The innovative, jauntily decorated La Fabula has many things going for it, first and foremost a basket of warm, freshly fried, tri-color corn tortilla chips that comes with a trio of salsas, each interesting and addictive in its own right. There's the crunchy, cilantro-speckled salsa fresca, which starts out light but gets more appealing with each bite; the salsa roja, a potent, well-puréed blend of roasted tomatoes and peppers; and finally, the salsa verde, a tomatillo-based brew that contains a variety of chiles, including one that adds a nice touch of smoke without overpowering. This is the ideal starter to whet your appetite for some ambitious La Fabula dishes, so ideal that we'd gladly pay for it. But in a town where you're increasingly nickled and dimed for stale chips, what's truly remarkable about La Fabula's chips and salsa offering is that it's on the house. Yes, many of the best things in life are still free.

Readers' choice: Benny's