Fuck. They had the best Tacos Al Pastor in town. The one by Northgate doesn't even compare.

I wish that Seattle had more food-wagons. I get a bit jealous whenever I go down to Portland and see the multitudes of wagons they have. It's a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.

See people? The dork who thinks he's so cool for spewing Hummer-loads of pollution from a two-stroke moped is a hipster douche. Please learn to tell the difference.

You're allowed to kick those over, by the way.

Are you sure, Jonah? I tried to get a burrito here on Saturday and their sign said they were just "closed for the weekend". They were obviously cleaning the hell out of the thing, and my assumption was that it would reopen shortly.

@ Doug-

The health dept. site says it's still closed. They're allowed to reopen whenever they get up to code, but I think it usually takes about a week.

nooo! the only place in wallingford to grab a bite to eat after 2 am.

I'll stick to Agua Verde, thanks.

DAMN!! Where am I supposed to get my food poisoning now??!!! Fuck that sucks!! Life is not fair unless I can eat from a roach coach and spend a week shitting liquid crap out of my asshole!!!

@6 Not really. Milano pizza is open until 3 a.m.

Went by Sushi Land on lower Queen Anne on Sunday, and it was closed for water problems. Didn't go by today, anybody know what's going on?

is it bad if i like the place but still tell you that i once saw one of the gals there tending to a sick pidgeon she had in a box out back and ...maybe...changed gloves once she went back in? and then that i still ate my tacos with delight afterwards?

Elenchos, it's quite possible that this is all this guy could afford which is the big lure of these things, not "thinking he's cool" as you say. And I would still bet my money on the oldest, filthiest two-strokes over the Hummer. I've never seen a two-stroke scooter sit in stop-and-go traffic on the freeway for 2 hours every day, the very act which creates the most pollution. Most scooter owners use them for short local trips as they're much too annoying for anything else.

I never ate there but was happy it existed. A taco truck in a Winchell's doughnut parking lot. Wallingford is an interesting, perplexing neighborhood.

Sorry, @13, but those two-strokes emit more carbon in an hour than a Hummer does in a year.

I agree that La Pasadita is supercalifragilistic (don't get al pastor, get the carnitas), but it's also really far away. Rancho Bravos is right there. North of the ship canal is woefully underserved by taco trucks. Aqua Verde doesn't even begin to compare.

It's funny, too, how all anybody wants to talk about now is carbon. As if we don't worry if the air is poisoned or not, only greenhouse gases. The climate might not care if you're breathing CO or CO2, but one of them causes brain damage and heart problems. Or just kills you. The climate also doesn't care that you're breathing raw hydrocarbons, but you'll care when the benzene makes you puke, and eventually gives you cancer. So big SUVs are hogs, but they are clean. Two-strokes are filthy, filthy dirty, and that shit will kill you dead.

And nobody goes to all the trouble and expense of keeping an antique moped running because they're poor; quite the opposite.

Of course, a more insightful and more germane question might be "Why do criminals rate the second mentioned taco place so low?"

I'm betting it's the service.

They put up with bad service by rating it low.

Damn. I'd agree that this wasn't the best taco truck in Seattle (Rainier near Walden and 155th and Aurora are certainly better).

But this one was the closest one to North Capitol Hill. It was reasonably priced. It was open until like 3am on the weekends, and in countless times eating there I never got sick. Oh well. I hope they can clean up their act and get back in business.

i was pretty sure that i got food poisoning from there two weeks ago -- this sadly confirms my suspicions . . .

DAMN! This was my favorite Mexican food in Seattle. I don't know whether to feel disgusted or relieved now.

All I do know is that there is no freaking way I'm going to TacoTime with their bullshit "Mexi-fries".

http://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-la-pasadita-seattle-2#hrid:PGcCPNCxhoB3UOrn4aDdhw/query:pasadita

Whatever taco truck in White Center we at the office go to for lunch sometimes is awesome. If I had a car I'd be eating there constantly.

Fnarf, your eyes must be brown. H/t Rover Eric.

A 2-stroke vehicle is kinda like a diesel vehicle - it emits more particulate matter into the air than a 4-stroke vehicle or car. This is what contributes to smog among other things.

A 2-stroke scooter emits LESS CO2 than your standard car or SUV or whatever, so it's cleaner in that regard. Something that gets 75-130 mpg is going to be naturally cleaner on the CO2 tip than something that gets 1/5 of that mileage.

that's great and everything, bobcat, but what good does that do me? stuck on Capitol Hill. drunk. not owning a car. it'd be pretty un-PC of me if I did own one and drove drunk to that place, don't you think? why are you sooooo cruel?

I think a few times I ate at the Wallingford location, I didn't get sick per se, but felt a little iffy. I have a pretty strong stomach, so food poisoning is rarely to never an issue. still that sucks.

look at how awkward he is standing in that picture. that alone is enough reason to mock him.

also, anyone in the food service industry will tell you there's this new guy on the beat who's a mega asshole. it could have been something like a clogged sink that got them, he's insane.

Their food was fucking great. I knew that the conditions may be less than ideal - look at the place - but a little bacteria is sometimes a good thing. I hope they can clean up and get back to business.

@22

The the HC that goes into your engine has to all go somewhere. The H in a newer 4 stroke engine becomes H2O, which is clean. In a dirty two stroke, a third of it remains HC, fouling the air with unburned gasoline. Two stroke boats and jet skis spew this into the water where it kills the fish and turtles and so on.

