In short
Another great taqueria in or near Muk. This one…read morepushes harder to bring the proteins to life and run more specials, but I'm not sure if they have tons of salsas. The one I had was awesome, though.
*Bring cash to tip*. No tip line on the card reader since this is first a grocery store.
In long
This wasn't gonna be taqueria week but it kinda turned out that way, and they're all great in slightly different ways. On a similar but unrelated note: This particular parking lot probably wasn't designated for almost all the restaurants to be at least really interesting, either, but hey...that also kinda turned out to be the case.
You can get croissants, lumpia, brunch a couple places, and other stuff done really well at neighboring places here. Teto's steps in with shelves of groceries, coolers of Mexican sodas, a tiny dining room, a fantastic meat case if you're making tacos, and a really kickass little kitchen in back.
Chances are if your Spanish is as rusty as mine, you probably want to order from the cashier up front. The abuelita doing the cooking can probably decipher even bad Spanish (which I speak), but it goes faster if dude steps down the aisle to help translate for you. I gotta say that the staff here is relaxed and happy--they're very ready to jump in with super-cheerful service. You can almost tell before you order that they're used to pretty much everyone loving the food.
You can see tacos, burritos, and tamales on the posted menu, and there are specials, too. One of them today was caldo de res, and I was so wishing I was hungrier, 'cause I already had my heart set on tacos and a tamal...but that soup sounded so good.
I *did* see a dude in the corner going to town on the caldo, loving it so much he was almost dunking his nose in it. Gonna hafta get that next time it's on the specials board.
I got a carnitas and an adobada taco, and both of them were explosively flavorful. Huge flavors bursting from the seasonings they used on each kind of pork, plus crunchy fried onions on one. Plenty of cilantro and fresh onion, too. The lime wedge they give you has real life to it, which you, uh, just don't always see everywhere. Dude brought over a little dish of green creamy salsa, which added tons of flavor but was maybe less spicy than the porks. Note: The tacos come out HOT from the plancha. You just feel loved by food here.
I got a raja tamal, which was excellent. The masa was a tiny bit drier at the bottom but a good tamal is just a great treat, especially up here. A couple places in Seattle are slightly more impressive with their tamales, but if you're up here craving one, this more than satisfies.
Cold Jarritos on the table completed the meal. I was bummed I couldn't tip! Prices here are beyond reasonable. I'm not surprised to have seen 4 other tables taken in the middle of the afternoon on a work day. These guys know what's up.
