If at First You Don’t Succeed . . .

For years, the people who run Chaya Brasserie have tried to make a hit restaurant out of the ground-floor space in a Sunset Strip office building across the street from Spago. First they opened Flags, a casual sort of place that served inexpensive Cal-Asian food. Then, without changing much in the restaurant or on the menu, they renamed Flags: Chaya Diner.

Now they’re giving Mexican food a try. El Chaya, as it’s now called, serves straight-ahead Mexican-American cooking: acceptable guacamole, average quesadillas, albondigas soup that could use some work. There are also burritos, fajitas , enchiladas, carne asada that’s good and tender and a fine plate of carnitas tossed with salsa verde . You aren’t going to find L.A.’s best Mexican cooking here, but the room is good-looking and shots of tequila are giant-sized.

You have to wonder: Is the third time the charm? Or is it three strikes you’re out?

El Chaya, 8800 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 657-2083. Entrees $7.50-$12.50.