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A true dive hunkered under the N tracks, La Espiguita is a proud exception to the upmarket-Mexican-restaurant trend. Inside, a doll-filled shrine to the Virgin of Guadelupe shares a wall with a TV blaring telenovelas (Dios mio! It’s not Juan’s child!). With this kind of ambiance, delivery business is understandably brisk. A few menu items hark to Puebla, home of many local Mexican immigrants, but overall, La Espiguita serves the kind of familiar, filling rolled-tortilla dishes popularized by decades of bad margarita joints and sad mall cantinas. Yet these burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and combination plates are the antithesis of gringo chow. Fresh, spicy, and generous, they trumpet Mexico’s fundamental flavors of chili, corn, and pork. La Espiguita’s torta is a potent and portable example of its winning ways: a football-size, two-lunch sandwich dripping with salsa roja and bursting with meat, cheese, avocado, jalapeños, and chipotles. — Karen Tina Harrison

Quesadilla, $6; tongue or chorizo taco, $2; chicken mole poblano, $9; super torta Oaxaqueña, $7