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Some of the best ethnic dishes can be found in the small cafes attached to small family grocery stores.

These small grocery stores are where immigrants from Mexico to India can find foods and foodstuffs from home. The café evolves from the desire to have a comforting place to eat authentic dishes when there is no time, or desire, to cook at home.

The foods tend to be well-made, simple comfort foods that mimic home cooking—as if you’ve stepped into your aunt’s kitchen.

La Tiendita is a just such a place.

Tucked in a shopping center on the bustling commercial blur of Siegen Lane, the grocery store is a stash of packaged foodstuffs such as beans, crackers, cookies and sauces, all central to the Latin pantry. There is a small amount of produce—green and black plantains, some starchy root vegetables (yucca, boniato), a butcher case filled with cuts of meat for stewing, braising, sautéing or grilling and a refrigerated case packed with different varieties of fresh cheese, cremas (a buttery tasting, thinner version of sour cream) and even handmade tamales, mild and hot, to take home.

Cross the threshold from the store to the café, and you’ve entered Taqueria El Sol De Guerrero. Here, the food is a reflection of the owner’s homeland, Guerrero, Mexico. It’s a broad menu beginning with breakfast (desayuno).

Jump start the day with chilaquiles con huevos—a nice plate of eggs made to order served with fried tortilla strips bathed in a deeply flavored homemade tomato or tomatillo-based sauce. The flavors pop and are brightened by eggy richness. Every breakfast is $4.95, a steal.

The lunch/dinner menu features dishes such as tacos, burritos, tortas (sandwiches), gorditas, tostadas and quesadillas—all items that sound familiar but wear a deliciously different mantle from the all-too-familiar Tex-Mex versions.

Each item at El Sol is meant to be enhanced by adding a selection from the list of flavorful, well-seasoned meats including skirt steak, marinated pork, chicken, and shrimp, to name a few. Non meat-eaters can order cheeses and vegetables for fillers. Tacos are made from soft, warm corn tortillas—not fried—and stuffed with meat (or vegetable), then garnished with freshly chopped cilantro and onions.

The gorditas are amazing, and at $2.75 a-piece, two make a hefty meal.

Try the gordita con lengua, two, thick, homemade corn tortillas spread lushly with buttery crema, filled with bite-sized pieces of fork-tender, slow-cooked beef tongue and topped with a sprinkling of crumbly fresh, white cheese. The combination of textures and tastes reminded me why I adore Mexican food.

Enchiladas rancheras con carnitas are another fine dish. Rolled corn tortillas filled with impossibly tender chunks of spiced pork are topped by a pool of the tangy, tomato-rich ranchero sauce, and then blanketed by a melted mound of creamy, white Monterey cheese. Heavenly.

There are daily specials here, too. There is a labor-intensive, honest-to-goodness, spicy, chocolate-dark mole sauce poured over chicken on Wednesday, or after a weekend night of imbibing, bow your head over a big bowl of menudo (beef tripe soup), legendary for curing what ails.

Everything at El Sol is fat with succulent meats and creamy cheeses, fresh crisp vegetables and bursting with bright flavors, a real slice of true Mexican cuisine.