Little Anita’s – Denver, CO

Don't be fooled by the name. It doesn’t look like much from the first glance, the small counter with a four-table dining area is scarcely superior to Subway, and there’s nothing less sexy than Styrofoam. Little Anita's may be little in every other way, but when it comes to flavor, it packs some punch with all the attitude of avant-garde (i.e. New) Mexican.

The combinations are ideal for the indecisive, and my #2 Combination was a sampling of pretty much every item on the menu, $10 for enough food to last me a week. Each item was a meal in itself, a reallyreallyreally tasty meal. The chewy cheese enchilada is gone in a matter of seconds when combined with chili, the tamale is a tempting tablet of cornmeal and pork, the taco is just a taco, and the chile relleno is easily the best part of this plate. I don’t even like chile relleno and I ate that part first.

At the end of the day, New Mexican comes down to a single decision. There's red chili and there's green chili and that’s when you’re asked to choose. Good news is, you can't go wrong with either, especially at Little Anita’s, and when in doubt you can always go with Christmas. And after a few bites of this fatty, fast-food-fabulous fare, you'll feel like Christmas came early.