In the spirit of full disclosure, I must tell you that I am a native of one of the greatest, if not indeed the best, restaurant cities in the world, New Orleans, Louisiana. That being the case, I have developed a highly delicate and discriminating taste for fine food and a superior restaurant experience.

Nevertheless, I am well aware that Fairbanks is known more for its extraordinary environment and not its restaurants. My challenge was to judge my dining experience based on the merits of one individual restaurant and not force Jalapeno's to compete with the hundreds of world class restaurants that I am so familiar with.

I can honestly and objectively say that I had no difficulty in doing so, in fact I was quite ready to clear my mental palate and embrace whatever Jalapeno's had to offer me. Jalapeno's Restaurant is located at 927 Old Steese Highway, across from Fred Meyer's.

A friend and I were in the mood for Mexican food and we were both delighted when we found Jalapeno's. With no word of mouth comments about what would be a good restaurant in Fairbanks, we used the classic barometer of observing the parking lot outside in hopes that it would indicate that it had a good reputation if it was full.

We were seated promptly by a friendly hostess and greeted soon after by an equally friendly and competent waitress. The atmosphere was warm and family oriented, with an attractive, Mexican style décor, and a one-man band, that is, a singer and his keyboard, playing pleasant music of the Old Country. The majority of the staff appeared to speak Spanish, which we hoped suggested that the food would be authentic.

My conclusion is that it was not as authentic as I would have liked.

The menu consisted of the usual fair for moderately priced Mexican food, that is chicken, beef, steak and seafood quesadillas, as well as burritos, Mexican sandwiches, fajitas, and chimichongas. Their dinner menu features chili verde for $9.95, fajitas for $13.95, and the other entrees range from $6.95 to $13.95. Items with shrimp or halibut are $13.95, and their chimis are $4.95 or $7.95 with rice and beans. All of the preceding entrees also come with rice and beans. The lunch entrees are $1 less, and they also offer breakfast for $4.95, which is rice, eggs, and beans.

I ordered a Cadillac margarita soon after I sat down, but unfortunately I didn't receive it until well after my friend received his, and he ordered his a good while after I did. It appeared that they had some communication problems as well, since the server who brought it out had to ask several diners if the drink, which turned out to be mine, was in fact theirs. The margarita mix-up didn't stop there, for I was told by a gentleman who appeared to be a senior or head waiter, that after I had finally received my drink, it was the wrong one. However, the good news is that I wasn't charged for the first drink and the waiters were very courteous and apologetic for the mix-up. Their attitude certainly helped to absolve the mistake. The Cadillac margarita was very good, although there was not very much of it.

The salsa and chips were the weakest aspect of my dining experience. The chips were not the restaurant quality I am accustomed to, so I would liken them to store bought style tortillas. The salsa was inferior, and did not appear to be fresh. This was a shame because I know that it is not very difficult to prepare good salsa; all that is needed is fresh ingredients and a basic knowledge of what makes a good salsa. They would do well to make improvements. My entrée was a halibut burrito which came with rice and beans. The burrito was quite large and delicious, the halibut was grilled and generous, and the rice and beans were simple and tasty. Thankfully, my burrito was hot because it took an absurd amount of time to arrive at our table, about 35 to 40 minutes. This is less excusable because even though Jalapeno's was busy, it was not crowded enough to warrant such a lengthy wait.

Everything considered, I enjoyed my visit at Jalapeno's, but if they would like have me back for another visit, they will need to make some improvements in their efficiency and food quality.