I like Texans. I love their food and their music and their boots. I admire their ability to tame landscapes that are hostile to human life. I respect how quick they are to stick up for their state and its culture. In fact, I may be slightly afraid of Texans. I have no desire to mess with them. I can read the bumper stickers.

Reviewing Javelina, which bills itself as “New York’s first authentic Tex-Mex restaurant,” may have presented me with an unusual conflict of interest. My interest in telling the truth about this establishment could come into conflict with my interest in not having my butt kicked by angry Texans. What if something I didn’t like at Javelina turned out to be the very thing that Texans most love about authentic Tex-Mex? It may get in the way of my earnest desire for my next trip to Texas to be a safe and peaceful one. Lucky for me, I have only good things to say about Javelina.

Javelina, near Union Square, is a godsend for anybody who loves to eat before 6 p.m. or after 9:30 p.m.; since opening two months ago, the restaurant has been talked up so much in the press that those are usually the only reservation times available, even if you book a week or two ahead. You may worry that at those hours the dining room would be depressingly quiet, but that’s not the case. Javelina’s 58 seats always seem to be taken by large groups of people shouting with youthful animation. It always sounds as if somebody were telling a woman at the far end of the table that he had just found $1,000 under the menu, and the woman were shouting back that Ryan Gosling had just texted and he’s coming to the restaurant in, like, five minutes!