Years later, you might not remember the name of the establishment, but the food is the stuff of mouth-watering memories; so back in familiar turf, you dine in a quest to replicate the experience.

In the case of tortilla soup, the search takes you to Paquito's Mexican Restaurant in a strip mall at the intersection of Biscayne Boulevard and 163rd Street in North Miami Beach, a popular eatery with a reputation for making a soup described as ``a delicious orgy of goo.''

It doesn't take but a glimpse inside Paquito's -- hot pink walls, swirls of serpentine drooping from the ceiling like rainbow-colored Spanish moss and a bar named La Pachanga -- to know you're in for an adventure in more ways than expected.

Certainly, the tortilla soup ($2.75) is excellent, a tomato broth oozing with melted Mexican cheese, crispy thin strips of corn tortilla chips. It's enough flavor to warm any spirit on a chilly night, but made even better with a dollop of sour cream on top. (You don't remember the sour cream in the Guadalajara variety, but this works wonders with the taste buds, so no one's complaining).

UNIQUE SPOT

Soup aside, the restaurant's festive atmosphere alone makes a trip here worth the drive. Right away, the colors create a sense that you've stepped into a unique place. Then, add these charming details: waitresses dressed in folkloric blouses and skirts, warm tortillas that come to your table inside tiny straw sombreros, pencil drawings that take you back to colonial Mexico.

You're poised to experiment, so sample the sopes, a small, saucer-like corn flour shell priced at $3.50 with a topping of beans, green tomatillo sauce and white cheese and sour cream, or $4.50 with a choice of meat. We chose Mexican sausage, a tasty, finely chopped alternative to the better known flavors of chicken and beef.

Likewise with the quesadillas, the seafood variety ($8.95) is interesting. The triangles came stuffed with cheese and shrimp, different but not enough to outdo the plain Mexican cheese quesadilla ($6.25), which is savory on its own. Another plus is that you take the plain and add fillings -- tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, green peppers or jalapeños -- for a mere 60 cents each.

USUAL DISHES, TOO

The menu has plenty of traditional favorites, but who can forgo ordering from listings under ``Las recetas de mi abuela,'' My Grandmother's Recipes?

Try the steak Paquitos ($12.50), sliced strips of steak sautéed in a creamy jalapeño and onion sauce that is served hot (or ``very hot'' if you prefer) with a chunk of snow-white grilled cheese on top, a fluffy Mexican rice, and wonderful refried beans.

Another great pick is mole verde ($12.50). Choose from steak, pork or chicken chunks and enjoy the meat swimming in a sauce made from green chiles, Mexican tomatillo, pumpkin seeds, epazote, cilantro, parsley and spices. Our pork chunks were tender and seemed a natural for the sauce, which was not spicy.

The only plate that lacked enough flavor was the traditional fajitas, a pricey $14.25 with an additional $2.50 sharing charge. Grilled with onions, green peppers, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, the fajitas come in a sizzling steel plate, but the meat, both the chicken and pork we sampled, were almost flavorless.

ON A DIET?

On the positive side, the chicken was extremely lean, making this a good choice for calorie watchers. It's a better choice than the taco salad ($8.50), which sounds like a healthful choice, but the 10-inch tortilla shell is filled with little lettuce and lots of shredded cheese and black olives over the meat of choice and is accompanied by a hard-boiled egg, avocado and topped with sour cream.

After such sumptuous fare, it's tough to add on dessert, but it would be a mistake not to sample at least a spoonful of the smooth warm-cold combination of helado frito (fried ice cream, $3.95), a scoop of vanilla ice cream sealed in a fried crust. Or better yet, indulge in the crepas de cajeta ($4.50), two soft crepes smothered in caramel sauce and sprinkled with chocolate shavings.

You'll forget you came for the tortilla soup.