Don’t judge this Mexican eatery by its kitschy strip-mall cover. Photo and text by Elana Ashanti Jefferson.
Among the strip malls, office parks and chain restaurants crowding the busy interchange at West Sixth Avenue and Union Boulevard, Jose O’Shea’s is a margarita-and taco-lover’s beacon.
Behold its two-story stucco facade accented with piñon-looking logs and topped with terra cotta roofing tiles and a towering neon banner. It’s a kitschy look that might elicit giggles from city folk used to seeking out divey kitchenettes and neighborhood joints for authentic Mexican fare.
Just wait till you see the inside.
Through the restaurant’s dark double doors lies a world that could easily be the set of one of those Brad Pitt action/adventure/romantic-comedy flicks. You know, the ones where key scenes take place in cantinas, the leading man orders tequila shots in broken Spanish, and the busboy has a pistol stashed under his apron. Here are the walls painted with chickens and would-be Mexican street signs. There are the ceramic suns and moons displayed beneath fake potted foliage.
It’s like Casa Bonita for grown-ups.
But does the food deserve the same ribbing? This is, after all, a Lakewood institution, where for 30 years the huge parking lot has been full. A handful of devotees are so enamored of the restaurant that they’ve created a MySpace group called “I Love Jose O’Shea’s!” And the place boasts two happy hours a day with a free taco bar at each one and a brunch with complimentary sangria on the weekends.
Best to reserve judgment on the food until after the bagged- chips-and-runny-salsa portion of the meal has passed. Because this menu is vast and features all the traditional Mexican dishes like burritos and enchiladas, along with creative upgrades like blue corn taquitos and a handful of fresh Americanized options like chicken avocado salad.
Plus, the restaurant boasts the novelty of offering customers 10 homemade sauces to choose from, including tomatillo, chunky vegetarian ranchero, Grandma’s Hatch Green Chile and O’Shea Sauce, a blend of tomatillo and green chile.
So even though regulars might be hard-pressed to convince a green chile snob that a restaurant with a multiculti name like Jose O’Shea’s is a viable eating and drinking destination, this one has enough going for it that it might be around another 30 years.
Jose O’Shea’s
Tex-Mex lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Dining room hours are 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday- Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. The bar is open until 2 a.m. every day except Sunday, when it closes at midnight. 385 Union Blvd., Lakewood, 303-988-7333
– Elana Ashanti Jefferson
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