With or Without a Lake of Melted Cheese
A Digressive, Incomplete History of Mexican Food in Seattle
Kelly O
DEATH WEARS A FANCY HAT At brand-new Fonda La Catrina in Georgetown.
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Not so long ago, when you went out for Mexican food in Seattle, you went to a "family" Mexican restaurant. Your plate was probably a combination one—taco, enchilada, maybe a tamale for the adventurous—and it also housed a lake of melted cheese. My family went to one in our neighborhood, and we got combination plates, and it was entirely adequate.
These restaurants still exist, and while some people may look down their noses at them, they remain dear to the rest of our stomachs, for there are times when refried beans and a lake of melted cheese—somewhere close to home, preferably in a booth—are exactly what we want.
Stranger Personals
A friend in Columbia City goes to El Sombrero for her lake-of-melted-cheese needs. She says it has fake flowers arranged around a big framed review from The Stranger right by the front door. The headline is "Charmingly Adequate," which is (a) the best headline ever (the review is by Angela Garbes, from 2006) and (b) the best version of what we ask these places to be (with the fact of the framing, of the fake-floral celebration, acting as meta-charm). In a misguided moment this past Cinco de Mayo, I went back to my old family favorite on Capitol Hill—which was also the site of my first real dinner date, where my high-school boyfriend deeply impressed me by ordering arroz con pollo—and had a truly wretched margarita and the world's saddest, flattest, palest quesadilla. Having the nostalgia crushed out of you is, however, what you deserve for going to a Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo. And everyone knows that El Gallito, aka the Little Cock, is the only place to go for Capitol Hill lakes of cheese; it has down-home charm, commendably bouncy booths, and especially good guacamole, and they also give out calendars at the end of the year.
Then came the painfully slow dawn of cheaper, less cheesy, and generally better Mexican food—food from a window, or a truck, or a no-frills indoor taqueria. This golden era, when tacos without hard shells were given unto the people, was also known as the Silencing of the Complainers About How Seattle's Mexican Food Is Nothing Compared to the Mexican Food in the Mission District in San Francisco. There was a place on the Ave that was just a window—I don't remember the name, for this was long ago—that made a thing called a burrito. And (DAMN!) it was good. There was the romance of discovering the taco bus, aka Tacos El Asadero, on Rainier (with another bus-branch at South Othello Street and MLK)—little paper plates of freshly cooked, completely delicious Mexican food served to you ON A BUS! And so cheap, they're practically paying you! And maybe a live chicken walking around in the parking lot behind it! There was the advent of Gordito's in Greenwood, which boasted about having no lard but tasted really good despite it. The opening and closing of a second Gordito's on Queen Anne remains an indelible black mark against that neighborhood; if it had succeeded, which it absolutely should have, the proliferation of this strata of Mexican food would have been accelerated across the city, with consciousness raised across the land instead of slowly working its way from the joints in South Park, from the parking lots of Northgate, from across the mountains in Eastern Washington. Damn you, Queen Anne. Because of you, years were added to the evolution that now allows me to walk 87 paces from my office to the glory of Rancho Bravo—a taqueria that is identical in adequacy to San Francisco's finest and is charmingly housed in a former Kentucky Fried Chicken—to pay $5.44 for the burrito I am going to eat right now. Pardon me.
Then, as with all good things, upscaling happened. (As did chains, and upscale chains—we'll set those aside, except to commend Chipotle for its commitment to humane, sustainable sourcing. I've never eaten there, but if you feel compelled to go to a Mexican chain, you should.) It's important to note that the upping of the scale is not necessarily all bad. And let us, for the purposes of this arbitrary taxonomy, divide the upscaling in two: the up-upscale and the mid-upscale.
To dwell too much on higher-level upscale Mexican dining in Seattle is to go down a philosophical rabbit hole—what is authentic? What impact is the stuff that white people like having upon our palates, our hearts, and our souls? Why does this guacamole cost $12? Etc.—so let's not tarry long. Suffice it to say, here within The Stranger's two-block radius, there is not only the brave, serviceable Rancho Bravo, but also two Mexican restaurants, run by two multipartite upscale restaurant groups, where you may bask in the glow of a wall of candles or, alternately, 14,000 hand-painted Mexican tiles, while paying more for Mexican food than ever. The very-well-groomed people love it. They also love places like Peso's and the local Matador chain, where they may pay more while doing tequila shots and acquiring companionship of the opposite sex. (El Camino, in Fremont, is the original in this category, making from-scratch margaritas before you were born; the late Galerias on Broadway was another progenitor. The Cactus chain also arguably belongs here, with its newest location in the South Lake Union mating grounds.)
