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I am not a huge fan of Senor Frog's, the notorious Mexican restaurant chain for tourists gone wild.

And while I will admit to once having danced on its sticky table tops, in Cancun 18 years ago, I certainly don't have any desire to relive that raucous night of conga lines, fizzy tequila slammers and youthful tomfoolery.

Still, when I heard that a long-time manager of Senor Frog's in Playa del Carmen was opening a new restaurant in Yaletown, I did hope it might pulse with some of that boisterous vida loca. Or at least a faint beat of life.

Tequila Kitchen couldn't be more different than Senor Frog's. It's a plain, unpretentious cantina that serves high-end cocktails and traditional Mexican food. The bright orange, largely unadorned walls are the showiest part of the room.

Even though the restaurant had quite a few customers the night we visited and there was cheerful Mariachi music tooting in the background, it felt empty, almost sleepy.

Perhaps that's because we were all enshrouded in the tall, rounded booths lined up on one side of the room and leaving a lonely void in the centre. Also, the open kitchen up front is still sitting idle as the owners wait for city inspectors to sign off on the venting.

The restaurant is owned by Laura Enriquez, who spent more than 20 years running the franchises for Senor Frog's and its sister restaurant Carlos 'n' Charlie's in Playa del Carmen. After Hurricane Wilma roared through the Yucatan Peninsula, destroying her house, she and her partner, Claudia Ibarrondo, came to Canada to join her son, who is helping them run the month-old restaurant.

"Senor Frog's was fun, but it was all about people getting drunk and partying," Ms. Enriquez says of her new business direction. "I wanted to focus on good food and drinks."

Executive chef Juan Gonzalez, originally from Guadalajara, reportedly wrote his university thesis on tequila. The beverage menu reflects his passion.

The bar is stocked with 20 varieties, including the super-premium Grand Patron Platinum ($32 an ounce), poured in flights for sophisticated sipping or shaken into a wide array of classic cocktails and unusual margaritas. The pink cactus pear margarita was too sweet for my taste, but the jalapeno cucumber is a throat-quenching blend of fresh and spicy.

The menu, largely drawn from the flavours of Mexico's Southeast, doesn't feature any of the tacos, tortas and burritos that are typical of Northern Mexican cuisine.

To help introduce customers to some of the less familiar dishes, the restaurant offers a monthly eight-course tasting menu for $37 a person, served in snack-sized portions on botanas-style sharing platters.

The April menu starts with a trio of appetizers served in rapid succession: aguachile de camaron (butterflied shrimp ceviche that have been slightly overcooked in a chunky onion, orange-based marinade); hongos al ajillo (garlicky mushrooms lightly sautéed with moderately hot slivers of guajillo chili that need more soaking to soften the skin); and a greyish guacamole that looks like it might be a day old.

It all comes with crunchy tortilla chips that are baked, not fried, and small flour tortillas for dipping and wrapping.

Sopa de tortilla, the favourite course of the night, is a thick tomato soup, deeply built with chilis and stirred with rich dollops of cream, cheese and

avocado.

The three main dishes are served all at once. Manchamanteles are tough pieces of pork cooked in fruity sauce loaded down with pineapple chunks that needs more spice to cut the overwhelming sweetness. We leave most of it untouched.

Tikin xic is a tiny piece of halibut rubbed with a bright red but flavourless anchiote paste, baked and served in a banana-leaf wrapper that keeps the morsels nicely moist.

Pollo en pipian verde is a tender baked chicken breast, sliced and topped with a creamy green pumpkin-seed sauce that packs a fiery kick. Finally, some heat.

The chicken is very good, and so are the side dishes of green rice (cooked with chili and cilantro and corn kernels tarted up with lime, chili and melted cheese).

Dessert is warm slices of pear, layered with brown-sugar-tequila sauce and fresh whipped cream, followed by a shot glass of Kahlua and cream.

The food, over all, is rustic and simply prepared. It didn't thrill me, although I would consider going back when the chef has more than just two burners and one oven to work with. When the new kitchen passes inspection, the restaurant will also be adding a daily breakfast to the menu.

Service was friendly but rushed. We finished all eight courses in about an hour and didn't feel compelled to linger any longer.

There is certainly room for more casual, ethnic eateries in Yaletown. But something's missing at Tequila Kitchen. The place has no energy. It feels like a party waiting to happen.

Maybe it just needs more people - or some dancing on the tables.

Tequila Kitchen: 1043 Mainland St.; 604 681-2120.

*****

Side dish

Fuel, Boneta and West

among award winners

Fuel Restaurant was named the best new fine-dining restaurant at Vancouver Magazine's 19th annual restaurant awards, which were presented at a gala ceremony on Monday.

Gastown's Boneta took home the awards for best new informal restaurant, design and sommelier (Neil Ingram).

For the fourth consecutive year, West was crowned best restaurant, while Pino Posteraro of Cioppino's clinched the top chef award for the first time.

Vikram Vij pointedly joked with the judges when accepting the award for best Indian restaurant (which Vij's perennially wins): "You know how Indians like to haggle. Well, I have a few of these awards that I've collected over the years that I'd like to exchange for best restaurant of the year."

The most comical acceptance speech came from the crew at Kingyo Izakaya (best casual Japanese), who dressed up in blue Mexican wrestling tights, wigs and red wings for the occasion.

The afternoon ceremony also included special tributes to James Barber, The Urban Peasant, and Jamie Maw, the magazine's former food editor, who retired in December after 14 years on the job.

For a full list of awards: http://www.vancouvermagazine.com

Alexandra Gill