What’s the secret of Mi Casa’s success? It’s the cheese

Kathy Mader

Everybody say cheese! No, this is not a family photo, but the

battle cry of Mi Casa Mexican restaurant on the corner of 17th Street

and Santa Ana Avenue in Costa Mesa.

For some, Mi Casa is a guilty pleasure -- a place where nothing,

and I mean nothing except for the prices, has changed in 30 years.

For the crowd of regulars who jealously guard Mi Casa, it can be

their one and only source of true “Mexican” food. But no matter how

you look at Mi Casa, it is a local favorite, and there is always a

crowd.

My family has been going to Mi Casa for all 30 years of its

existence and, since I am only 28, that should tell you something. My

husband and I figured out that there are only three tables at which

we haven’t sat. When I say nothing has changed in 30 years, I truly

mean it. It still has the wagon wheel light fixtures and the tables

of the original steakhouse that once occupied the place. Just think

rancheros and caballeros.

And it is still a member of the Moore family, be it Barrie, Rick,

Dennis or grandson Ryan, who may greet you. Why fix it if it ain’t

broke?

The wait on the weekends, sometimes more than one hour, tells you

that quite a lot of people agree with that line of thinking. The only

thing that I can tell has actually changed is the newly renovated

center where Mi Casa is located and that you can now buy a Mi Casa

T-shirt in navy or white for $12. That’s news.

At Mi Casa, you always know what you are going to get. Always.

There are no surprises here. You know going in that the place is

dark, lighted only by Christmas light-like strands of chilies and the

aforementioned wagon wheels.

The dark red booths and the tables are packed in for efficiency,

and much to the chagrin of those with the hour wait, the servers must

walk through the lobby with scalding hot plates loaded with food and

lava-like refried beans to get to their destination. Maybe this is by

design. The hungry get hungrier; the careless get burned.

Most restaurants do things by the pinch or the dash. Mi Casa does

it by the pound; a 5-pound tostada, 6-pound burrito and 21-ton combo

plate, but the heft is really in the cheese. They have kilograms of

grated cheese in the back. At Mi Casa, it’s all about the cheese, and

if you don’t share the same passion or are lactose intolerant, this

is not the place for you.

Bowls of chips, sometimes fresh, sometimes not, are slapped down

the second you are seated, served with a mild and tasty salsa that is

sometimes sloshed on the table as well. The mother of all customer

service is the full pitcher of ice water on every table. Keeps you

from asking; keeps them from running. Everybody’s happy.

I think most people, especially the regulars, will agree that Mi

Casa is the standard bearer for the fried taco, be it shredded beef,

chicken or pork ($3.65 a la carte, $7.25 with rice and beans). Your

choice of meat is packed into a tortilla, deep fried, drizzled with

salsa and then absolutely smothered with handfuls of lettuce and

cheese.

I really like their tostadas ($8.25), too. These are served in a

jumbo fried tortilla bowl, with layers of rice, beans -- cheese, of

course -- the meat of your choice and lettuce and topped with a

wallop -- not a dollop -- of guacamole and another of sour cream.

Pounds of fun.

All the traditional favorites -- traditional in that Mi Casa set

the tradition -- are available, from enchiladas, chile rellenos,

tamales, tacos, taquitos, burritos and any combination thereof. If

you want to go down hard, order the chips and cheese appetizer

($6.75) -- one pound of chips covered in two pounds of cheese served

with three pounds of guacamole: worth every penny.

At Mi Casa, a couple of items are great, most of them good, but

the food is always consistent and always covered in cheese.

* KATHY MADER’s dining reviews appear every other Thursday.