The venerable Double L has a problem or two

We were still picking through the second, waiting for a shrimp topopo salad ($9.50) and bowl of shrimp albondigas soup ($10) that we had ordered a half-hour earlier.

What should have been an in-and-out experience late into a recent Monday lunch hour was an interminable wait that was even more frustrating because the restaurant had only a handful of customers.

A week later, at dinner on a modestly busy Tuesday, the server delivered a single bowl of chips before the bubbly cheese crisp ($5.75) appetizer arrived. The bowl stayed empty as entrees followed at a comfortable pace.

The food was also as different as day and night. At lunch, the shrimp meatballs were dense, plump delights unaffected by much filler, but they were left to drown in an underseasoned, characterless broth; if not for the fresh cilantro, the broth would have had no flavor at all. The large shrimp on the topopo salad were rubbery and zapped of the crustacean's inherent sweetness.

At dinner, shrimp in the Guillermo's especial ($18.50) seafood bonanza was delicately sweet and well-executed in a trio of incarnations — fried, sautéed and baked.

One of the oldest restaurants in South Tucson, the Double L retains an extensive, decades-old menu that has generations of loyal patrons. It also has a new owner who has added an additional menu that's heavily weighted toward deftly prepared seafood with a few classic Mexican dishes such as calabacitas and barbacoa.

The Double L opened in 1948 as a barbecue drive-in. It switched its allegiance to Mexican food four years later to compete with its numerous culinary neighbors in the square-mile city now renowned for its Sonoran fare.

Bill Ford, whose father-in-law had started the restaurant, sold it last year to Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez has been a fixture in South Tucson's restaurant scene since 1979, when he and his brother, Roberto, bought the Crossroads.

Gonzalez did not rush in with changes. He made modest renovations but kept the decor mostly as it was — earth-toned walls dressed in artist Diana Madaras Southwest scenes. Early this year, he rolled out his new menu.

We ordered the topopo salad at lunch off the original Guillermo's menu.

We ordered dinner off the new menu, where seafood dominates, including an array of fresh oysters in the half-shell. The a la Mexicana ($9 half-dozen, $18 dozen) swam in tequila broth that complemented the brininess of the oysters, which were covered with cheese and fresh spinach and baked just long enough to melt the cheese.

Shrimp seems to be Gonzalez's passion, judging from his creative applications. In the house Guillermo's especial, the jumbo bacon-wrapped Fantasia were tender, with sweet and smoky pronouncements. A hint of the pungent bulb announced the medium-sized garlic shrimp, while the panko-breaded shrimp were airy and crispy.

The shrimp shared the plate with a crispy, panko-breaded fish fillet and a sautéed garlic-kissed fillet.

We also had to try the chicken mole ($8.95), which is not the best in the city — that honor still goes to the venerable Cafe Poca Cosa — but it is very good. Moist, meaty chicken chunks swim in a sweetly spicy sauce deeply burnished with shades of chile and chocolate. Shaved almonds are added late in the cooking process to retain their crunch.

Desserts are not particularly creative — ubiquitous flan ($3.25), pillowy, crispy sopapillas ($3.45 for three) and a Choco Taco ice cream ($2.10) among them — but they fill the role of pleasant meal-enders.

If you go

Guillermo's Double L Restaurant

1830 S. Fourth Ave., 792-1585

• Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, closed Sundays.

• Family call: Children's menu has American and Mexican dishes.

• Wine list: Scant offering of Californians, but this is the place for margaritas. Happy hour (3-6 p.m. daily) features $2.50 margaritas and 99-cent Bud drafts.

• Noise level: Buzzes during lunch and dinner rush, but never to the point of total distraction.

• Vegetarian choices: Plenty of entrees including salads, chile rellenos and cheese enchiladas.

• Dress: Casual.

• Reservations: Accepted.

• Price range: The most expensive entree is the Guillermo's especial fish combo ($18.50). Entrees on the new menu start at $10.95.