Former Ovens Chef Ronald Brown Stokes The Fires At Cocina Café. By Rebecca Cook UNLIKE DOWNTOWN SANTA Fe, downtown Tucson bears little imprint of the past. Thanks to vigorous city planning, much of this city's history was razed to make way for more modern edifices, leaving us with only a handful of buildings that recall another era. It was rather exciting, then, when modern technology allowed us to determine the location of the presidio wall that once surrounded the settlement of Tucson. Using non-invasive archaeology via ultrasound, the confines of the wall first built by the Spanish in 1776 were pinpointed. Even though it was invisible, there was something reassuring about knowing that Tucson's history lay just beneath our feet. Cocina, formerly known as The Courtyard Café located within Old Town Artisans downtown, also celebrates and commemorates the famous wall--according to the proprietors, the north wall of the outdoor patio corresponds exactly with the north wall of the San Augustín del Tucson Royal Presidio. Within the confines of this wedge of Tucson history, Cocina serves up an abundance of mesquite-grilled burgers and meats alongside various soups, salads and sandwiches. Ronald Brown, previously the executive chef at Ovens Restaurant, has taken over as general manager of Cocina and hopes to provide patrons with an authentic Southwestern eatery that perfectly complements the El Presidio Historic District. It is hard to imagine a more sublime place to dine on a mild spring day than Cocina's courtyard. Slightly tiered and lush with foliage and a few fountains, it's a welcome and attractive haven. Indoor dining is also available in a small but elegant building off of Court Avenue, a structure whose wooden floors and high ceilings evoke a more graceful epoch. As our summer heat descends, this may be the more popular place to be seated at Cocina. But weather permitting, the place to be is definitely outside, where the aroma of mesquite smoke whets the appetite. Unable to delay hunger gratification one minute longer, we began one meal with an intriguing appetizer of roasted poblano chili stuffed with a spiced ricotta cheese mixture and served with tortilla chips and salsa. Although the chili was tender and full of flavor, the filling was disappointingly bland. While still doing a serviceable job of curbing my hunger, I'd hoped for something that would be slightly risqué on the palate. On my first visit I was thoroughly contrary and ordered quiche, thinking, no doubt, that a place that stakes its reputation on grilled meats might be slightly wanting on this dish. Ridiculously popular in the '80s and frequently found on menus appealing to the yuppie set, quiche is surprisingly hard to get in a form that is not sodden and dense. Cocina's quiche tasted right out of the oven: light, puffy and encased in a flaky crust. Riddled with fresh-roasted green chiles, diced bell peppers and mushrooms and served with a salad of mixed dark greens, this was a delightful lunch meal. My companion sampled the special of the day, barbecued shredded beef served on a kaiser roll with a choice of salad on the side. The meat was tender and exuded the sweet, smoky taste of mesquite. Blended with a mild barbecue and served over a large poppy seed-studded kaiser roll, this was a messy sandwich well worth the extra napkins. Our second visit was not as successful, possibly because we once again broke tradition and ordered something other than burgers. I had the Southwestern pasta salad, which sounded enticing with a mix of penne pasta, corn, bell peppers, bacon, smoked gouda and tomatoes. At first I was confused by the waitress' query about salad dressing; but I understood when a smattering of pasta arrived atop a plate mostly covered with salad greens. Although tasty, I was expecting something with more carbohydrates and fewer leaves. I also found my sparse pasta salad to consist almost exclusively of pasta. I never did find the gouda, and the rest of the ingredients were represented by a pair of each at best. My friend ordered a grilled chicken fillet sandwich with melted Monterey Jack cheese. The chicken was moist and mesquite-flavored but was served on a bun without sauce, condiments or butter. Something more was needed to bring this sandwich out of the realm of the culinary mundane. A full array of desserts are offered at Cocina, but I suspect that these are not made on site, accounting for the tendency toward the store-bought bakery side of sweets. The chocolate and carrot cakes are serviceable, but the chocolate cheesecake is cloyingly sweet and surprisingly lacking in chocolate flavor. The real deal here is the Mexican chocolate ice cream made locally by Eric's Ice Cream on East Speedway. Creamy and rich with chunks of dark chocolate and delicately accented with a hint of cinnamon, this is an ideal way to end a meal on a warm day. The service at Cocina is attentive and seems attuned to the fact that many people at midday need to be back to work in an hour. Dinners are also served at Cocina with the primary offerings being larger portions of mesquite-grilled meats and a fresh catch of the day. It's hard to believe that I slipped in and out of Cocina twice without succumbing to the temptation of delicious-looking grilled burgers, but I'll be back. Where else in town can you simultaneously be infused with a sense of history, aromatic mesquite fires and good food?

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