Santa Rita Cantina

Santa Rita Cantina

Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-11pm

I have a confession to make: I have never been an enthusiast of Tex-Mex cuisine. To me, the vibrant sauces and bold flavors that define interior Mexican cuisine seem to deaden in Tex-Mex kitchens, where bland ranchero sauce, heavy orange cheese, and greasy enchiladas prevail. And so I was mildly stunned and genuinely excited about a new Tex-Mex restaurant that transcends the banality I tend to associate with this style of cooking.

The Santa Rita Cantina, located on 38th across from Seton Hospital, is owner Eddie Bernal's (of 34th Street Cafe) loving homage to an imaginary doyenne of Tex-Mex – Santa Margarita – an invention of unsurpassed beauty, charm, and, most importantly, culinary talent, who once wandered the Borderlands and stamped her signature cookery onto all those she touched. Bernal's Santa Rita is both vampa and abuela rolled into one saintly figure. Through her, or women like her, a cuisine was born. Santa Rita is a shrine to Tex-Mex cooking as it really should be – homey, sophisticated, comforting, exotic. This is no hole-in-the-wall cantina, but rather a smart uptown variant of paint-by-numbers Tex-Mex with food worthy of its flamboyant yet imaginary namesake.

Bernal has performed radical cosmetic surgery on the former Tres Amigos restaurant that occupied the space previously, transforming a ho-hum chain into a true neighborhood cafe. Bright paints cover the walls; festive, seasonally changing piñatas hang from the ceilings; and friendly waitstaff happily share their own recommendations from the menu. The clientele ranges from young families to seniors from around the neighborhood to gay couples to college students. Bernal himself strolls from table to table chatting with his customers, making them feel not just welcome, but special.

Indeed, just about everything is treated with devotion at Santa Rita, whether it is a simple plate of fresh guacamole, a citrusy margarita, or a pico de gallo of perfectly diced tomatoes, peppers, and onions. I highly recommend beginning a meal with the Santa Rita Shrimp ($7.95) or the Corn Flautas ($5.25). The tortilla-crusted, deep-fried Santa Rita shrimp are moist and tender. These are paired with pico de gallo and a velvety yet fiery lime-scented avocado sauce that is simply spectacular. The flautas are rolled around spiced roasted chicken, served with pico de gallo, sour cream, and spicy queso. The kitchen rolls out entrées of equal caliber. The Roasted Pork Loin ($12.95) is tender and celestial in its rich ground-dried-chile sauce. The Shredded Chicken Chile Relleno ($10.95, not deep-fried, but roasted), blanketed in a heady tomatillo sauce, is savory, piquant, and spicy in each bite.

But Santa Rita really displays its chops in the oft-overlooked particulars, such as everyday enchiladas stuffed with perfectly spiced fillings and smothered in sincere, homemade sauces, or robustly spiced rice and refried beans. Santa Rita exchanges the brown iceberg lettuce that does nothing but clutter the typical Tex-Mex plate for leafy Romaine and ripe tomatoes. It is the little details such as these that set Santa Rita apart.

For a city already saturated with Tex-Mex diners, it is hard to imagine how Austin could embrace a repeat performance of the genre. Yet the Santa Rita Cantina's fresh interpretation of the old standards makes it well worth enshrining in Austin's local pantheon.