If you're into Mexican cuisine, there's a new restaurant on State Street in downtown Watertown just off Public Square you'll want to check out.

It's called Fiesta Mexicana. And the front of the menu makes it very clear:

"Owned and operated by a Mexican born and raised native-Authentic Mexican Food."

Ely Parish owns the place, along with her husband, Lloyd. The staff is their kids — Evelyn, Abraham and "Paco" — along with Ely's sister, Gloria.

The seating area is small (and cold, located just inside the front door), accommodating a couple of dozen patrons at best. Sparse decorations — claves, maracas and chili pepper lights — dot the front window.

But the best part is the sights, the sounds and the smells coming from the large open kitchen behind the counter — wonderful aromas coming from the grill and steam table, the family joking and chatting in their native tongue as music of Mexico plays over the small sound system.

I went with several friends who love Mexican food, and they were intrigued by some of the offerings on the menu: gorditas, sopes, cochinita, machaca, menudo and horchata.

Gringos will immediately recognize salsa, tacos, enchiladas, burritos and Diet Coke.

And don't feel intimidated if you don't know what some of this stuff is. The guys behind the counter (in the kitchen, actually) are eager to help — even offering samples for you to try, complete with broken-English descriptions, adding to the ambiance and authenticity.

Four of us tried to eat and drink as many different things as humanly possible.

Let's start with the drinks, one from the cooler and one from the counter.

I grabbed a Fuze peach mango drink from the cooler. Not exactly Mexican, but absolutely delicious, made with natural sugar and fortified with vitamins and minerals. I feel healthier just saying that.

Absolutely Mexican was the horchata, ladled from a large jar on the counter, billed as a "sweet rice drink." We immediately said, "It's like blended rice pudding in a cup," with distinct flavors of cinnamon and vanilla. Rather than being sicky sweet, it provided a palate-cleansing treat between servings.

After we placed our order at the counter, complimentary chips with superb homemade salsa and guacamole were the first items to emerge from the kitchen. This began our evening's journey of flavors and freshness — the salsa slightly fiery with chopped tomatoes, onions, hot peppers and cilantro, the creamy guacamole providing a welcomed cooling effect.

Fish tacos are a must-do. They're light, fresh-tasting tacos of deep-fried, nicely seasoned fish chopped into small pieces, tossed with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro and sour cream.

It takes skill to make a perfect fish taco. Too much fish and you've got a fish sandwich. Too little fish and it's a veggie taco. The balance was perfect.

The selection of burritos (soft flour tortillas folded around a filling) seemed endless — 16 in all. The ones we tried were excellent and huge, a meal in themselves.

Adobada included beans and a marinated, slightly spicy pork that reminded us of Southern pulled pork, but not tomato-based.

Carne asada, loosely translated to mean "grilled meat," was one of our favorite burritos: grilled steak sliced very thin, served without beans.

Machaca was a burrito of beef, egg and beans along with shredded bok choy-type greens, green peppers and spices.

Ely makes her own chorizo, a spicy Mexican pork sausage. We got the chorizo plate, expecting some variety of sliced encased sausage. However, it was loose sausage cooked on the flat-top grill, an egg cracked over it toward the end, making it tasty chorizo held together with a little scrambled egg.

The plate came with an ice cream scoop of not-very-tasty red-tinged rice and excellent, flavorful puréed refried beans.

We also sampled the enchiladas, rolled corn tortillas lightly fried and filled.

The beef enchilada was tomato-based, with green peppers and spices. The chicken enchilada consisted of shredded chicken with crisp lettuce and spices that complemented the chicken without overwhelming. The spices were subtle and appropriate to each of the meats.

And there's more — tortas, tostadas, quesadillas, flautas and chimichangas — but how much food could four people eat in one sitting?

Soups are served on weekends only. There's fish soup, chicken soup and meatball soup, plus pozole (beef soup) and menudo, usually made with stewed tripe, hominy and chiles.

For the sake of the article, we tried to order dessert. The menu offers chocolate flan, carrot cake, sweet rice, cookies and "much, much more." But our final trip to the counter found them out of just about everything.

We did find a container labeled "queen cake" in the cooler next to the sodas. We asked the guys what it was. After a several minute back and forth in Spanish, all they could tell us is that it was similar to tequila cake. They didn't seem that excited about it, so neither were we. Back to the cooler it went.

Prices are pretty appetizing too. Burritos average $3.50. Tacos $2.50. Enchiladas $3.50. Combination plates (two items served with rice and beans) are in the $5.75 range. We got filled up for $39.

Bring cash — checks are not accepted and they're not set up to honor credit or debit cards.

These folks are on to something. I can't tell you if it's 100 percent authentic or not, but we all agreed it sure was tasty — perfectly seasoned and not overly hot — and nicely presented, even though it came on Styrofoam plates.

They did lots of takeout the night we were there. A big takeout of treats from Fiesta Mexicana would make for great Super Bowl party chow.

Be aware of their hours, however. They open each morning at 10:30 and close the doors at 7 p.m. during the week. On Fridays and Saturdays they stay open until 9 p.m. Sunday hours are noon to 7 p.m.

TIDBITS

The 1844 House, on Route 11 between Canton and Potsdam, is now open Mondays, making its new hours of operation 4:30 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The menu is constantly evolving, with recent additions of coquilles St. Jacques, braised pork shank, Spanish fish stew and my favorite, duck "two ways" — roasted breast and braised leg confit in a pool of port wine prune sauce. View the entire menu at www.1844house.com

You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Fiesta Mexicana

566 State St. (opposite Pla-Mar Lanes)

Watertown

779-7577

Well-prepared authentic Mexican cuisine — gorditas, sopes, cochinita, machaca, menudo and horchata. Salsa, tacos, enchiladas, burritos and quesadillas, too.

It's not a fancy place, but they're turning out tasty food that we think you're going to like.

HOURS: 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday

10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Noon to 7 p.m. Sunday

Rating: 3 and one-half forks