Great Ate

La Och8, 1000 E Berry St, Fort Worth. 817-726-6599. 9:30am-3pm Sun, 9:30am-9pm Mon-Thu, 9:30am-10pm Fri-Sat.

A few weeks ago, while I was working a happy hour shift and the inevitable early afternoon munchies crept into my brain, I was saved from ordering Jimmy John’s delivery when a co-worker on his day off popped into the bar and asked if I wanted him to pick me up a burger. From where?

“I’m gonna go to this Mexican spot on East Berry called La Ocho,” he said.

A burger from a Mexican restaurant sounded … not suspect, exactly, but not something I would go out of my way to eat, certainly when such a place would undoubtedly offer a badass burrito or some such.

“They also have birria ramen, if you want that,” he said.

I didn’t, but a Mexican place offering burgers and birria ramen next to enchiladas and tacos piqued my curiosity, so I had him bring me back a burger.

La Ocho was perfectly adequate and satisfying, a big, regular, greasy ol’ burger with American cheese and a sesame-seed bun that kept it all together until I got to the midpoint, when everything started to fall apart into a delicious, mustard-y, mayo-y mess. The restaurant’s namesake burger was basic but tasty enough for me to make my own dine-in trip.

La Och8 (as it’s written) sits in a small, nondescript, fast-food building without any identifying signage other than advertisements for its burgers and birria ramen, and if not for the sign towering over the northwest corner of its parking lot, it would be easy to miss. There is a dining room with seating for about 20 among five tables and a small bar. The decor is tidy and minimalist: wood-and-metal tables, black-and-white tile on the wall, and a black-and-white mural of a cartoony, affable xolo dog. The vibe, conveyed by the tongue-lolling amiability of the mutt’s face, seemed to say “fresh, no-frills flavor.”

I took a menu and perused the chef specialties. I passed on the birria ramen — eating a bowl of that at 2pm seemed like a direct route to Nap Town — then sort of panic-ordered the Burro La Ocho, a pineapple Jarritos, and a side of rice and beans. This big burrito, topped and popping with the bright hues of sliced jalapeños, chopped lettuce, and pickled onion, was served “wet” with a sizable drizzle of salsa verde that spilled onto the surrounding plate.

Though doused in sauce and stuffed with chicken, more pickled onion, rice, and refried beans (which, in hindsight, obviated the side of rice and beans I ordered), the burrito’s pillowy flour tortilla never disintegrated, so you could certainly heft this monster to your mouth as a handheld meal if you really wanted to. I deferred to the comparative daintiness of a knife and fork, but given that I gave my burrito’s interior a couple stiff blasts of salsa piquín out of the squeeze bottle, the sweat pouring from my face probably made me look like I was disintegrating, so I might as well have gotten after that burrito like a cartoon hog that is capable of lifting food to its mouth with its front hooves — imagine what I’d have looked like trying to eat the birria ramen. The chicken in the burrito had a subtle yet noticeable amount of spice, and I can only guess that the spicy ground beef in one of La Och8’s signature dishes packed some real heat.

Other chef specialties include quesabirrias (a pair of fried birria-bearing tacos stuffed with gooey melted cheese and served with consomme, lime wedges, and pickled onions for $9.16), and traditional fare like chimichangas, enchiladas, quesadillas, and tortas with your choice of filling (asada, barbacoa, carnitas, chicharron, chorizo, ground beef, pastor, chicken, or shredded chicken). I’m not sure why these are called chef specialties. They seem pretty common to other Mexican places, and the menu also features less-common dishes like paella mar y tierra (a sumptuous Spanish dish of seasoned rice, shrimp, ground beef, avocado, corn, and peppers) and torre de camarron, a mouthwatering tower of spicy shrimp and veggies.

There’s also a gyro taco, a taco pizza, and six signature burgers — La Ocho (the basic burger), the Mexican burger (cheese, guac, jalapeńos), a bacon burger, the shrimp burger (a shrimp patty topped with tomato, a creamy secret sauce, red onion, and lettuce), the Hawaiian burger (comes with a grilled pineapple slice on top of the patty), and La Ocho BBQ Burger, which is crammed with onion rings and bacon and slathered with a tangy, smoky barbecue sauce.

La Och8 opens at 8:30am, and while you can likely order any of the above that early, you’d be remiss if you passed on the breakfast offerings: Mexican favorites like breakfast burritos, chiliquiles, and huevos rancheros, plus greasy-spoon staples such as breakfast sandwiches (bacon, ham, and/or sausage with fried egg and American cheese between thick slices of toast) and omelets. Desserts include churros (when available), flan, and fried ice cream. Whether you’re hungry for some quality, no-nonsense Mexican comfort food or want to eat with people who can’t seem to agree on a place to go, La Och8 has something for just about everyone.

Chef Carlos Romo’s willingness to blend different cuisines is inventive without being gimmicky — birria ramen is actually kind of trendy, and it’s not like he just squished a couple of related words together to come up with a new dish. And given the range of La Och8’s items, it’s worth going back multiple times — at least ocho, for example — to try something new.

La Och8

La Ocho burger $15.55

Birria ramen $14.63

Paella mar y tierra $18.99

Quesabirria $9.16

Jarritos pineapple soda $3.65

Rice and beans $4.27