El Alma has beaten the curse of Barton Springs at Dawson Road, the curse that bounced its building from gallery to sandwich shop to cafe to Italian restaurant to two other Mexican restaurants in 10 years before El Alma opened in 2011. And they did it with one thing the Austin market will bear: good food at good prices. Chef Alma Alcocer-Thomas brings her high-end restaurant skills to dishes like quail in mole and a Coke-brined pork chop, but her Mexican roots run deep enough to support a taco menu that could stand on its own.
► Shrimp al pastor: Take everything good about the pork al pastor and take it down a half-step for shrimp that's overcooked by that same half-step and you're still left with a decent taco, but not a good value at $4.50. It's finished with a crisp dress of cabbage and freshly shorn yellow corn.
► Tortillas: Single-layer storebought yellow corn and flour tortillas are the weakest links.
► Salsa: Red and green, of course, as you'd expect from a member of the restaurant group that includes El Chile, El Chilito and El Sapo. But the red is a chile de arbol with smoke like a sweet memory, and the green — an electric chop of tomatillo and lime — is proof that something healthy and green can thrive even on this once forsaken corner.