Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger—formerly TV Food Network's popular "Too Hot Tamales"—have magnetic personalities, and their flagship restaurant is raucous, funky and intensely colorful, just like them.

Entrees like a grilled pork chop with sauted jicama and roasted purple yams or the grilled skirt steak marinated in garlic, cilantro, cumin and lime are sophisticated and satisfying. Appetizers range from green corn tamales to black-bean-stuffed panuchos to tacos filled with everything from potato and rajas to roasted lamb. The tequila selection is top-notch, as is the happy hour from 4pm to 7pm nightly, offering cheap cocktails and appetizers like green-corn tamales ($3), beer-battered fish tacos ($5) and guava-glazed riblettes ($7). As for the scene: Is a good Mexican restaurant ever anything but lively?