Casa Romero   

With all the buzz and clamor surrounding the Newbury Street dining scene, it's easy to overlook a little alley tucked away off Gloucester Street. But miss the nondescript path and you're missing one of Boston's best kept dining secrets. Casa Romero is what a supper club would feel like in Mexico City, as talavera tiles and potted flowers make for a room both exuberant and elegant. For over three decades chef/owner Leo Romero has overseen a small and focused menu of Mexican specialties that's many chicken livers and mole away from the cookie-cutter fare you've grown used to finding in a city so far from the Mexican border. Salads are across-the-board winners -- just witness the sweet-sour crunch of the salad of chayote, jicama and orange. The daily ceviche -- fish cooked by the acid of citrus juice -- is an art other chefs would do well to imitate. Anything made with Romero's mole poblano, like chicken medallions stuffed with cactus and cheese, is worth a digestive go-round. This sauce of several dozen ingredients is Mexican cooking in all its baroque magnificence. Locals come early to snare a seat in the shady courtyard and swill margaritas 'til late.