PICTURE THIS

Imagine a restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, an easy distance from your house–warm, colorful, full of people and good smells. Comfortable, not fancy. There’s good, traditional latin music playing in the background, not too loud. There’s the clink of plates and silverware, a sense of bustle and anticipation. You walk in the door and immediately begin to feel good, yourself.

You sit down and look enviously at the tables of the people who’ve already been served. With the eye of the covetous, their plates look impossibly huge, each one arranged like a painting, a perfect work of art. You’re hungry. Finally, it’s time to order. You can get a special, maybe butternut squash enchiladas verde with pepitas, because it’s fall, or sopes with cilantro pesto or huaraches with crema and roasted corn. Or, you can just get, say, something very simple–like chips and guac, beans, and fresh, warm corn tortillas. You'll realize, just with those, that heaven, the place where everyone wants to go when they d…