Spain still holds this corner of New Orleans

Jamie offered three sauces -- (two hot Spaniards and a mild Scandinavian)

For fifty years before France sold New Orleans to the United States in 1803, the Mississippi river port was owned by Spain. We celebrated Spain's lingering influence last night when we strolled three blocks away for dinner at Taqueria Corona and, as a departing Kathleen likes to say to the host, "We'll be back."
It all started with the Pico de Gallo, the rest is history.
The Gambit newspaper tells part of it:
"I opened small to see if it would work," Robert Mendez says of his Uptown eatery. "I didn't even list the telephone number for a long time. I introduced the word 'taqueria' to Louisiana." (A taqueria is to tacos what a pizzeria is to the Italian pies; "corona" is Spanish for crown.) He opened on July 4, 1988, without so much as a sign outside and had a few customers trickle in. The next day, those diners brought several friends and the business grew slowly. It hit a crescendo that led him to expand after a local newspaper ran a story about the hidden treasure and Mendez had so many customers the next day that he ran out of food.

The secret, he says, is using all fresh ingredients, hand-cutting produce such as avocados and tomatoes used in guacamole and salsa, and using cholesterol-free peanut and olive oil as well as trimmed lean meats. The menu also offers diversity, expanding Americans' image of tacos made only with ground beef, tomato, cheese and lettuce to more adventurous versions of tacos and burritos made with pork, steak strips, shrimp, fish, tongue, chicken and chorizo. Everything is made fresh to order and most is priced a la carte. The atmosphere is one in which people feel comfortable to eat leisurely and visit.

New Orleans was shut down because of freezing temperatures the day Stan and Kathleen arrived early, like good senior citizens, taking a chance that Taqueria Corona would be open for a 5 p.m. seating. They were the first customers in the house, and the place was warm and so was Jamie, their waiter.

Have a look at the menu: Kathleen had the grilled chicken quesadilla and Stan went for Numeros Dos, with the rib-eye upgrade.

Spain won't be giving up this corner of the Louisiana Purchase any time soon.