The tamale and chili relleno combination plate.

Some restaurants simply offer good food. The ingredients are fresh. Most dishes, sauces and such are made to order from scratch. Such is the case with Cinco de Mayo Mexican Restaurant in La Pine. It’s good, homemade-style Mexican food. Javier and Maria Deniz acquired the Cinco de Mayo restaurant in Redmond. In 1995, they moved to La Pine. For the last 26 years, they’ve served homemade Mexican food in an unassuming restaurant in a strip mall along U.S. Highway 97.

As you walk into the restaurant, you are greeted with brightly colored walls with Mexican-themed murals. To the right, behind saloon doors, is a small bar lounge. On the left is a small dining room with high-backed wooden booths.

The server asked if we wanted mild, medium, or spicy salsa as we sat in a booth. My friend frequents the restaurant and likes to mix all three. The salsas were brought in glasses. We were given individual salsa dishes into which we could spoon our own salsa for dipping. It was a good idea so that everyone didn’t share the same dipping bowl at the table.

The six-page menu includes entrees and combinations for lunch and dinner (the latter is served anytime). Appetizers include the usual nachos, quesadillas and bean dip, and our choice, guacamole. The heaping of creamy avocado had a good balance of flavors, neither too much lime or spice, but enough to enhance the avocado, making for a great starter.

As I hadn’t had breakfast before visiting the restaurant, I chose the Chorizo Con Huevos lunch plate, which is served until 3 p.m. (A $1.75 surcharge is applied if you want to order lunch plates after 3 p.m.) Eggs are scrambled with a generous serving of slightly spicy Mexican pork sausage, sprinkled with Mexican cheese and fresh green onion. It was flavorful, though not as greasy or oily as other preparations. The eggs are served with a side of simple Spanish rice and refried beans. Both had a fresh, homemade taste but no extra vegetables, cheese or other ingredients.

The shining star at Cinco de Mayo is the homemade tortillas. Many other restaurants offer freshly made corn tortillas. Here, they also make fresh flour tortillas. These are the best flour tortillas I’ve had north of California. The oversized tortilla is fired on a grill. Still, it remains chewy with a hint of sweetness — a perfect ratio of flour, fat, and water. Eating these tortillas reminded me of when my mother-in-law warmed fresh flour tortillas on the stove, adding a pat of butter. The homemade corn tortillas were excellent as well.

My friend ordered her “usual” — Pollo Asado al Carbon. Pounded and grilled chicken breasts are marinated in a special adobo sauce. Recipes for adobo marinade typically include rehydrated chiles with an acid like citrus juice or vinegar, and then a combination of spices that can include onions, garlic, cumin, chipotle, paprika and oregano. Cinco’s chicken was served dry rather than with a sauce, accompanied with a side of rice and beans. Whatever combination of spices in their special marinade, the result was a smoky, tender chicken breast with no flour or breading, making it perfect for those who need a tasty gluten-free dish.

Our other dish was a typical Mexican combination plate with a tamale and chili relleno. A stout tamale was wrapped and tied in a corn husk. Chunks of pork in a green sauce filled the masa with extra sauce to drip over the top. The chili relleno looked more like an enchilada. The long-cut chili was dipped in egg batter and filled with a soft Monterey Jack cheese, then fried and served covered in Mexican cheese and a light relleno sauce. The chewy cheese against the light spice of the chili was a satisfying combination.

A few days later, I was driving by Cinco de Mayo and stopped to sample its tacos. The tacos are offered in three styles — a flour tortilla with lettuce and tomato, street taco style with a double layer of soft corn tortillas with cilantro and onions, and a crispy fried corn taco shell with lettuce, tomatoes, and two kinds of cheese. I tried one of each, and all had an excellent fresh homemade Mexican flavor. The large flour tortilla was perfect for holding big chunks of pork. I could wrap it, so it was almost like a burrito. The fresh lettuce and tomato were perfect with the marinated meat inside the chewy tortilla. Beef went well with the fried taco shell. This homemade corn tortilla shell puffed when fried, creating light air pockets. It, too, was tasty. Slightly salty carnitas pork combined with strong flavors of fresh onions and cilantro on the flavorful corn soft tortillas.

Whatever you order at Cinco de Mayo, you can expect a satisfying Mexican meal. I might not drive the 40 minutes from Bend to get a meal, but I’ll be sure to stop there on my way driving by on Highway 97.

What: Cinco de Mayo Mexican Restaurant

Where: 51470 Highway 97, La Pine

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday

Contact: 541-536-2236