You Can Have A Real Mouthful At Pica Pete's

Pica Pete's, 10733 Northup Way, Bellevue. Open for lunch Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner, Monday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight and Sunday, 4 to 10 p.m. Full liquor, major cards. No food to go. 889-TACO. ---------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing that really grabs your attention on the Pica Pete's menu, lunch or dinner, is the Roadkill Burrito, $14.95. Aside from the graphic - the words "Roadkill Burrito" under tire tracks - there's the description, which says the R.B. is 2 feet of everything: meat, cheese, chilis, olives, lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, beans and who knows what else.

It's big enough for two or three people. My first time in, two guys at the table next to me ate one each, for which they were awarded T-shirts, had their pictures taken and their names recorded for a future plaque. They seemed satisfied.

I wasn't that hungry, but I was ready to eat so I ordered a taco and enchilada lunch combination ($6.95) and looked around.

Pica Pete's calls itself a Tex-Mex cantina, which would account for it not being done up in peach and turquoise like all the other Southwest eateries that have rolled like tumbleweeds through these parts as of late. The colors are simple and bright, cactus and cowboy-movie posters adorn the walls along with some liquor logos and a few not so subtle subliminal slogans on the walls like: Munch,

appetizers! It's kind of Bordertownland. Baja comes to Bellevue.

The first thing to arrive was a covered dish of soft flour tortillas and salsa, green and red. The bread was nice, the salsas pretty good. Nothing scary or too hot. There was plenty of hot-sauce condiments for firing it up. The meal followed quickly.

The chicken enchilada was good-size, full of fresh, moist tender meat. The sauce had a nice mole aftertaste to it. Usually these things are drowned, but not so here. The cheese was just right. It was a generous serving.

The taco - shredded beef, but you can have chicken - came wrapped in foil, presumably because it's so messy, except it wasn't that messy. It was wrapped in two soft corn tortillas, both quite dry, and embellished with much more than the standard lettuce, cheese and tomato. The first bite revealed a strange salad taste: red cabbage. The second bite nailed something on the hard side. No one likes to hit something on the hard side in their taco, especially if it's shredded beef. In this case it wasn't anything unrecognizable, just a small carrot strip. I'm still thinking about it.

The side of black beans - you can order pinto if you prefer - was fine. A good firm legume, spiced and sprinkled with cheese. The Mexican Rice had some peas and corn in it - a much better use of vegetables than the taco - and was more lively than the standard Mexican-American restaurant issue.

On a follow-up trip we tried the Mucho Macho Burrito ($6.95), a very generous and tasty flour roll with pork and tomatillo. Also sampled was the Chicken Fajitas (they also come with beef, both $8.95). Plenty of bell pepper, onion, tomato and meat with rice, beans, tortilla and a decent guacamole on the side. Pete's also offers more conventional dinners like Pacific King Salmon ($12.95), Big Ol' Beef Ribs ($8.95) and Grilled Chicken Breast ($8.95).

If there's a complaint about the recently opened Pica Pete's (it's in the spot once held by Bravo's), it is it feels almost too new. It's so clean and bright and shiny, with everything in its place, it could pass for the latest link in a long franchise chain, which it is not.

But that's all right. Pica Pete's should do well. And it'll be acquiring that broken-in look in no time.

Restaurant reviews are a regular Thursday feature of the Seattle Times Eastside Life section. Reviewers visit restaurants unannounced and pay in full for all their meals. When they interview members of the restaurant management and staff, they do so only after the meals and services have been appraised.