Where: Taqueria El Gallo, 16720 Redmond Way
#1, Redmond Fast, cheap and goodpick
three
at Taqueria El Gallo
Some would argue that the storefront culture of the suburbs
guarantees its sterility. These people havent looked closely, listened attentively,
or tasted carefully.
Remember what you had for lunch yesterday? Was it a hamburger
so good it made you forget that last rotten burger joint? Was it a dish so delicate
it satisfied the slithery back of your reptile brain?
If you said "no", you may have been eating in a
restaurant with little or no vision of what a restaurant should be.
Fortunately, a visionary restaurant is easy to spot. You've enjoyed one
if you've said, "Thats the best lunch Ive had in a long time!"
The judges would have also accepted an exaggerated belch and no fewer than five
yummy noises.
Do restaurants like that really exist on the Eastside?
¡Bien noticias amigas y amigos! In and around the same
strip malls as some of the worst food foisted upon mankind since the Israelites ate manna,
great restaurants are becoming less few and not as far between.
One of the absolute best in the quick-lunch category has been around
for about a year and its fame is spreading.
Along Redmond Way, just West of the now-defunct Boston Market (née
Chicken, now Sleep Country USA), is Taqueria El Gallo. The name, loosely
translated, means Roosters Tacos. And youll have to get up pretty early
in the morning to find a better taco in the entire state of Washington.
Taqueria, of course, means taco stand, and some of the best
are just thatnot much more than a scalding hot surface and a place to keep fresh
ingredients. These eateries trade a low comparative start-up investment for a big
riskthe long shot chance that their food alone will be good enough to sustain them
through the five risky years it takes a small business to establish itself financially.
For El Gallo, the gamble must have been a sure thing.
The place is clean and well-lit, but dont go for the
atmosphere. There isn't much atmosphere. Cheap cervezas help wash down
hot peppers, but dont sweat the beer list. Just pick food and drink that
sounds good and muy gusto! This may not be the Mexican food youre used
to. This is muy authentico Mexican food of a kind that, despite the
popularization of kitschy, fresh-ingredient Mexican-style eateries, can be found nowhere
else in the Seattle area.
A single dish goes to demonstrate this point most effectively: tacos
al pastor. Composed of marinated pork traditionally served in a corn shell with
only chopped onions and fresh cilantro; tacos al pastor can be found at but a handful of
Mexican restaurants in the Puget Sound. Taqueria El Gallo does it
rightgrilling the pork until its salty marinated flavor comes to the crispy surface
of the meat and transforms it from bland to bodaciousa little sour cream (a topping
that youll have to request) and salsa verde, and get acquainted with tacos as
they should be done.
Pay a single visit to the place, and see how ridiculous it seems
that you ever tried to appreciate the difference between Taco Time and Taco Bell. Taqueria
El Gallo is Mexican fast food that redeems the Eastside strip mall.
By E. Kevin Dare - Guest local writer and lover of
authentic foods.
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