Spring rolls stuffed with shiitake mushrooms and marinated cactus pads are crisp, the flavors activated by the spicy chili dipping sauce.

This cheerful restaurant shows off intricate flavor combinations based on traditional ingredients like epazote, avocado leaves, cactus pads and various chilies.

Vegetables from stems are asparagus, bamboo shoots, cactus pads, kohlrabi, and water chestnut.

Members of the genus Diguetia usually build their webs in shrubs or between cactus pads.

Later they move to the edge of the cactus pad where the wind catches the wax filaments and carries the cochineals to a new host.

The gregarious larvae bore into the cactus pad through a single entry hole by chewing through the tough outer cuticle of the cladode.

Mature larvae exit the cactus pad to form cocoons.

It contained dung, urine, cactus pads, twigs, leaves and mesquite beans, all trampled down by the cattle over the years into a heady brew.

The cactus pads, on which the cattle feed, are low in dry matter and crude protein, but are useful as a supplement in drought conditions.

Perhaps the most unusual appetizer is a delicious tamal ($8.95) made not with corn, as is traditional, but spiced catfish and soft pickled cactus pads.