Huarachito's (SEA)

[equinoise]

I recommend this relatively new taquieria on MLK south of the Columbia City light rail stop. It is the only place I've seen in the area that expressly offers a varied selection of carnitas parts, in the style of Michocan. I tried the lengua (tongue), oreja (ears), cuerito (skin), and liked the oreja best. The suadero (flank steak) was delicious as well. My wife had the costillo (ribs), as well as a larger fish taco, and an al pastor. This place excells on small touches, like the huge jar of escabeche each table recieves, the bits of pineapple in the pastor, and the lime-salt-pepper they toss with the tortilla chips. The owner/chef is apparently from Mexico City, so there are some of those regional specialites as well, including huaraches; this and the unusual colorful DIY hippie-mex decor made me suspect this place has some connection to El Quetzal of Beacon Hill.

Best of all: I noticed an al pastor spit device (sans meat), and the owner told me that it would be up and running today. Viva el trompo!

5418 Martin Luther King Jr Way S.
Seattle, WA 98118
[phone]

[GreenYoshi]

Wait,
I thought the one with all the little random bits of pork and a couple pieces of pineapple was their carnitas, and their much plainer (but incredibly moist and delicious) one with chunks of pork was their Al Pastor. Is that backwards?

Maybe it's a moot point, since I'll probably get both again next time...

[dagoose]

pieces of pineapple would indicate that it was probably the al pastor...

[GreenYoshi]

But it had all the random pieces of pork bits and stuff in it like other carnitas tacos often do, while the other one had more defined hunks of cut up pork like other al pastor tacos often do...

[terrier]

We went recently - the milanezza was good, but the tacos were where it was at. Yes, carnitas!

Will return.

[GreenYoshi]

Made it out to this place last night.
Since you described it as a taquieria, I had just intended to get a couple tacos to go, but that was a mistake. It is much more or a sit down place, with real entree dishes. I'll have to get back and try the menu beyond the tacos.

The tacos I has were delicious. I went with a standard sampling of Al Pastor, Carnitas and Lengua. All were fantastic.

I'll have to get back soon.

Sadly, the Al Pastor spit was still not running...

[equinoise]

Glad to hear others are liking this place.

I went back three days ago and got an al pastor torta, which was quite good. The spit wasn't up again, so I asked and they said they'd had it running last Thurs-Sat, and planned to do that again this weekend. They said having it during the week will depend on demand. If anyone goes by and sees it spinnin', holla back.

[equinoise]

This Saturday the spit was up, and I ordered a few al pastor tacos. The flavor was unmistakably better than the standard al pastor, with a crispy outer layer that comes from spit roasting. Definitely worth a weekend sampling. I also second my prior recommendation for the suadero (flank steak).