Palmetto Beach's La Fiesta serves up some of Tampa Bay's best Mexican food

This is going to sound nuts, but the best Mexican food I’ve had in 16 years of living here is served out of the back of a small grocery store called La Fiesta in Palmetto Beach.

• Yes, Palmetto Beach — the little working-class neighborhood south of the IKEA on Adamo Drive and east of South 20th Street, in the shadow of downtown Tampa.

What to expect: The Guanajuato-style food is delightfully simple. Tacos come with charred corn tortillas, choice of meat, some cilantro, chopped white onion and a lime wedge. That’s it. And yet somehow they make you want to write your mama.

• I’ve eaten around the menu and my favorite dishes are the chile Colorado de puerco (pork in red sauce with cactus) and the pollo en mole poblano (shredded chicken in a killer mole sauce).
• But you can’t go wrong with the tacos.