Pecado Bueno

The balance between good food and cheap food often means you're not happy with either quality or price. At Pecado Bueno, you're happy with both. Owner James Schmidt uses organic produce and organically-fed chicken, beef and pork. There's nothing on the menu over $10. He's able to live with higher food costs based on lower labor costs. That means customers can return more often to enjoy simple taqueria food taken to a new level.

Owner James Schmidt

Pecado Bueno is a simple concept. Order at the counter and take a seat. Food is delivered to the table. Items are prepared with high-quality ingredients in a simple, refreshing atmosphere. House margaritas are always $3, made with agave tequila, Triple Sec and fresh-squeezed lime juice. They can offer that price because they're made in large batches. "Costco has done well with their $1.50 hot dog and I can do the same with my margarita. This business model has great opportunities," explains James. "Not a lot of people are doing a quick service restaurant with high-quality food and a full bar. On our busiest nights, we have seven staff members. Guests can come in with $15 and get dinner and a buzz. And they can feel comfortable staying for 20 minutes or two hours."

Colors are bright, music is rock 'n' roll and you pretty much have to leave feeling better than when you came in (unless you get carried away with the margaritas). Menu items include salads, a spicy black bean and carnitos soup, nachos and appetizers, tacos, taquitos, burritos, quesadillas and enchiladas. They also offer a chimichanga dog (pictured),an all-beef hot dog wrapped in bacon with plenty of toppings. Their huevos rancheros are offered all day long. "It's my favorite comfort food," says James. "I knew from the beginning it had to be on the menu and be available all the time."

Breakfast is offered on weekends with items like a breakfast burrito, breakfast tacos and scrambles. They also offer early and late happy hour with discounts on food and drinks. Small to large groups can reserve space and they cordon off the area so that everyone still has access to the salsa bar. In summer, they'll have 150 seats outside, but even in winter, people can enjoy the patios with the heat lamps and fire pit.

Pecado Bueno is part of the community, offering fundraising opportunities that help kids with medical or educational needs. "These are the rules of life," says James. "You have to be part of your community and it has to help your business and your community. You can help or hurt in life and give or take. I'd rather give and have friends."

Working on names, James said "pescado" (fish) to a Spanish-speaking friend and she explained that I'd said "sin" (pecado). I liked it. Gluttony is a sin and if you eat rich foods all the time, it's not good for you. So if you're going to sin, do it well! The restaurant space has pew benches in it, we;re across from a church, we have hot salsa and drinks on the rocks (fire and ice), so I figured we could run with the "if you're going to sin, go big!" idea."

James isn't new to the restaurant industry or Mexican food. Growing up in Friday Harbor, he and his brother John worked at restaurants in Roche Harbor. In his 20s, he moved to California and worked in biotech and high tech computer industries. Returning to Seattle in 1992, he wanted his own business. "Opening a restaurant was a relatively inexpensive start-up. I figured if you worked hard and treated people right, you'd have a good chance of succeeding."

His brother John had been a manager at Ray's Boathouse. They decided to work together and started looking for deli sites, settling on Pier 57, mainly because the owner would rent space to novices with no assets. "He was very good to us and did the build-out. It was the worst space, a food court in the attic. There were a few good summer months and then it closed. The owner insisted we do ethnic. And that's how Taco del Mar began: with fish tacos. No one in Seattle in 1992 knew what they were. Plus we used black beans, green rice, shredded-not ground-beef and potatoes. It was new then. I tried to tell guests that potatoes are from Central America and John had to remind me not to argue with customers," laughs James. "The owner let us use the commissary when the food court was closed. Without him, there probably wouldn't be a Taco del Mar. He didn't make us pay rent in winter and let us use the commissary for free."

After the first summer, John told James he wasn't coming back unless they changed the menu. James agreed to do San Francisco-style mission burritos with standard refried or whole beans. "It just got better and better from there," he recalls. For 4-5 years, they opened a store per year.

In 1996, franchise requests started coming in. With a business model very similar to Subway's, they "decided to fasten our trailer to Subway since those operators already knew what we'd want them to do," says James. "It was, for the most part, successful. The major flaw was that Subway operators were dealing with an established, successful brand. Outside of the Northwest, it was hard to get people to create the Taco del Mar brand. In 2007, when we opened 100 stores, the economy turned on real estate outside the Northwest. The world was collapsing around the stores. In 2008, it hit the Northwest. With a responsibility to the franchise owners, we tried to make an alliance with Subway through their franchise arm. We found they don't do alliances, they do acquisitions. So we sold Taco del Mar to them."

James had been busy traveling and working and suddenly didn't know what to do. "I had two kids and a wife who wanted a third child. I invested in and worked with the owner of Paddy Coyne's and helped expand that. I also took time to be with my family. It was great. In September, restaurant consultant Arnold Shain asked to show me a place. That was the first time I'd thought about doing Mexican again," says James.

"With Taco del Mar, I wanted to hit it out of the ballpark, but it was so much work and travel. I don't want to do that with Pecado Bueno. I would like 7-10 of these in the Northwest.* Not too big and I'm home every night for dinner." And the rest of us will be at Pecado Bueno.

Connie Adams/January 2012

Photos courtesy of Pecado Bueno