Taqueria Pancho Villa

[col klink]

It looks like the renovation of La Guadalupana is complete. There's a new sign, the windows are no longer obstructed and Wild West Trucks (the oracle of Maple Leaf) has given its official welcoming.

It's really a shame that everything else that WWT puts up on their signs amounts to inane drivel. Multple times his quotes or comments have met with "way to go out on a limb." I hope that it won't bring the new Pancho Villa down.

I haven't been in the new place but I'll probably drop in tonight for a burrito and give a suitable write-up.

If y'all have forgotten, Pancho Villa is the Robin Hood of Mexico and between the war of 1812 and 9/11, the only person to have killed Americans on their own soil. He won wide acclaim for his leadership in the Mexican Revolution.  What made him (in)famous happened in 1916. Pancho attacked an Army garrison in Columbus, NM, in retaliation for 20 Mexicans burned alive in El Paso. This attack lit a fire under the Americans and President Wilson sent an army of 5000 men under General Pershing to find Pancho Villa to find Villa, but came back empty handed.  Pancho Villa was eventually assassinated in 1923.

[mamster]

I hear they hunted him down for his taco al pastor recipe.

[Blue Heron]

col klink, thanks for the heads up about Taqueria Pancho Villa.

As I recall, they weren't making burritos before the remodel (burritos are an American invention, aren't they?).   They were basically serving tacos and seviche tostado, and some extra things on weekends.  Have they expanded their menu?  I thought the tacos were all pretty good (except for the tripas, which I would skip next time).  I especially liked their taco al pastor.

The day I went there, I was headed for either La Guadalupana or Mojito Cafe (in the same neighborhood), which ever I would find first.  I first looked for Mojito and not finding it, headed up a little farther to La Guadalupana.  On the way back, I finally spotted Mojito Cafe (Cuban), and also look forward to going there.

Looking forward to your review!

[col klink]

Upon ACTUALLY DRIVING past Pancho Villa's, I noticed that it is still quite empty and not quite open for business yet.  But rest assured, I am waiting with baited breath.  The idea a Mexican joint within stumbling distance from home makes me weepy.  Heron, you did say they were working on a liqour license right?

[Blue Heron]

yes, he's hoping to get a liquor license as well as expand the menu.  It will also be nice that he's putting in 5 or 6 tables, as he only had counter space before.  I hope they don't remodel (Americanize) it so much that it loses the flavor of being a casual taqueria type of place.  It looked like stepping into a little bit of Mexico  last time as I entered through the side door.

[col klink]

Pancho Villa is finally open! And praise the Lord above, they still have my favorite burrito. Even better is that they will have their liquor license in a month. Woo hoo!

First I have to say that they did a great job of remodeling the place. Second, it's really eerie sitting down to eat there. And I do miss my Mexican soap operas that were always on. But so far, I'm quite happy with the new ownership as they have added many tasty-looking items while retaining the entire menu of Guadalupana, even the tripe soup on the weekends.

Started off with the Shrimp Ceviche (they used the Spanish word for Shrimp) which was a tasty amalgation of lime (though not enough for my tastes), onion, tomato, cilantro (though not enough for my tastes) and a tiny bit of jalepeno. The shrimp were the tiny variety. I don't want to give a bad impression, I did like it. The appetizer was $7.50 and was sizable and came with four large (about 6") tortilla chips.

I ordered the al pastor burrtio Pancho Villa whilst Batgrrrl ordered the chicken Pancho Villa burrito. The chunks of al pastor were larger than previous and were not seared or chared as well as before, but decent enough. The chicken was nice, but like the al pastor, I've had better. I've never ordered the burritos for the meat fillings as the rice and beans along with the fresh onions, cilantro, and uneven sour cream and guacamole are what keep me coming back.

There is the regular burrito (which is I assume what Guadalupana offered) at $6, a markup of $1. The Pancho Villa burrito is I'm guessing about 20% larger. If you want limes (yes, you do) I believe you have to ask for them on the side for a fee. I didn't realize our orders didn't come with them until after the fact.

The best news I'm saving for last. They have pop in real glass bottles! Granted it was $5 for two 12 oz. Cokes and a 7UP, but it was worth it. Drank one of the Coke's this morning and remembered why I used to drink pop. It's sooooo much better. I did a comparison with Coke from a can and I almost did a spit take. Either the canned version started disolving my fillings, or there's a strong metallic taste.