The mid-upscale is where we will end this necessarily incomplete and probably annoyingly digressive consideration of Seattle's Mexican food, for the mid-upscale is what new Fonda La Catrina in Georgetown ends up being. The mid-upscale has well-thought-out decor without going to the candley, tiley lengths of the up-upscale—think of the bright colors and on-a-vacation feeling of Agua Verde (where you definitely know you're not down-home anymore, as you may also rent a canoe). Think of the great black-and-white photos on the walls of Mezcaleria Oaxaca on Queen Anne (Queen Anne has embraced it, where Gordito's wasn't good enough), and, before it, its sibling Carta de Oaxaca in Ballard.
People say that the mid-upscale Mexican places cost too much. "X-amount-of-dollars for a TACO!!!" they cry. For a long time, I agreed with them. I've still never been to Carta de Oaxaca; I was prejudiced against its prices. But when Mezcaleria opened, I finally felt obligated to go and see what the fuss was all about. And what a fool I had been: For the family that runs those two restaurants makes food that contains all the love of a great "family" Mexican restaurant, but with more interesting regional recipes, and non-food-service ingredients, and crumbly, fresh, wonderful, non-bounteous and non-orange cheese. (And goat! Lord, their goat is good.) Not to pull on the loose thread that is authenticity, but it tastes like food you get in Mexico.
There aren't enough mid-upscale Mexican places in Seattle. To take the goodness of family cooking and marry it to better-quality ingredients without going overboard on the surroundings: This goes to the greater food-good of our city. Fonda La Catrina is a case in point. They make their own tortillas in the corner open kitchen; the bar that occupies the other side of the room makes a jalapeño margarita that is actually, truly spicy-hot. The nuanced mole sauce is earthy rather than sweet; it has a savory complexity, but it remains comforting. The chicken has the taste and texture of bird, not the squidgy blandness of just breast meat; the pork in the (again, actually, truly spicy-hot, with visible bits of habañero) cochinita pibil is from Carlton Farms. The lengua is soft, almost creamy; so are the tamales. The editor of Edible Seattle says that the first tamale she had at Fonda La Catrina was "the best tamale, hands down, I have ever eaten." The slippery cactus salad that comes with your torta is topped with crumbles of cotija. The room is clattery and the decor is not trying too hard, mainly consisting of a Diego Rivera–style mural depicting Mexican revolutionaries and poets, ears of corn and musical instruments, children and guns; it's got Death on a bicycle on one side, Death wearing a fancy feathered hat on the other. Adequately sized plates of very tasty food cost less than $10, with no refried beans, no lake of melted cheese. If you eat here, you'll wish it were your neighborhood family Mexican restaurant. 
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then there's there's el quetzal
( http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/el-qu… )started out as a 3 table big shop that only sold tortas, but from that they've turned into full service expanding the room and a full bar with music and dj's on the weekend. their fish tacos rule . you can get rice and beans , but no lake of cheese.
la cabana's (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/la_ca… )is the place to go for the lake of beans and cheese.
and for walkups y'all just recommended luisa's taqueria ( http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/luisa… ) which is so new we haven't gotten over there to check it out but we will. for further mexican realness there's a full mexican grocery store across the street from the shell station of beacon ave.if you must cook with lard and stuff that'd be the place to go..oh and don't forget azteca carneceria on 14th and rainier. the best tubs of fresh slasa ( red and green ) you'll find in these parts. neither of those places have fresh fried chicaronnes.. not like the joints in white center.. hey ! where's the white center love ?
@3: I think my family might have gone there—a very hazy memory emerges—was it near that great hardware store (still there) a block or two north of the University Bridge?
@Riz: And how right you are, dear sir. I shoehorned in a mention of South Park, and I had El Quetzal in my mind, but there just wasn't room to get all the current good stuff in. I had to cut a whole bunch for space... SAD. (And I did not realize that Baja Bistro has been there so long. That is great! They have that reportedly fabulous gay-friendly bar...)
@7: I am not joking when I say that I woke up in the middle of last night and thought "EL PUERCO LLORON!!! I FORGOT EL PUERCO LLORON!!!" then cursed myself thoroughly and could not get back to sleep for a long time. You're right, it really might have been the first "real" Mexican place in Seattle, and it was the only one for so long...
Don't forget, the Mission District is just one neighborhood in the Bay Area - there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of very good taquerias spread throughout the SF metro.
Seattle's taquerias, and especially the burritos, are nowhere near the same league as the Bay Area. I live in Seattle, but spend a ton of time in the Bay Area, and am always blown away by how much better the burritos are in the Bay Area. It's a whole 'nother level, and while Seattle has improved, it's still not even close.
The Bay Area and the hundreds, if not thousands, of taquerias there absolutely blow Seattle taquerias out of the water, especially when it comes to burritos. I live in Seattle but know both places well - trust me, it's not even remotely close.
