If you’re familiar with Mexico’s lost and secret language developed in the state of Hidalgo, then you’ll immediately understand the expletive translation of “Mama Testa”, which is Hillcrest’s newest and most colorful Mexican eatery. If you’ve never heard albures spoken, then I recommend you ask owner Cesar Gonzales for the meaning.

While the jocular interpretation isn’t fit to print, the food and atmosphere deserve some ink. Formerly Bombay Express, the small interior now embodies a riot of primary colors that jump from wall to wall and bleed onto every wooden chair and eye-catching artifact. The artsy design also includes two televisions that play novellas (Mexican soap operas) at night, soccer tournaments on the weekends and black-and-white movies from Mexico’s “golden era” during the daytime.

“Everything in the restaurant is out of my head from memories,” says Gonzales, who grew up in central Mexico before moving to California 16 years ago. He explains that the different colored walls are reminiscent of hometown establishments that would sporadically run out of paint during their construction.

“In Mexico nothing matches because supplies are limited and you must use what you can get,” he said. A recessed water faucet near the salsa bar, framed in hand-painted Mexican tiles, plus miniature models of wrestling rinks on the tables also beckon back to his childhood.

But it is the food that Gonzales recreates with utmost passion as he pulls in various culinary influences from each of Mexico’s 29 states. The Guerro-style Fish Tacos, for example, are served in crispy tortillas and filled with breaded catfish. Or with respect to Chilango, you’ll find large tortillas served with various types of stews, as well as traditional “street tacos” originally contrived in the northern states of Monterrey and Chihuahua.

What you won’t find in any of the recipes, however, are cheddar and jack cheeses. “They don’t exist in traditional Mexican cooking,” he exclaims. Instead, savory curds such as asadero, cotija and queso fresco are used sparingly in dishes that most Cal-Mex tongues have probably never encountered.

Two companions and myself loaded up on a variety of unique tacos that included Yucatecos – three pigmy corn tortillas served open-faced with tangy Yucatan-style pork. The finely shredded meat is marinated in several spices, including annoto seed, and cooked down to a paste-like consistency for six hours in banana leaves. It’s a delicious concoction topped with pickled red onions and cucumbers.

Another plate, called De Bandera Guera, consisted of five chicken-stuffed rolled tacos sporting red, white and blue tortillas. The arrangement was zebra-striped with sour cream and served on a bed of lettuce with crumbled queso fresco. They are fiercely American in appearance, but exotically Mexican in flavor.

Newcomers seeking variety should consider ordering from the menu’s Mama Cesta category, which offers a foursome of mini tacos filled separately with tasty mashed potatoes, carnitas, poblano peppers and cheese and refried beans and cheese. Even better, they’re slapped together with the thickest and tastiest corn tortillas on this side of the border. A more substantial meal is the Tres Cochinitos, which features a generous portion of cubed carnitas and red tomatillo salsa spread over three tortillas.

All of the menu items are listed in albures, which will likely give pause to those who know formal Spanish. “Everything has a double meaning,” says Gonzales, who explained that this so-called “second language” originated in Mexico as a way for people to curse at others without having to resort to common obscenities. “If you grew up in certain parts of Mexico, you’ll read the menu and laugh.”

We remained stumped for the most part. Yet no matter what we sampled, it took only seconds before we felt a million miles away from places like Baja Fresh and La Salsa.

“I have no competition because Mama’s can’t be compared to any taco shop or Mexican restaurant as we know them to be,” adds Gonzales. When asked what he thinks of those California-style burritos and tacos, he responded: “The moment cheddar cheese touches the plate, the Mexican is lost.”