[col klink]

Pancho Villa has finally received their liquor license! But it's only beer and possilbly wine. Sunday morning I dropped in for a couple of tacos and after I found out they had menudo, I had to sit down. Ordered a Dos Equis (came with lime) and a bowl of menudo.

Since I've never had a bowl of the stuff, I had no idea what to expect, but it wasn't unwelcome. I have had tripe before, actually quite recently at Thanh Bros in a bowl of Pho (pronounced fuh) but I couldn't really get a feeling on how it tasted. Now I now. It's a little chewy and there's a certain mental thing you have to get over. Basically it's a rich Mexican spiced beef broth soup with tender tripe.

The soup also came with four homemade flour tortillas and bowl with minced onions and cilantro. The tripe with the condiments and a little salsa were quite tasty and made it difficult to back to soup.

Now menudo is listed as a "hangover" soup. This I don't understand, I guess you have to have grown up with it. If I'm in a full-on hangover replete with nausea, the texture of tripe would be enough to trip the gag reflex. But I'm just a gringo, what do I know.

Anyone else try it? Here or otherwise?

I will say this, you get a lot of tripe for the money, ~$6.50.

[Blue Heron]

klink, thanks for the update.  I haven't had menudo before, but I had their tripe tacos and I can't say that I liked it.  I do like tripe in pho, however.

Mr. Heron has had menudo, as well as plenty of tripe soup in Switzerland, where the recipe includes tomatoes.  He likes it.

Pancho Villa is a place I want to get back to.  I liked their tacos al pastor very much.  I'd also like to try their ceviche.

btw, did you like Than Bros pho?  which location did you go to?  I've heard they are very good, I believe they got a thumbs up from perfectcircle.   Maybe we should start a pho thread?

[MsRamsey]

The Broadway branch of Thanh Bros (Capitol Hill) is excellent.  The broth is deep, hearty, and complex.

[mamster]

Laurie, heyjude, and I stopped at Pancho Villa last night.  Laurie got some kind of crunchy thing whose name I forgot, but it was quite good.  I had a taco al pastor (excellent) and a chicken taco (good), and heyjude had a tongue taco (great) and a shrimp ceviche tostada (too spicy for her, so I inherited it, and it was good--very fresh tasting).  The place as a whole was a little less funky than I expected.  It would be a nice place to sit and linger over a succession of different tacos.  If only they had machaca....

[heyjude]

Manster posted about our tacos, but not that we were on the way to the Alton Brown book signing at a large suburban new/used bookstore. Alton was great and obviously has a huge following. The place was standing room only when we got there 15 minutes early. During his stand up quality routine, he asked all the Jews in the audience to raise hands and there were three of us. Later he asked all the home brewers to raise hands and there were about two dozen. Toto, we're not in NYC anymore.

[mamster]

And I said that that next he should ask, "Okay, how many homejewers?"

[LaurieA-B]

My TPV food was called, I think, huarache.  I've never seen a dish by that name anywhere else, but it sounded good.  And tasted delicious.  The menu called it, I think, a "fried tortilla bowl" filled with stuff (beans or choice of meat).  I would call it a "corn tortilla trough" as it was sort of oval.  The tortilla was thick, almost like cornbread, and deliciously soaked up the juices from the chicken and salsa heaped on top (also lettuce and cotija).  I don't remember the price, but it was low.

I was expecting more of a taco stand atmosphere with faster service; it's not that, but it is very good.  Chips and salsa looked complimentary (we got takeout), and they have, as klink mentioned, an extensive selection of drinks in glass bottles.  I look forward to returning.

Laurie (who has a homejew but no homebrew)

[mamster]

Better TPV than TVP.

I should add that they have Jarritos Tamarindo, which puts other sodas to shame.

[MsRamsey]

Will someone please pinpoint exactly where this place is?  I assume it's the Maple Leaf neighborhood, but I don't see any other clues in the thread.  I want to try their food!  Thank you.

Kathy

[Blue Heron]

Taqueria Pancho Villa:  8064 Lake City Way NE, Seattle.   (Formerly known as La Guadalupana Taqueria & Mexican Grocery).

[MsRamsey]

Thanks, Blue!

[col klink]

I just had a carnitas taco and it is taking every once of my self-restraint not to use obscenities to describe how incredibly effing good it was. Beautifully grilled tender pork in decent chunks on a small corn tortilla with nothing but onion, cilantro and their green sauce. If you ever have a chance to drop by, do, you'll thank me. Also, don't forget you can get sodas the way they were meant to be had, in glass with cane sugar bottled in Mexico.