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The Weekly Eater Nadine Kam |
Taqueria offers authentic,
inexpensive taste of Mexico
My first thought upon walking into Taqueria la Michoacana was that it was not ready to be reviewed, from the smell of fresh paint on the walls, to the empty juice dispensers.
The only indication that they were indeed serving up meals was a lone patron who had just finished dinner, and was looking rather contented, beaming our way.
"Do I know you?" I wondered.
My friend and I sat down, but after about 10 minutes without being greeted, I suggested that we go somewhere else. Just as she agreed, one of the staffers finally offered us menus and that was that. In local style, we couldn't be rude, so we stayed. Ah well, with basic tacos running a mere $2 apiece, it wouldn't cost us much more than time. Besides, once you get your mind set on a certain cuisine, it's hard to squelch the craving.
We ended up being glad we stayed.
Not knowing what to expect, we decided to start slow, and ordered up a couple of smoothies ($3.80) before making any food decisions. About five different types are offered, and I went for the "Romantic Lassi" while my friend tried the "Papaya Creamsicle." Both were excellent, the former yogurt drink flavored with a touch of rosewater and the latter made slightly sweeter with fresh pineapple, banana and honey.
Jamba Juice this is not, so smoothies are made one by one the slow way. If everyone in the house orders one, expect to wait. I had slurped up three-quarters of mine before my friend got hers.
A quicker drink option is fruity Mexican colas by the bottle.
At Taqueria La Michoacana, from left, manager Gabriel Clark serves up tortas dupreme, while his sister-in-laws Naila Quintero, center, and Maria Lupe Quintero show soft tacos supremes and a burrito supreme.
FEELING COMFORTED by the integrity of the smoothies, we turned our attention to the specialties of this house of tacos run by the family behind Quintero's restaurant. While that restaurant has fine-dining aspirations, Maria Quintero and her son-in-law Gabriel Clark, have noted the absence of taquerias -- a SoCal staple -- here. As a result, says Clark, "When people go to eat tacos, they don't get an authentic taco, what the thing in Mexico is."
You've got to admit, most of our local taco experience comes from fast-food windows or TexMex-styled supermarket kits cooked up by Asian or Caucasian moms, so it's no surprise that the real thing is far more impressive than the usual ground beef and bottle-spiced taco filling.
You will be able to get a ground beef taco but you need to try the special fillings, at $1 more than a basic taco. The corn shell (dorado) is offered with basic fillings of ground beef, chicken, potato and refried beans, but flour shells accompany the special fillings to allow you to better savor the flavors of al pastor (garlic pork), pork chile verde, pork chile Colorado, carne asada (spicy beef), barbacoa (lamb) and fish.
The flour shells are your basic 6-inch tortillas, and the fillings are a tasting portion of about 3 to 4 ounces -- a mere mouthful -- so go ahead and take a chance by ordering at least three tacos with different fillings. Gabriel said cautious first-timers generally try one, but many are returning to down four to eight tacos in a sitting. One customer is up to ordering 10 at a time.
Gabriel says chile verde, with its mild tomatillo sauce, and marinated chile Colorado are emerging as favorites. I would start with the al pastor and fish (mahimahi was the catch of the day on my visit). After that, it's a toss-up between the chile Colorado and carne asada.
The basic taco is enhanced only by eye-opening flecks of cilantro and onion. You'll pay 50 cents more for the supreme version with the addition of familiar toppings of lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream.
If you prefer bread to tortillas, you can also order up a sandwich, or tortas ($6.95/$7.95 supreme), with any of the fillings.
You may assume the "avocado" advertised on the menu is guacamole, but what you get is about a quarter of an avocado, pure and unadulterated.
The restaurant also offers pozole ($5.50), menudo ($7.50) and albondigas ($6.50) soups, and breakfasts of Mexican scrambled eggs, with the likes of salsa or chorizo. Still to come will be salsas and other goodies to go.
The taqueria is a welcome addition to the scene and is such a simple, affordable and delicious idea it'll probably make a lot of people wonder why they didn't think of it first.
1666 Kalauokalani Way / 955-8799 Taqueria la Michoacana
Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, and Thursdays to Saturdays; 8 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays
Food 
Service Ambience Value Cost: About $10 to $12 per person
See some past restaurant reviews in the Columnists section.
Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com
excellent; very good, exceeds expectations; average; below average.
