Taco Mundo is out of this world

Taco Mundo may have taken longer than expected to arrive, and it surely withstood a few bumps along the way, but the feisty, elegant little eatery is now open and serving some very well-made soft tacos and Tex-Mex.

Mundo bears more than a passing resemblance to Taco Diner, but that's no surprise: Owner Carolina Galvan-Rodriguez was once married to Mi Cocina namesake Mico Rodriguez and worked for M Crowd, the parent company to Mi Cocina and Taco Diner. She knows this food inside and out. The nice surprise is that Taco Mundo often surpasses Taco Diner, in areas such as portion size, price and atmosphere.

The restaurant reportedly suffered some delays in construction, but the product is fresh and chic -- far more than what you might expect from its unlikely location in a Fort Worth strip center near the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. The interior is airy and bright, with high ceilings and clean, modern furniture. Mosaic tiles line the back of the bar, and one wall features an eye-catching installation of blown-glass objects that look like old-fashioned barometers, executed in a rainbow of colors.

The menu was split into thirds, with appetizers on the left, tacos in the middle and house specialties such as fajitas on the right. The meal started with free chips, which had a pleasingly substantial heft, and an assertively hot red salsa. Cocktails such as the La Bomba ($6.95), a frozen margarita swirled with sangria, were generously tall and packed a welcome kick.

The Mundo platter ($10.75) combined five starters, sufficient for three people to split, although the two of us at my table happily made short work of it. It included chicken flautitas: thick and crunchy corn tortilla cylinders filled with chopped chicken that got brown and crusty on the edge. Fried jalapeños had crisp exteriors encasing the soft but fiery chiles filled with melting white cheese.

The fried shrimp roll had a lovely flaky pastry filled with a mixture of diced vegetables and chopped shrimp, with the flavor of the shrimp shining through as pure and fresh. The platter also came with guacamole and sour cream.

And finally, three mini-sopes: circles of corn masa topped with beans, tender meaty brisket, lettuce, tomato and shredded cheese. The masa base was thick enough to have a chewiness and hold the toppings, but not so thick that it overwhelmed the other ingredients or was difficult to bite. You also can get the sopes as an entree ($9.75) with a scoop of rice.

Of course, you must get tacos, four to a plate, offered in more than a dozen varieties, from brisket to chicken to pork to fish. Most plates are $8.75, and you can mix-and-match same-priced options. It also does a couple of high-end options that include rib-eye steak ($12.75). The rib-eye was excellent, not simply because the meat was tender, but also because its seasoning was so savvy and complex, with a lip-smacking sweet-and-hot personality that brought to mind chimichurri sauce.

Taco plates come with scoops of guacamole and rice, plus fixings: diced white onion, chopped fresh cilantro, lime wedges and pico de gallo. Everything was sparkling fresh, from the quality of the ingredients to the doting service on this early Saturday night. It was another pleasant surprise to see Galvan-Rodriguez herself supervising from behind the bar.

Her plans to open a second Taco Mundo in Dallas fell through after a legal dispute with her landlord, but she recently opened another pair of restaurants in Dallas and Plano under the name Carolina's Mexican Cuisine, so she's got more than enough on her plate.

Taco Mundo: 4120 N. Texas 360, Suite 101, Fort Worth, 817-553-0700. House: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.