Down on Rainier & Graham there's a very tasty truck, Los Padrillos. I think I have to go there for lunch, right this minute.
And though it's not in Seattle, Señor Taco in Federal Way deserves a mention. I've driven 45 minutes just to eat there; and picked up a bottle of their house-made hot sauce to go. Their hot sauce is to die for!
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Nah. I know nothing of Mission District tastes, but Seattle Mexican food still sucks in general. It just doesn't suck as bad as it did five years ago.
They do haughty/honky and Asian food well here. There's that.
It sound like you have come a long way.
@14 - she mentioned it. Gordito's.
@22 - i've never thought of eastlake as "u district", but point taken. CL was my first Mexican restaurant experience, at age 8. generally was treated to leftovers as the grownups wanted to treat it like "a grownup place".
Take me to the El Camion taco truck by Home Depot on Aurora any day.
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"No one in Seattle can drive in the snow!"
"Seattle is the whitest city in the United States!"
"Mexican food in Seattle sucks!"
I tried Gordito once and didn't think it was very good.
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@38 - The chile relleno at Chile Pepper is out of this world.
(P.S. Love your roundups about just opened/closed restaurants. Thanks!)
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Before that, the first modern-style Mexican restaurant in Seattle, as mentioned @3, was probably Campos Mexican Food in the University District (at 4334 Roosevelt Way as "Campos Taco Bar" in 1960; later moved to 4228 Roosevelt). It opened sometime in the late 1950s.
Maria Luz Lara Lopez worked as a cook at Campos, then in 1970 opened her own restaurant, Lucy's, the first of five, in which most of the later Northwest Mexican chains including Azteca have their roots. Some names: La Palma, Tapatios, Acapulco (in Seattle Center), Mexico Lindo, Guadalajara, Mazatlan, Las Margaritas.
In a continuation of Campos's generational influence, Tina Castro opened La Puerta in the 80s on East Pike after working in the kitchens of Acapulco, Azteca and Guadalajara. I could swear I ate here in the late 70s -- my first taste of cilantro -- but if so it must have been some other restaurant in that space. In 1968, it was Northwest Trophy!
Possibly before Campos was Tabell's Tamale Shop, at 915 Pike in 1960 (buried beneath the Convention Center now), which was presumably a continuation or branch of the one in Tacoma, which first opened in 1921, and was run by William Bertel Tabell and his wife (a Tabell genealogy site says "William learned the tamale/chili business from his uncle, Roy Mills, in Astoria, Oregon. They moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1921 and operated "Tabell's Tamale Place" for 30 years at 915 Pacific Av.") Tamales and chili were by far the most important Mexican food in the US up until about 1950. I would love to know when the Seattle Tabell opened.
My 1960 City Directory also lists "El Matador Espresso Coffee House and Restaurant", which is probably Spanish, not Mexican, but you never know, at 2400 Westlake, down by the marinas; note that this is seven years before The Last Exit, supposedly Seattle's first coffeehouse, opened. El Matador is at 2811 Second Ave in 1968.
In 1960 there's also La Fiesta Cafe, 715 Pike (still there in 1968); Luis Cafe, 1419-1/2 1st Ave; Los Amigos Cafe, 906 Pine (still there in 1968); and Pancho's Barbecue & Broiler, 1901 4th Ave, which are possibles.
New for 1968 (my other City Directory) is "Mexican Joe's at 8335 15th Ave NW (now Juliano's Pizza); "Taco House" at 1505 1st; four Taco Times; and "Poquito de Mexico" at 8202 Greenwood (until recently The Kebab House; before that Arita Japanese).
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http://www.seattleweekly.com/2012-04-04/…
La Vaca might have been the udist one. On the trip back to Seattle I just completed, I actually made a little squealing noise when I saw that there's still one by Pike Place (and not just because of the name/my username/whatever).
If your old Capitol Hill favourite was Jalisco, my understanding is that it's all new management anyway and no good anymore. They used to be that right kind of 'charmingly adequate', especially their Cadillac margaritas.
Excellent article. So many wonderful memories of lakes of melted cheese.
Although not very historic, I would just say that I miss Villa Victoria (Madrona/Columbia City) - they put out some great food. Too bad they couldn't make a run of it at either location.
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I can't remember the name of the place on 15th Ave W just south of the Ballard Bridge, but that seemed pretty damn good back in the 80's, too. As I recall, there was also a similar and decent American Mexican restaurant on the south Ave from the 80's into the early 90's too, might have been in or by the current Schultzy's space (they also had two-for-once coupons for a long time, which suited my student budget).