The C, carbon, has to either become CO or CO2. It can't just disappear. CO2 is not poisonous, but it is a greenhouse gas. Clean engines emit mostly CO2. Dirty engines like two strokes emit far less CO2, because they replace it with CO. Carbon monoxide is also a greenhouse gas -- there is nothing gained by subbing CO for CO2. You lose over again because CO is bad for the climate and also poisons everything that breathes.

And this is all assuming the best case scenario with a relatively modern two stroke. The worn out old mopeds and scooters that the hipsters ride are far less efficient.

"Criminals", Will? Huh? Forget some of your pills again?

It's unburned oil, not gas. I'm not saying there are no emissions, the question was whether a two stroke emits more than a Hummer or SUV. I burn one gallon a week commuting. Burning that gallon is not equivalent to the 10 gallons or more that an SUV would burn to go the same distance.

We need the government and a bureaucrat to protect people from eating stuff that can harm them. Governments solve everything.

"Each time a new charge of air/fuel is loaded into the combustion chamber, part of it leaks out through the exhaust port. That's why you see a sheen of oil around any two-stroke boat motor. The leaking hydrocarbons from the fresh fuel combined with the leaking oil is a real mess for the environment."

Look. Cities all over Asia are dominated by two stroke bikes. Is the air in Manila cleaner or dirtier than cities that rely on 4 stroke cars? Dirtier. Much.

Left coast, you are confusing consumption rates with pollution rates. No one is arguing that the Hummer doesn't suck down ten times as much gas. But Hummers, however much gas they guzzle, are actually pretty clean at the tailpipe, as are all modern vehicles. It has a big 'ol catalytic converter, for one thing. Fuel-efficient SULEV cars do even better on emissions, but two-stroke anythings -- scooters or leaf blowers -- just spew unbelievable amounts of gunk into the air.

Fnarf, you are confusing junk and greenhouse gases.

That White Center one is the best. Does anybody know the exact intersection?

Taqueria La Fondita 2 is between 15th and 16th Ave SW - (perhaps at 100th or 102nd - sorry!) it's behind Pho Tai and kitty corner to the New Angkor Market, and yes, it does rule the earth. Much better than the overpriced Wallingford roach coach in question...

I like the taco truck by Northgate. I always stop when I'm passing through.

people in seattle waxing mexican food motivates me to go back to the bay area. 4 years

I just moved to Wallingford a month ago. That place was cheap, within walking distance and DELICIOUS. Some of the best Mexican food I've had in Seattle.

I really hope they reopen soon.

On the food poisoning issue: I have a REALLY sensitive stomach and I never felt sick after eating there.

I have some of their salsa stockpiled in the fridge actually, now that I think about it.

Maybe it nosedove in quality over recent weeks, but I liked my experience with the Rancho Bravo Taco Truck's rice and bean bowls back in the day.

I hope they clean up, return and stay in line. It'll be a shame if they disappear and Wallyworld's food options are reduced to Dick's and nothing else.

Late night food options, I mean

james taylor sings a song about mexican food. come to think of it, if jimmy buffett wanted to sing that song, he could, and make $$. even if that taco truck played music - which it doesn't - i doubt they would be playing that JT song. or any JT song, timbalake or taylor. carly simon bagged JT senior. and paul!

i've gotten the shits at tacos guyamos on south broadway 3 times....never once did i say i wouldn't go back...but never once did i think that it would hapen again....yet it did and does. never once did i get the shits at a taco truck proper OR any the the 'bertos (filia., dos., erri., etc.) shops in the SW. never......never give a loan to a taco truck trucker. never.

i recommend the taco truck at 145th and 15th NE ... i really have nothing else useful to add. thank you.

*screams to the heavens*

it is not every parking lot in seattle where you can find delicious delicious quesadillas and then pop in to a winchells for donuts and then cross the street to get comic books.

this may mean the death of my favorite block..

Oh, Pasadita! Back when I worked at Pacific Topsoil, just about every day someone would drive the six blocks and get tacos for the team. Then they would get covered in dust and truck fumes at work. Mmmm...

Their tacos were pretty damn good. And they stayed open until just after bar closing time on weekends. What's not to like?

On the food poisoning issue -- the taco truck (as we call it) is like a crack provider to my roommates and I. Meaning between the four of us we're eating there 5-10 times a week. We've been doing this for months. And we've never had any problems.

Man, I hope they reopen.

I'll stick to Agua Verde, thanks.

Sorry @7 (Will in Seattle), have to agree with Fnarf on this. Agua Verde is another overpriced, overrated purveyor of Mexican food. The only Mexican place near the UW that serves the real thing is Mi Charrito.

That guy in the canadian tuxedo is obviously worried about how tight his jeans are than the emissions coming from his peugeot.

you'd better believe that if i ever see someone kicking over my moped, they will be getting hit in the face with whatever i can get my hands on at the time

I have a 2008 moped. Two-stroke. With a catalytic converter in the pipe. Meets the environmental guidelines for FOUR-STROKE vehicles in EVERY state in the US. Plus I get 120 miles to the gallon. Stop thinking that ALL two-strokes are evil. We have technology to make them better. Ass.

My pants also fit much better than that dudes do.

I ride a moped in Seattle. I will take responsibility and apologize for single-handedly destroying the environment. I will not, however, allow for the man in that photo to represent me.

if anyone ever kicks over my moped, i will use terry dean to bash their faces in!

Leave this so-called 'hipster' alone, what you don't see in this picture is he totally has tardcrutches and riding mopeds is the only joy he gets out of a life of constant pain. If that's not worth destroying the environment then i don't know what is.

if anyone actually cares about the topic of this slog post still, the taco truck was open again as of last night. go fill up on your asada tacos asap.