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Mexican Food

NWB

NWB

Apr 30, 2008
3,052
493
Kirkland, WA
www.rareelephant.com
#1
We all love it.

Rather then derail someone else's thread as I've done in the past (sorry!), I figured we could have a nice long discussion of our favorite Mexican restaurants and food.

As I've noted before, I have El Rinconcito near my work.

They have menu items that I can't pronounce.

They have horchata and Jerritos.

If you don't know Spanish, it helps a lot to just point to the menu items that you want.

Of course the food is incredible.

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#3
MJ5150 said:
Mama's Mexican Kitchen in Belltown. We'll drive from Lacey to eat there. They advertise Southern Cal Mexican food, and they deliver.
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I used to work near there and hit Mama's pretty often. Glad to hear it's still happening.

We have a joint called El Rinconcito here too. It started in the local muffler shop's front office and eventually took over the whole building:

Link Removed
 
#8
Here's a mini-guide to SoCal Mexican chains I wrote in another thread:

If you're headed to Los Angeles or Orange County and are itching for chain Mexican food, here are some that don't suck:

Invalid Link Removed - Probably the biggest, most widespread chain. Not the best Mexican food but dependable and extremely satisfying on your home from the late gig. Beware of imitators like Adalberto's, Edbertos, etc who all seem to have logos very similar to Alberto's.

EDIT: Apparently, Alberto's was a spin-off of Roberto's in the San Diego area. I've never been to a Roberto's but if it has the same pedigree as Alberto's it has to be good!

King Taco - Another big chain. I've never been big on King Taco but it's popular.

Invalid Link Removed - Back in the day (i.e. the 90s), tacos were $0.50 each. They were small but tasty and most importantly, cheap. I think the last time I went into one, tacos were $1. Still not a bad deal.

Tacos Nazo - Not a huge chain but KILLER fish tacos!

Pepe's - Small, mostly Orange County chain. It was the closest Mexican to were I went to college so I spent plenty of time there.

EDIT: I forgot this place in my original post: Invalid Link Removed - Another Orange County chain. Tasty!

Not included are the soulless, quasi-Mexican, not quite as mega as Taco Bell/Del Taco chains like Chipotle, Qdoba, Rubio's, etc. Don't waste your time at places like that. They're not SoCal!

Of course, the best Mexican food will be found in the small mom-and-pop restaurants that we SoCal folk like to wax poetic about. You *could* spend your time sitting in our traffic, trying to hunt down that elusive taco or burrito, but it might be easier to just hit one the above chains.
 
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#12
Its nice to see that real Mexican food has made it to the Pacific Northwest. As a kid who grew up in Southern California and transplanted to Oregon in the late 90's I was dismayed at the lack of quality mexican restaurants and taco shops.

I now live in San Diego, where you'd be hard pressed to find 'bad' mexican cuisine.
 
#15
I guess I can say I'm very fortunate to live on the US/Mexico border where I'm pretty much eating delicious Mexican food 24/7. Some of my favorite dishes are: menudo, tripitas, barbacoa, posole, buche, and much much more! If you guys are ever in the southwest, make sure to get some local Mexican!
 
#16
NWB said:
Does every shop in Hood River have some sort of windsurfing motif?
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This one is actually on the Washington side (walking distance for me), but they do run one in HR too.

Windsurfing is pretty far down the list of popular attractions here these days, actually -- there are only 3-4 retail shops left at this point. So you'll also see kitesurfing, rafting, mountain biking, etc., motifs these days here, plus a huge winery and brewery presence. And lots of Mex restaurants...;)

One of the best breakfasts I ever had was in some hole in the wall San Diego joint downtown in the business district. We weren't even really hungry, but I took one look and just knew it had to be the goods.
 
#18
MJ5150 said:
I have only had the Tex-Mex version, at Cisco's in Austin, Texas. They were amazing. Scrambled eggs, onions, cheese, with crumbled tortilla chips sprinkled on top. Served with refried beans, a biscuit, and a sausage patty. I can taste it now, so good.

I make it at home all the time now.

-Mike
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That sounds quite delicious Mike. I'm getting very hungry!

Unfortunately, I have to go to a marketing luncheon today with bland food.:(
 
#19
elgecko said:
Here's a mini-guide to SoCal Mexican chains I wrote in another thread:

If you're headed to Los Angeles or Orange County and are itching for chain Mexican food, here are some that don't suck:

Invalid Link Removed - Probably the biggest, most widespread chain. Not the best Mexican food but dependable and extremely satisfying on your home from the late gig. Beware of imitators like Adalberto's, Edbertos, etc who all seem to have logos very similar to Alberto's.
Click to expand...

another imitator is Alberta's! That old hag got me pretty good! Alberta's is horrible. And like gecko said, all the logos are pretty much exactly the same
 

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