<a href="http://www.accessatlanta.com/dining/restaurants/158332/DetailedList.jspd?activity=158332">The Original El Taco </a>
Something happens when just the right amounts of hospitality, casual atmosphere, good food and really good margaritas combine with a neighborhood that has been aching for a place to call its own.
When Fifth Group (the folks behind South City Kitchen, La Tavola Trattoria and Ecco) decided to take over Sala a couple of years ago, it started as a star-crossed coupling. Sala had been a neighborhood watering hole (with really good margaritas, see above) for years, but had done little to satisfy the neighborhood's appetite.
Fifth Group spruced the joint up a little, and brought in a would-be big-shot chef from Arizona, Jeff Smedstad, who after a couple of months and a lot of fanfare promptly left when a bigger paycheck lured him back to the Southwest. His menu was authentic Mexican, and he could cook, but it was all a little more than the neighborhood wanted to grasp anyway.
Eventually, Sala closed. Then Fifth Group got an idea. Why not hire one of the city's most popular and respected chefs to design a more casual menu concept, hire a talented sous chef to pull it off and goof up the surroundings enough to make Sala a lost memory?
And that's exactly what they did: They hired Shaun Doty of Shaun's in Inman Park to design a Mexican menu with a tad of authenticity and lots of approachability, mixed up some mean margaritas, and got a couple of SCAD students to paint a fantastic mural on the back wall (though the towering image of Frida Kahlo looks more like Salma Hayek, of course. Hollywood makes historical revisionists of all of us).
Presto! Original El Taco is born. It embodies a dignity Sala never could claim while retaining a totally casual attitude — the kind of place where families feel as at home as frat boys.
Doty's menu, executed nicely by chef de cuisine Craig Sauls, is a mishmash of Mexican dishes, with an emphasis on tacos and Mexican "pizza," which is a culturally ignorant reference to tlayudas, the big, messy tortillas topped with everything from cheese to braised pork. Here, they are perfectly shaped — too perfect. Tlayudas are best when a bit unruly; these are thin and a bit too crispy — and lack the character this Oaxacan street food should embody.
And yet as I look across the busy dining room, people are stuffing them into their faces. They taste good. A heap of lettuce and cheese, rich shredded pork braised in lots of seasoning, refried beans, tomatoes, peppers and sprouts all drizzled with queso crema is hardly something to argue about.
The tacos have had several incarnations since the restaurant opened on Oct. 21. Flour tortillas are used for some, like crispy pork belly strips with a bit of mint, shredded cabbage and chipotle-laced mayonnaise — undoubtedly the best of a list of eight offerings. But a few are made with corn tortillas that simply fell apart when loaded with sweetly seasoned carnitas and grilled onions. By a third visit, a new tortilla was being used, which held its strength better, but didn't taste as good.
But we're way ahead of ourselves, since we haven't even gotten to the margaritas, the only comparison that can be drawn between Sala and Original El Taco. Whether mixed with fresh citrus sour and orange liqueur or all of the above and a splash of fresh OJ, they are very, very good and go great with a dish of wood grilled scallions with lime juice, a favorite Mexican pastime, or a small dish of corn in a light, lime-laced mayonnaise (perhaps the best thing on the menu).
The appetizers are largely forgettable, with too much cutesy madness going on in an offering of melted queso and sides of Mexican chorizo, chili rajas, semi-charred onions and chips. Tex-Mex is best repped in a naughty casserole of chili-cheese enchiladas, a gooey mess of cheesy yum that could just as easily be made at home.
There's no coffee to go with a warm, cinnamon-and sugar-coated apple empanada (they'll fetch it for you from the coffee shop next door). But who wants coffee when you can have another margarita?
Original El Taco tends to dumb down authentic Mexican for the masses, but makes its mark by being so darned likeable.
Food: Mexican, Tex-Mex
Service: Very friendly and efficient, though my purpose as a critic was clear to pretty much everyone
Price range: $$
Credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express
Hours of operation: Sunday through Thursday; 5-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5-11 p.m. The bar opens at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Best dishes: Crispy pork belly tacos, pork carnitas tacos, carnitas "pizza," Mexico City grilled corn, wood-grilled scallions
Vegetarian selections: Refried beans are veggie, and several items, such as rellenos tacos and the veggie "pixxa" are designated veggie on the menu
Children: Of course
Parking: Adjacent lot
Reservations: No
Wheelchair access: Yes
Smoking: No
Noise level: High
Patio: Yes, and it's enclosed and heated for winter
Takeout: Yes, there's a special window at the bar just for to-go orders
Address, telephone: 1186 North Highland Ave., Atlanta, 404-873-4656,
Web site: www.fifthgroup.com
MORE RECOMMENDED MEXICAN
• Holy Taco, 1314 Glenwood Ave., Atlanta, 404-230-6177. www.holy-taco.com.
• Taqueria Del Sol, three are locations, www.taqueriadelsol.com.
• La Oaxaquena Taqueria, 6738 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro, 770-960-3010.
KEY TO RATINGS
Outstanding: Sets the standard for fine dining in the region. 
Excellent: One of the best in the Atlanta area. Very good: Merits a drive if you're looking for this kind of dining. 
Good: A worthy addition to its neighborhood, but food may be hit or miss. 
Fair: The food is more miss than hit.
Restaurants that do not meet these criteria may be rated Poor.
accessatlanta.com/restaurants.
PRICING CODE: $$$$$ means more than $75; $$$$ means $75 or less; $$$ means $50 or less; $$ means $25 or less; $ means $15 or less. The price code represents a typical full-course meal for one excluding drinks.
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