El Caporal West has a Bond Street address, but it faces Franklin Avenue in downtown Bend.

El Caporal: East. West. North. Sisters. It’s not hard to pinpoint the heart of the Mexican restaurant business in Central Oregon.

These restaurants have nearly identical menus, price points and presentation styles, although the ownership is split between two brothers. Robert Anaya has El Caporal West, El Caporal Sisters and El Jimador, while Carlos Anaya controls the original El Caporal (East), El Caporal North and Puerto Alegre.

Natives of the Mexican state of Jalisco, the Anaya brothers came to the United States as young men and established the first El Caporal in The Knolls shopping complex off U.S. Highway 20 on the east side of town 10 years ago. Their competitive nature eventually led them to dissolve the partnership, but they remain glad to be family, along with sister Maria Anaya, who owns the local El Rancho Grande group, and brother-in-law Rudy Arias, who has El Rodeo on South Third Street.

The menu

From one El Caporal to the next, the menu is almost identical; even the names of menu items are the same. The original east-side El Caporal recently added several new items, and curious diners are trying dishes like an enchilada sunrise (topped with an egg, over easy), camarones Cabo Blanco (shrimp sautéed in butter with carrots, mushrooms and onions in a cream sauce) and a toro viejo steak (a ribeye topped with sautéed mushrooms, green peppers, onions and melted cheese).

There are nearly three dozen items on the lunch menus, approximately 120 on the dinner lists, highlighted by a wide range of enchiladas, burritos and tostadas. Every diner is greeted with a generous basket of freshly made tortilla chips, presented with a serving of salsa and a cabbage dominated pico de gallo. The biggest difference from menu to menu is a small one: More or less across the board, the El Caporal West group charges slightly higher prices — typically 25 or 50 cents — for the same items.

But it would be hard to distinguish a particular dish from one restaurant to the next. The recipe for chicken en mole, for example, is the same one. It is served on a large plate with Spanish rice, refried beans and a small cabbage salad, centrally placed between the other courses.

The original

The original El Caporal occupies a corner of the concrete-slab Knolls strip mall, on Twin Knolls Drive off U.S. Highway 20 East. It’s not a very attractive location, but the restaurant makes the most of it.

A mural of a stuccoed Mexican town occupies a wall. Popular contemporary music from south of the border (including Spanish-language covers of American hits) plays in the background. A small patio draws diners who enjoy taking their meals out of doors.

My entrée choice here was steak picado, a new item on the menu. Tender sirloin strips were sautéed in an original sauce with green and red peppers, onions and tomatoes and served (like almost everything else at the El Caporals) with rice and frijoles (refried beans drizzled with melted cheddar). It was an excellent choice.

Service was terrific, provided by a sassy young woman who energetically multi-tasked among eight indoor tables, the patio and the bar, calling everyone twice her age “Hon.” It made this Mexican restaurant feel like an old-time highway diner.

I was less enthusiastic, however, about a visit to another restaurant under the same ownership: El Caporal North in Tumalo. My lunch — enchilada de espinaca, a corn tortilla filled with spinach, mushrooms and Monterey Jack cheese, topped with green tomatillo sauce and sour cream — was so greasy that the last few bites were floating in a layer of oil.

Not surprisingly, the Tumalo café is considerably smaller than the Bend shops. It’s a boxy space, with an enclosed porch and outdoor patio area for additional seating. I found service to be friendly, casual and reasonably attentive.

The alternative

Spacious El Caporal West, facing Franklin Avenue just east of Bond Street, is well-known to downtown Bend diners. Décor is festive, with paintings, sombreros and serapes on the walls. There’s a small bar on the left opposite the entrance, a huge dining room, and a good-size bar area with a broad selection of tequilas for its margaritas.

A friend and I enjoyed a meal here one night. An enthusiastic young waiter started us (as always) with chips, salsa and pico de gallo, served drinks and took our dinner orders.

My choice was mole verde. Most mole sauces are chocolate-and-peanut-based; in this Jaliscan dish, ground pumpkin seeds provided the most significant flavor. Slices of boneless chicken breast were served in a blended sauce (verde is the Spanish word for “green”) that also included tomatillos, spinach, cilantro, green onions and fresh garlic. It was unusual and delicious.

