Consider the story behind the name: sencillo (which means "simple" in Spanish but is also used synonymous to barya or coins in Filipino) was competing against luho (a Tagalog word that literally means vice or denotes indulgence in reference to taste). Guess who chose between the two?

And, speaking of taste, Kris apparently adores Mexican food. So does her man James Yap, who is one of the restaurant’s six part-owners that also includes Bambbi Fuentes, makeup artist and a good friend of Kris’s.

Burritos, nachos and quesadillas typify what Filipinos know of Mexican cuisine. Sencillo puts a Pinoy twist to it, according to chef Al Torres, who used to man the kitchen at Taco Alberto, a restaurant in San Juan reportedly a favorite of then-mayor Jinggoy Estrada, and La Salsa along Araneta Avenue, also in Quezon City.

The taco salad, for example, which Al says is the restaurant’s bestseller, uses home-made taco shells made of flour (recipe passed from Al’s mother) unlike the ordinary supermarket variety made from corn. Less of the cracking noise alright but it does bring out the zing in what is an ordinary ground beef and cabbage combo.

Sencillo’s menu consists of other Mexican food staples including quesadillas – a choice among beef, chicken and shrimp. The best choice, according to my humble taste buds, would be the shrimp; the cheesiness melds well with shrimp and is quite unlike the taste of chicken or beef quesadilla.

The place also serves its very own Sencillo chicken, served on a sizzling plate and scores well in the olfactory department. "A secret in Mexican food is spices," says chef Al. One cannot help but agree with a guy who both loves to cook and eat Mexican. "There are only a few restaurants around that serve Mexican cuisine. But, like me, I know a lot of people who crave for Mexican dishes." Count Kris in that list.

But if I would recommend a must-try dish in Sencillo’s menu, it would have to be Heavenly White, white squid sautéed lightly in chili, garlic and onion leeks, using olive oil. Unlike the Dencio’s or Gerry’s variety, the garlic bits aren’t burnt to a bitter crisp, the rawness brings out the bite and flavor of the garlic, to match the tender (not rubbery, if you talk about the inihaw or grilled kind) texture of the squid.

Of course, since Sencillo bills itself as a bar and a restaurant, it has its own signature drink in Quiyeme (which, in Tagalog, roughly translates to shyness), a potent mix of gin, tequila, dark and white rhum, vodka, blue curacao, grenadine and sprite. Margarita lovers can also indulge in blue margarita, frozen strawberry margarita and the Mango Rita. For the adventurous, the bar has its own mixes named after Sencillo’s owners such as Brent’s Kiss, Strawberry Mitzel, Gelo’s Querida and Mi Ultimo a Josh (no, not Kris’s son).

What enhances Sencillo’s Mexican-ness is how it looks on the inside. The brick walls, the framed acrylic paintings by Carlo Gaupo, the chandelier, add, to the quaintness of the place, much like the one where Julio and Tenoch (Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, respectively, from the seminal movie Y Tu Mama Tambien ) stopped by for a few shots of tequila in the middle of their road trip.

For the moment, however, those who go to Sencillo any given night can expect Kris and James to pop in.

Sencillo is located at Esquinita at Sgt Esguerra Ave., in front of the ABS-CBN compound. It’s open from 6pm to 3am and seats 45 to 50 people. For celebrity hounds, if you must, bring a camera phone.