La Vaca wasn't in the U-District for long, but the Pike Place Market location was good and cheap for quite a long time. A very early leader in more authentic Mexican cuisine was the original Chile Pepper location in the U-District just north of 50th (now in Wallingford). And yeah, Guyamas was definitely the leader in bringing California-style taqueria Mexican food to Seattle (even if they do cost a fortune now, and if most any taco truck is as good or better).
Heck, even Taco Time is still pretty good in it's thoroughly Americanized way....
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THIRD, they are perfectly willing to make you a damn fine michelada (the best I've had in the States).
So try that one, of the "expensive" ones.
1. Grew up in Houston ( wonderful "cheese lake" or Tex-Mex)
2. Lived for six years in the Bay Area, with all it's wonderful taquerias, both in the Mission and stretching south even into the Peninsula.
3. I like Mexican food so much, I make my own tortillas (admittedly, if I wait more than five minutes, they don't taste anywhere near as good as, let's say, Carta de)
For the rest of us, let's recognize that authenticity is overrated and most folks can recognize good food, which really can pop up anywhere. My picks:
1. Carta de Oaxaca: as other posters have put it, it's not particularly expensive and they clearly use fresh ingredients and make delicious meals.
2. El Farol near 15th, my favorite lake of cheese restaurant and wonderful service/people.
3. TACOS CHUKIS: please please give this place a shot. Opened about a year ago, and hands down the best tacos I've had. Full stop. Their nopales (cactus) and chicken tacos are delicious, but the real standout is their taco chuki. Pork adobada with fresh cilantro/onions, guacomale, a touch of cheese and GRILLED PINEAPPLE. The only reason it's not completely packed is that this tiny operation is tucked far back in the 219 Broadway building near John. Please give it a shot. Both you and they deserve it.
Are your low expectations for life that interesting?
51
I read an interesting thing about Mexican restaurants in a Houston newspaper a while back. The guy was talking about the newest wave of immigrants to places that didn't have a strong tradition of Mexicans arriving before, places like Chicago (and Seattle) or even the Dakotas. Because these new immigrants don't necessarily encounter established Mexican-American communities, and because Mexican immigration is almost always highly regionalized (all the cooks in Seattle came from Cuatla, Jalisco, for instance), they sometimes are free from the stifling rigidity of earlier immigrants, who have fixed ideas about what gringos and gabachos will eat based on their encounters with bland palates (and racism) of white people.
So it is sometimes easier to find regional specialties, like Oaxacan food or DF-style tortas or good bírria de chivo or cochinita pibil in these places, because no one ever told them you can't.
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Oh, add Taqueria Tequila, NW 85th & 3rd NW, serves up great combos, with a large lake of melted cheese.
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What SF Mission comparison worthy means: you get an overflowing mound of meats, clearly way too much to be contained by the 3 tiny tortillas underneath. No worries, that's what the big ass pile of FREE chips right next to your tacos are for. There are some limes and some cilantro. It is greasy. You take a bite...and it's SO FUCKING GOOD that you have to fish your camera out of your pocket/purse/wherever and take a picture despite your greasy fingers. You aren't as conflicted as getting grease all over your stuff so much as you are concerned about the possible delay between getting the next bite in your mouth.
What SF Mission comparison worthy does NOT mean: It doesn't suck and is cheap-ish...and that, in a nutshell, is Bravo.
Seems to me that there ought to be some differentiation in what gets called "Mexican" food, which is why I appreciate Bethany's 'arbitrary taxonomy.' For instance, burritos are not Mexican. Sorry gringos, I've never seen a burrito in my many travels to Mexico. There needs to be a new name, perhaps Cal-Mex, for Mexican food that was Americanized in California.
If you want some good Mexican food, go to Eastern Washington, where I grew up. Go to Yakima or Pasco, where there have been Mexicans for decades now. Or go to Azteca and eat Tex-Mex, it's all good. But I must plug Rancho Bravo's tamales, they are the best I've ever had in Seattle. They know how to make tamales that come the closest to tasting to what I grew up eating. And they're cheap, which is always a good thing.
Here's some interesting history on the taco in the USA:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cultu…
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Lake o cheese does NOT equal Tex-Mex. There is NO REAL Tex-Mex in Seattle.
I tried tracking down the date, but am still unsure. Late 50s or early 60s for sure.
I'm a recent transplant from the Bay Area, and I'm near the Ballard El Camion and it assausges some of the homesickness ... but!
Where, in Seattle, can I get CRISPY carnitas? For you Bay Area transplants, I'm talking Taqueria San Jose style.
Anyone?
Tried them a couple times last month and was severely underwhelmed. My fond memories were merely from when I was a rookie drinker 20 years ago. Now I know what the real deal tastes like.
It's not even good by American 'lake-of-cheese' standards.
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