RESTAURANT REVIEW:

Since I did not grow up in Huntington Beach it is hard for me to imagine what the area was like in 1969 when Mario Valenzuela opened the first Mario’s Restaurant at the corner of Springdale Street and Edinger Avenue.

It was a wise choice of location, with Marina High School right across the street and suburbs scattered about.

North of the restaurant an industrial area has brought hungry middle managers seeking a moderate business lunch they could expense, and Mario’s filled that need.

The third generation of Valenzuelas run the restaurant.

It doesn’t appear much has changed since the first facility was opened nearly 40 years ago, and that is a good thing.

The restaurant is simple, but appeals to a wide variety of people. My most recent visit was on a Sunday night, my friend and I looking for a place to get an inexpensive meal.

The menu is extensive and varied. We were in the mood to sample, knowing that we would be bringing a lot of food home. The appetizers are where we began and quickly skipped over the standard nachos, fiesta platters and quesadillas.

Different is usually my menu theme, and the chicken drumettes smothered in chili sauce looked appealing. So did the oyster shooters, but we narrowed our choices down to ceviche or the large shrimp cocktail. The cocktail is prepared Baja style and is loaded with either shrimp, crab or octopus and plenty of pico de gallo.

We opted for the ceviche, which was delicious. It had just the right amount of citrus.

Whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant I always order the albondigas soup, though this time I got the sopa de fideo. It is a nice mix of angel hair pasta sautéed with tomatoes, onions, and garlic in a chicken broth.

The albondigas is good as well. It has a nice blend of spices, celery, carrots, bell peppers and onions and the lone meatball.

My date had the Caesar salad. The customary romaine lettuce and grated Parmesan cheese also came with tomatoes and avocado, a nice addition.

Though I have been to Mario’s several times, I studied the menu as though it were the first time when it came to ordering my entrée. I wanted something unique. I usually go there for lunch and have one of the combinations. Cheese enchiladas, chicken tacos and flautas are some of the combinations I have had, and I have never been disappointed.

My friend’s beef was in a red sauce and quite tender. The sauce was not spicy, but that was fixed with the salsa given with our chips. Mario’s uses a salsa rojo instead of pico de gallo.

I finally settled on the Yucatan. The two enchiladas were packed with scallops, and six fresh butterfly shrimp were on top of them.

Next time, I’m getting the costa azul, which is marinated shrimp stuffed with crab meat, wrapped in bacon and deep fried.

The restaurant has quite a large selection of seafood entrees. In addition to shrimp and scallops enchiladas, there is a crab one and three fresh fish selections.

The fish can be prepared in six different ways, my favorite being the puerto nuevo, which is coated in herbs and spices and then grilled in butter.

The next frontier on the menu I will conquer will be the burritos. There are eight to choose from, including pork carnitas and chicken mole. I doubt, however, that I will ever be able to claim victory on the menu.

It would take a lifetime to sample everything there, but might be worth trying.

Address: 15964 Springdale St., Huntington Beach

Phone: (714) 894-2896

Cuisine: Mexican

Specialty dish: One of the combination plates

Alcohol served: full bar

Dress: casual

Family friendly: yes

Credit cards accepted: American Express, Visa, MasterCard

Rating: ** 1/2

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants for the Independent.