Right at home on Melrose

When you line up to order at Tere’s Mexican Grill you’re flanked by cartons of Mexican Coke, stacked near the counter for easy access by nostalgic Latinos and Coke connoisseurs of all backgrounds. Aficionados say the imported soda has the soft caramelly sweetness American Coke used to have when it too was made with sugar rather than corn syrup.

It’s the sort of detail that gives Tere’s, a cheery little joint on Melrose Avenue owned by Maria Teresa Cardenas Melgar and her husband, Roberto Melgar, its down-home Mexican punch.

Tere’s is the kind of neighborhood Mexican cafe you always hope to find and that a lot of people seem to love. There’s a plaque on the wall from fans at the local fire station. When Patina was located just down the street, its kitchen crew often walked over to Tere’s for lunch.

It certainly wouldn’t be the decor that draws them, because that doesn’t amount to more than some knickknacks on the wall, unless you count the sporty yellow tennis balls that have been slipped over the ends of the table legs, probably to prevent scraping. The menu that hangs over the counter is written in felt-tip pen. By the way, it’s worth studying because it lists some things that aren’t on the printed takeout menu, such as a chile relleno burrito.

No, the attraction here is made-to-order home-style dishes prepared with thoughtful touches and a nod to Michoacan tradition.

For instance: The guacamole is simply flavorful avocados freshly mashed with a little tomato, onion, cilantro, lime and salt. The tortillas, made with a press, are the familiar thin kind, not the fat, hand-slapped tortillas of ethnic showcase restaurants, and they’re made on the premises so they’re always fresh.

The fideo soup is a seemingly rustic bowl of rich, yellow-orange broth warmly scented with tomato in which a hearty portion of crisp-tender carrots, potatoes and vermicelli-type noodles are found. But it’s presented with fresh chopped tomatoes, a lime wedge and a little cup of queso fresco, add-in garnishes that bring just the right citrus and salty notes to heighten and deepen the flavors.

At many a Mexican restaurant, you’d expect that the grated cheese would be Parmesan-like queso anejo, but here it’s mild, chewy queso fresco, which seems to be the only kind of cheese used at Tere’s -- it comes in the generously stuffed quesadillas, in the chile relleno (which is prepared in tart tomatillo sauce, not fried in batter) and every other dish you’d expect to find oozing with melted cheese.

But this cheese doesn’t melt; it stays chewy. “This is what we use for chile relleno in Mexico,” says Roberto Melgar. “Not mozzarella-type melting cheese, but fresh cheese.”

If you order beef enchiladas rojas, you get two enchiladas in a bittersweet dark-red chile sauce, topped with a stripe of sour cream. Inside the enchiladas is freshly made carne asada, marinated and grilled skirt steak strips, chewier but more flavorful than the usual beef fillings.

Machaca (fried shredded beef) is the basis of the most unusual dish here, beef mechudas (called “Tere’s specialty” on the menu). This is a homey, comforting dish of machaca bound into a thick patty with a bit of egg and fried, then cooked in a tomato sauce subtly spiked with chipotle chiles. Roberto Melgar explains that the name “mechudas” means tousled or unkempt, referring to the untidy strands of machaca.

Tere’s has some unusual ways with familiar foods. Mexican empanadas are usually filled with minced beef, but here the puffy little pies are filled with chunks of chorizo sausage, equally aromatic fried potatoes and a bit of cheese. You can also get Michoacan-style enchiladas with the same attractive filling (minus the cheese). There are even fish enchiladas in a suave tomatillo sauce.

Pollo en mole doesn’t come in the familiar chocolate-based mole poblano sauce here, but in a bright red-orange sauce of ground chiles, balanced in the mouth and moderately hot. Tere’s burritos have a fresh, sweet flavor because they’re light on the beans, with plenty of rice, guacamole, sour cream, onions, cilantro and lettuce and, say, chunks of grilled chicken, browned in spots -- because, yes, they do grill some things at this Mexican grill.

Dawn through dinner

Tere’s is open all day, so you can start your morning lounging at one of the half-dozen sidewalk tables, fortifying yourself with an omelet Mexicano (more or less a cheese enchilada verde, with egg standing in for the tortilla). The onions, tomatoes and fresh jalapenos in the filling are bracing and fresh against the cheese. Then you can come back for a burrito at lunch and finish off the day with a dinner of fish fillet topped with a bold stripe of minced cilantro and garlic (lots of garlic).

The only thing you can’t do properly, though, is dessert. There’s only one here, and the printed menu doesn’t even bother to mention it. It’s a sort of flan, pleasant enough in its way, but it doesn’t have the slippery texture of a custardy flan. It feels more like cheesecake.

Still, under the right circumstances, a Mexican Coke could stand in for dessert. And if the caffeine keeps you up all night, hey -- Tere’s is open again in the morning.

*

Tere’s Mexican Grill

Tere’s Mexican Grill

Location: 5870 W. Melrose Ave., No. 101, L.A.; (323) 468-9345,

fax (323) 468-9333

Price: Burritos, $3.95 to $6.95; quesadillas, $4.95 to $7.95; combination plates and entrees, $5.95 to $9.95; breakfast dishes (available all day), $5.95 to $6.95.

Best dishes: fideo soup, chorizo and potato empanada, grilled chicken burrito, fish fillet, pollo en mole

Details: Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; closed Sunday. No alcohol. Lot and street parking. Visa, MasterCard, Discover.