RESTAURANT REVIEW / TAQUERIA TEPATITLAN : Border Food That’s Hot Off the Grill : Ventura Avenue restaurant serves authentic Mexican food from owner’s hometown in Jalisco.

It was Snooky’s Bar that first drew me up the Avenue in Ventura to Taqueria Tepatitlan.

One of the usual less-than-reliable Avenue sources had mentioned that denizens of Snooky’s--a notorious place usually filled with pool tables, citizens in black tank tops and female runway dancers in minimal clothing--sometimes have their food sent over from Tepatitlan. In fact, I was told, Tepatitlan’s is the only outside food allowed in Snooky’s.

It turns out that the rumor was just that, and that you can have just about any sort of food sent in.

I don’t know how long Snooky’s has been around, but Taqueria Tepatitlan has been going for about five years, and its food is what you’d find in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Tepatitlan is the hometown of chef-owner Ramon Tovar. He came to Ventura to operate this quite authentic Mexican food outlet--a narrow room that has a television perched on a rack in the rear corner, and where the banging of pots and pans can be heard coming from the adjoining kitchen.

Tovar’s menu, on Saturdays and Sundays, boasts birria de chivo estilo tepa ($3.50-$5.50). In California, everyone I know who enjoys chivo--young goat--knows that when they order birria, they’re getting goat meat, roasted and frequently served in a bowl of liquid with cilantro and seasoning sauces.

Tovar pointed out that birria is not necessarily goat. It can be any meat, as long as it is roasted in the appropriate manner--in his case, at home in an outdoor brick oven, with mesquite wood. The method of serving it can also vary--the tepa style served by Tovar includes the juices of mashed cactus.

Tovar’s birria--which is made of goat meat--is succulent, and the meat falls off the bones. He serves it in tacos or in just a bowl of with the sauce, and soft tortillas for dipping.

Other dishes at Tepatitlan are not as successful. The lenqua-- beef tongue--plate ($6) presents chunks of tongue that are not cooked enough, lacking both character and tenderness. And the meat in the tacos is so bland that patrons must depend on the accompanying sauces for much of the flavor.

To its credit, Tepatitlan’s menu features certain delicacies not always available at other Mexican spots, such as calf’s brains and chicarrones , pork rinds.

After the birria, my favorite dish is on the breakfast side of the menu (breakfast is served all day). The huevos con machaca ($4.50) are excellent, scrambled eggs mixed with large shards of shredded beef, grilled onions, tomatoes and bell peppers. The huevos rancheros ($3.98), on the other hand, are only decent, the eggs sitting on tortillas, with a layer of cheese and a barely discernible amount of the signature of this dish, the ranchero sauce.

If one way of judging a Mexican restaurant, especially a taqueria, is its antojitos --those staples of Mexican cuisine like tamales, tacos and enchiladas--then Tepatitlan gets mixed marks.

The tamales ($1.75 a la carte), made on the premises, are excellent. Large chunks of beef cooked in salsa are inside a sweetish cornmeal casing, which is not too dry. The chile relleno ($1.95 a la carte) is just all right, covered with sauce and lots of onions.

A couple of shrimp dishes come out well, which was a bit surprising, since this is basically a taqueria. The camarones rancheros ($7.50) have shrimp that is firm and fresh-tasting, fried in a skillet with bell peppers, onions and tomatoes and a mild or a hot sauce, as you choose.

Details

* WHAT: Taqueria Tepatitlan.

* WHERE: 362 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura, 653-0508.

* WHEN: Open Monday 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Tuesday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

* ETC: No reservations, no credit cards, beer and wine. Meal for two, food only, $8-$20.