My companion had a seafood plate called camarones apretalados. Prawns were wrapped in bacon, served with green peppers, celery, onions and mushrooms and topped with jack cheese. I had a taste and thought the prawns were slightly overcooked, but I’m not a big fan of the prawn-bacon combination. My friend loved it.

El Jimador

A smaller restaurant is just down the block. El Jimador (the name refers to an agave farmer, whose product goes into the production of tequila) has full-wall windows that wrap around the corner of Franklin Avenue and Wall Street. Seats follow the windows inside and out, and there’s ample counter seating as well.

I enjoyed a soup-and-salad lunch. My soup was sopa de tortilla: chunks of chicken and tortilla strips cooked in a chicken broth, topped with slices of avocado and jack cheese. This has consistently been my favorite meal at El Jimador, an old-fashioned comfort food.

I was not so impressed by my taco salad. It was not much more than iceberg lettuce in a white corn shell, topped with pieces of chicken and tomato slices. I would have liked more ingredients: a bed of black beans, for instance, with some diced avocado.

Although I requested it “deluxe,” with sour cream and guacamole, the side orders never came, and salsa had to suffice as a dressing.

My overall impression of the two El Caporal groups is a favorable one. Although there are hits and misses — in terms of both food and service — there’s a level of consistency that runs like a thread from one restaurant to the next. You have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to get when you dine here.

RECENT REVIEWS

The Blacksmith (B+). The self-styled purveyor of New Ranch cuisine is doing better seafood these days than steaks. Don’t miss the seared sea scallops in a yellow-pepper glaze. A star on the national culinary scene when it opened four years ago in a renovated 1923 blacksmith shop, the restaurant is reliable but pricey, and service can be distracted. Open 5:30 p.m. to close daily. 211 N.W. Greenwood Ave. (at Hill Street), Bend. 318-0588, www.theblacksmithrestaurant.com , Baldy’s Barbeque (A-). Come for tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs from Chef Brian Dioguardi, who has spent 25 years perfecting his recipe. Also great is the beef brisket, smoked for 12 hours over hickory wood. You can enjoy them on a new outdoor deck with a full bar. Dioguardi’s rubs and house-made sauce, a tomato-and-molasses blend, are originals. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. 235 S.W. Century Drive, Bend. 385-7427, www.baldysbbq.com. Club Pioneer (B+). This venerable steakhouse and lounge, charming and unsophisticated, may be Crook County’s best restaurant. A fixture on U.S. Highway 26 since at least 1950, its barn-like appearance shelters a handsome interior with historical photos on the walls. Come for steaks and fresh-frozen seafood, with good portions at fair prices. Dinner 5 p.m. to close daily, brunch 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. 1851 N.E. 3rd St. (U.S. Highway 26), Prineville. 447-6177. Taj Palace (B-). As authentic an Asian dining experience as can be had in Central Oregon, the Taj is an oasis of Third World culture. Serving the cuisine of both south and north India, it has an extensive lunch buffet and a full dinner menu. The tandoori chicken is excellent. Beware if you can’t handle spicy foods, as the level of chilies in a dish is often undeclared. Open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m. daily. 917 N.W. Wall St., Bend. 330-0774.

EL CAPORAL

Locations and contacts:

•El Caporal, 2570 N.W. Twin Knolls Drive, Suite 108, Bend, 318-1492

•El Caporal North, 64637 Cook Ave., Tumalo, 322-8821

•El Caporal West, 744 N.W. Bond St., Bend, 322-8916 (faces Franklin Avenue)

•El Jimador, 801 N.W. Wall St., Bend, 318-1333

•El Caporal Sisters, 473 E. Hood Ave., Sisters, 588-6064

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Credit cards: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Children’s menu: Yes

Alcoholic beverages: Full bar

Reservations: Recommended

Price range:

•El Caporal and El Caporal North: Lunch $4.95-$8.95, dinner appetizers $5-$12.75, entrees $8.99-$18.25

•El Caporal, El Jimador and El Caporal Sisters: Lunch $5.75-$9.25, dinner appetizers $5.75-$13.50, entrees $9-$18.95

SCORECARD

OVERALL: B

Food: B. Some dishes are excellent, others are disappointing.

Service: A-. There are occasional glitches, but overall it’s enthusiastic and attentive.

Atmosphere: B. Varies from shop to shop; El Caporal West is spacious and elegant.

Value: B-. Ten bucks for a chicken burrito seems a bit over the top.