$7.50
Vegetarian: plenty
Alcohol: beer and margaritas
Credit cards: yes