A friend likes to repair to International Avenue (17 th Ave. S.E.) when he gets fed up with what he sees as to much sameness on Calgary´s restaurant scene. On International Avenue he finds solace in one of the many unpretentious ethnic eateries that define the strip.Most often, he heads for La Casa Latina a bright spot taranteed to cheer.

That was where The Man and I headed on a recent Friday eve. La Casa is small and cosy.Whent we arrived, several tables were already filled with families laughing and enjoying their food- all manner of tasty-looking dishes.We like Latin American food; it´s brightly flavoured and palate-perking, like the brightly painted walls at La Casa.

To sample a   range of appetizers, diners can choose a picada, a variety platterke most of o, normally a good choice in such a place. But we wanted to make most of our meal from appetizers:fried platain (8.50), pupusas stuffed with cheese, pork and a mixture of both (2.75 to each), fried cassava batons with crispy pork nubs (7.50); and stuffed jalapeños (7.25).We thought this would get us started.

It got us more than started.The Man was interested in the plantains and cassava, since he´d never had them. Though plantains, a bit like starchy bananas, and the potato-like cassava can be a bit dull, these are done up very well,crisply fried and quite tasty with a sprinkling of saltand dollops of salsa and curtida, the wonderful pickled cabbage slaw that enlivens many LatinAmerican fried foods. As for the pupusas, we fell in love with these a very long time ago.Masa harina dough is formed into patties, wrapped around fillings-cheese,pork and a blend of the two-then pan-fried to a crispy brown and,again, eaten with spicy salsa and curtida. Hardly anything is more satisfying than the flavour of corn, and I could eat a mountain of popusas. In fact, that´s just what some of our fellow diners did.

The large, spicy jalapeños were stuffed with cheese, battered and deep-fried. They just oozed when you cut into them. Yum.

The bandeja paisa is a protein-lover´s of charbroiled steak, chorizo sausage, crunchy fried pork belly, fried egg, rice, beans, fried plantain, arepa(an unstuffed cornmeal patty) and ripe, fresh plantain(18.50).We shared this, and what a feast it was.Swipe the arepa through thr egg and meat juices, or eat the sausage piled on top, then finifh off with a mouthful of fresh plantain.Yum again.

We did not have roomfor more, butwere intrigued by the Casa Latina quesadilla on the dessert menu.This is not the quesadilla you´d expect.This is a Salvadoran quesadilla - warm cake made from corn flour, a smattering of Parmesan and all the richness of milk, cream and eggs, with a dusting of sesame seeds on top.Not too sweet, just right(2.25).

What a tasty little spot, and such agreeable people.
About halfway through our dinner, the owner turned on the music and serenaded us.What fun !