Our lunch at Paco & John

Paco & John, a new Mexican spot in the Hospital District, was our dining spot on this chilly, rainy Wednesday afternoon.

It's a small diner, neither fancy nor unfancy. Scale-wise, imagine Chipotle, then make it smaller and more intimate, then add servers and menus and variety. Good food, all around. Between the three of us we sampled quite a bit. Pigs much?

Chris' meal: A sandwich and fries

The menu includes a selection of pressed Mexican sandwiches, called tortas. I tried to the carnitas torta, which came topped with avocado, tomato and jalapenos.

The meat was moist and well-seasoned, and the bread -- unlike a lot of pressed sandwiches -- was light and not too greasy. If you like a little more heat to your sandwich, as I do, you might want to ask for extra jalapenos -- since the four or five that were scattered atop my sandwich didn't do the trick.

The torta came with a side of fries – or, in this case, chili-lime potato strings, thin and fried to a crisp and dusted with chili powder. You can appreciate the effort here in trying to do something different, even if it doesn’t completely come off. The potato strings needed a little less chili pepper and a little more salt. (One other complain: We ordered a side of potato strings, not realizing that they already came with the sandwich, and the server failed to correct our error. That left the table with a lot more potato strings than we wanted or needed.)

My meal: Soup and a taco

I ordered the poblano queso soup, the service size of which I'd classify as halfway between "cup" and "bowl," and one steak fajita taco. It was not quite enough food for me; I could've had another taco. The soup was delicious: fresh, large slices of cool avocado, generous, tender chunks of flavorful chicken, a little white cheese, some sour cream, and crunchy fried tortillas. It was creamy but not sickeningly rich or heavy, and flavorful without being unbearably spicy.

The taco was fine: decent steak and bell peppers in a corn tortilla. Small, and a bit greasy, but not criminally so.

Rick's meal: A taco plate

What I liked: The red-snapper soft taco ($1.75), which was tender and wonderfully tangy. It was mixed with a sprinkling of cilantro and a shmear of avocado. Also, the single plaintain resting atop a bed of white rice was a nice touch.

What I didn't love: The refried beans were creamy but bland and, while I admire the ample table seating in Paco & John's small space, the clouds coming from the grill permeate your clothes and you end up taking the flavor with you wherever else you go that day."

Dessert

In the dessert category, the flan was a little on the sweet side, but it had a rich caramel flavor that made for a perfect ending to the meal. Points for presentation, too: Despite the lo-fi settings, the dessert arrives on an elegantly arranged plate, along with two shortbread cookies, whipped cream and a squiggle of strawberry flavored goo.

We recommend the brownies. They're made in-house and are tasty: we received a regular variety and a white-board special, cherry almost, which was moist and fudgy, and a conquerable portion. We also had flan, which was fine. It had a nice syrup.

Temperature gripe

One problem we had with Paco & John is that because more than one entire wall is entirely glass, the place is poorly insulated, and on a cold day like today, it was uncomfortably chilly and drafty inside. The soup, which came piping hot, was quickly room temperature, and then quickly becoming cold. Fortunately, I wolf things down so quickly it didn't quite get there.