Chow La Puerta: It Lives
posted by on November 2 at 14:51 PM
The La Puerta faithful protested vociferously last week at my characterization of it as “a Mexican restaurant that no one in the history of time had ever been inside.” Indeed, this was hyperbole. I ate there once, with my dad and my brother. My dad (from whom I inherited a propensity to begin thinking/talking about the next meal in life immediately after the meal at hand) has no memory of this. My brother recalls it being empty except for us and “not that good.” I remember the chips being above par; the rest did not register. We never went back.
But! For you who took umbrage: La Puerta lives! It’s moved to the former Torero’s space, upstairs in the Broadway Market. (Happy hour is 3 to 6 p.m. with $5 16-ounce margaritas.)
Some people castigated Quinn’s, bite untaken, for displacing La Puerta at 10th and Pike with pretentious yuppie food for d-bags who ought to move to Bellevue. Since La Puerta continues to exist, maybe we can all get along. Capitol Hill: Land of Something for Everyone, Now More Than Ever!
• La Puerta, $12.95: carne asada super burrito
• Quinn’s, $12: bacon cheeseburger (made with 8 ounces of Snake River Farms wagyu beef and cheddar) with fries
In other-Mexican-places-on-Broadway news, El Tajin, a new mom-and-son operation near Mercer, seems worth a try. They’re from Veracruz.
that $12 bacon cheeseburger was pretty damn good. the fries pretty damn bad. the fish and chips disappointing (one cube of fried fish and limp fries for $14?). Not that I'm above it, but I had to beg and flap arms for a 2nd beer.
i ate at la puerta and although i didn't measure it i am pretty sure my $5 margarita was no where close to 16oz. the food wasn't great either.
Bravo Ms. Clement. Very diplomatic of you.
I wanted to like El Tajin, since I live within spitting distance. But my burrito was awful. And the service wasn't so great either (one of our burritos was "accidentally" given away to another patron, so two of us ate up while one of us waited 5 minutes for another one).
Anyhoo, don't go there.
Remember back over 10 years ago when Hamburger Marys was in the top of Broadway Market and the bar was the bomb on weekends.
Quinn's will be closed on Sunday and Monday the next couple of weeks (Nov 4/5 & Nov 11/12). I mentioned this on my site last week. Just didn't want anyone to be disappointed and show up when it is closed.
Why did Torero's die?
Relieved that La Puerta is still around, but super bummed that Torero's is dead! How? When?!
$12 for a cheeseburger? Not on my budget. Please tell me that Dick's is still alive and well on Broadway.
la puerta served the best high school cafeteria Mexican food in town!!
d'lish!
PLUS, it had a view of Basic Plumbing. You could drink the afternoon away, eating mediocre Mexican food while watching WHO was visiting the BP. Your high school drama teacher? Your best friend's dad? Certain local news reporters? You never know!
Sadly, I too really wanted to like El Tajin. I've been to the pyramids at El Tajin, I have family from Veracruz. I really really wanted to like it. I went there, was disappointed, and I'm hoping it's just new-restaurant syndrome.
One thing I noticed is that their menu is really large, and trying to be all things to all people (many more regions than veracruz are represented). As an armchair restaurant critic, I would advise that they trim it down to a few dishes that they do *well* rather than a lot that they dont.
@9 nailed it on all counts.
What a bunch of stupid idiots. There are homostupid people and then there are mexican food stupid people. Seattle seems to be filled to the brim with the latter (although there are plenty of the former too). There isn't any "one" type or style of mexican food that exists. La Puerta wasn't perfect, no mexican food restaurant is. For god's sake (the lower case "g" is intentional--for the thing that is bitching on other posts that the word Gay should start in lower case) Jalisco's serves a salad that has cheese-its (sp?) on it. And don't give me any of that mexican fusion food shit. THAT IS NOT MEXICAN FOOD, no matter what you mexifoodstupid people think (here me?! Chipotle!). If you've grown up eating mexican food then you know what I'm talking about. For the rest of you mexitardfood idiots--I wish you would just shrivel up and die.
Can't say as I was all too impressed with Quinn's based on my visit last night. The host was phenomenal, very attentive and friendly, which signified good things to come, but after the wait it went precipitously downhill from there. My companion requested a cheese other than cheddar on her burger and was shockingly flat-out refused ("no, only cheddar for the burgers" even though there's a ham and gruyere sandwich and other cheeses on the menu), which is like getting a $12 Dick's burger (it was very tasty, although it was also not cooked to order, so she lost out on two counts). The oxtail, marrow and gnocchi contained no marrow whatsoever and some very unpleasantly slimy, pasty gnocchi (the oxtail was good, though). The pear/endive salad was remarkable for being impossibly bland and flavorless considering its ingredients, and the roasted cauliflower, while also tasty, had a texture best suited for convalescent homes. The foie gras mousse was good, too, but it's kind of hard to screw up foie gras. And tables were too closely placed together so we got to deal with our neighbor's argument as if we were involved. La Puerta wasn't great Mexican food by any real standard, but at least you knew what you were getting and it was comfortable. Quinn's is going to have to try a little harder to be a good replacement.
MCAO@12: WTF? Shut the fuck up.
I agree that the food at Tajin isnt that great, the chicken is really crunchy and to me, a texture person, thats a little bit much. But, if you want a kick you on your ass drink, they have one. Its called the F-U and has a few different kinds of booze and no mixer. I can handle myself pretty well but one of these was plenty for me. And, its only $6.50. Worth it to me.
oh yeah, "can we get some tartar sauce for the fish and chips?" "no, we don't have tartar sauce"
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