What\'s Up

I didn’t think this could happen, but I’m getting sick of eating tacos. At the same time though, I’m gaining a greater appreciation for well-made Mexican cuisine.
When I began this quest to find Kitsap’s best carne asada taco, I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking for. I was still pretty fresh off an early summer trip to Mazatlan, Mexico, where I mostly avoided the tourist zone and dined with local families. Late one evening, some friends from the area took me to one of their favorite taco shops. It was after dark, but the place was still humming with life. We could smell the grill from a block away. The cooks were tossing new beef onto the fire every minute and pounding out fresh tortillas by the plateful.
We crowded around one of the patio tables and ordered what one of my friends who had never been to Mexico proclaimed to be the best taco she had ever eaten. When I bit into my own taco, I was reminded of all the tastes that make Mexican food special.
A couple of days later, some acquaintances in a neighboring town treated us to a home-cooked feast. Now my friend had a new candidate for the best Mexican food she’d ever tried.
When I got home and a few weeks later started looking for the best taco in Kitsap, the taste of those meals was still in my mind. And while some local restaurants do a great job of recreating the atmosphere of a taco stand in Mexico, very few can recreate the tastes of such a place. The difference, as I’ve said before, is the freshness of the ingredients. Homemade tortillas and fresh vegetables may be tasty, but they’re not practical for every restauranteur here in the States. And not every cook knows to let their ingredients speak for themselves, instead of drowning the flavors in the salsas and seasonings to which we’ve become all too accustomed.
For those reasons, I’m all the more pleased when I do find a place with fresh, flavorful ingredients. But those restaurants are very rare, so I’m somewhat relieved this project is rounding its final bend.
My next entry in this series will be my last. After a few more tastings, I’ll have my final recommendations for the best carne asada tacos in Kitsap, along with my reasons for picking them.

Do you have a story about how you found your favorite taco? Contact reporter Brian J. Olson at bolson@northkitsapherald.com.

I’ve come to a realization: It’s not all bad out there. It’s just mostly bad.
A conversation last week with a caterer reiterated a point I had touched on when I first began this quest for Kitsap’s best carne asada taco.
“Freshness is so key,” she told me as I polished off a handmade tortilla filled with homemade guacamole and salsa and hot-off-the-grill steak chunks.
I nodded in agreement, my cheeks puffed like a chipmunk’s, jaws working vigorously. She was absolutely right. Freshness makes all the difference when it comes to Mexican food. But we tend to value convenience over taste. Take for example fast food.
Earlier this week, for the first time in years, I entered a fast food Mexican restaurant of my own volition. As I plodded toward the counter like a steer at the stockyards, I started thinking. We don’t eat fast food because we love the taste. We dine out of desperation. We say, “I need something to fill my belly, and I need it five minutes ago. I’m hungry now, and I don’t have the time, energy or money to make something with nutrients or taste, or to have someone cook it for me.”
And so, with limited options, we end up at a counter in front of a dreary person in a funny hat, staring up at a reader board and ordering a number seven with a side of Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes.
I realize this is just the way things are, but it’s not like we have to accept it. Given the choice between quick, salty, greasy food and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I made myself, I’ll gladly take the latter. It tastes and feels better. Likewise, given the choice between fast food and a taco that costs 50 cents more at a sit-down restaurant, I’ll happily thrown down the extra two quarters.
That being said, it’s not always easy to find sit-down food that won’t make you grimace. Before I choked down my three bites of fast food taco, I went to a family Mexican restaurant where the only authentic part was the staff. I had to stop myself from asking the waiter how he could serve soggy tacos piled with canned ingredients and preservatives that drown out the taste of the meat without feeling like he was making a mockery of his heritage.
There was nothing authentic about that dish because there was nothing fresh about it. I’ll say it again: Freshness is the key to good Mexican food. Even if it’s something as simple as a carne asada taco. I’ve still got about a dozen restaurants left to visit. I’m optimistic that at least a few of them will value fresh ingredients over convenience.

How does fast food stack up against homemade tacos? Tell Brian what you think. Contact reporter Brian J. Olson at bolson@northkitsapherald.com.

Let me begin by saying I’ve been surprised — both pleasantly and unpleasantly — in the last couple of days.
On the plus side, I received numerous emails and comments over the weekend from people interested in this search for Kitsap’s best taco. That’s very heartening for me, to know that people are reading and taking this as seriously as I am. Some of those comments have included recommendations. I thought I knew of every Mexican restaurant in the county, but I’ve learned of a few new ones through the emails I received. I intend to do a thorough job by visiting each of those restaurants.
I’ve found some very tasty tacos thus far, and I hope that trend continues as I move throughout the county.
On the other hand, though, I was disappointed by a recent taco tasting. I want to save my final evaluations for the end of this project, so I won’t say just yet which taco let me down. But I will say that I’ve visited five restaurants thus far, all in Poulsbo. And they are, in chronological order: El Huarache, Los Cazadores, Casa Luna, Los Cabos and Casa Rojas Express.
The plan is to continue expanding my search outside of Poulsbo, most likely visiting Kingston and Silverdale this week and moving outward from there.
¡Suerte!

Have a favorite taco place? Contact reporter Brian J. Olson at bolson@northkitsapherald.com.

As this taco quest gets off the ground, here are a few things I’m noticing.
Fresh meat is not as hard to find as I thought it would be, but fresh tortillas are. Fresh vegetables and salsas are hit-and-miss. Some places have them, some don’t.
I’m only three restaurants in as I write this, but I’ve also seen pretty steady prices. At each place I’ve visited, tacos de asada range from about $2 to $2.50 each. That’s a bit more than you’d pay in Mexico, but not a bad bargain for a meal this side of Tijuana.
I’d also like to say a few words about my motivation for writing this piece. A couple of weeks ago, a co-worker noted the lack of variety in foreign cuisine in Kitsap. He also noted the abundance of Mexican restaurants in relation to other types of food.
Being pickier than most when it comes to Mexican food, I started to wonder how many of those Mexican restaurants were actually worth eating at, and how many were just taking up space that would be better filled by, say, an Indian restaurant or a Turkish delight joint.
I realized I hadn’t visited the majority of Mexican restaurants in Kitsap that lie outside my daily commute, so I couldn’t judge most of them. And I realized my experience with Mexican food in the States, though sub-par, had not been wide-ranging enough to allow for a sound judgement. I also hoped I would find some bright spots that I could look forward to eating at more often in the future and recommend to friends. That’s what I will continue to search for in the coming weeks.

Reporter Brian J. Olson, when not on his search for Kitsap’s best taco, can be reached at bolson@northkitsapherald.com.

I’m on a quest to find the best tacos in Kitsap County.
I don’t expect it to be easy. The American interpretation of Mexican food is usually a cheap forgery of what you find south of the border. Most Mexican restaurants in the U.S. serve tacos with over-salted meat, old vegetables, mass-produced tortillas and some type of weak salsa.
The first time I went to Mexico, six years ago for a two-week stay in the hills outside of Ensenada, I was amazed by the food. Everywhere I went, the tacos were delicious. There didn’t seem to be any bad taco stands (except for the ones that sent me to the toilet for a couple hours at a time, but even those had tasty food).
I’ve been back to Mexico four more times since then, including one afternoon last summer when I drove down to Rosarito from San Diego for the sole purpose of enjoying a few tacos on the beach.
Prior to my first trip, I had heard people in my Spanish classes at college poke fun at Azteca. I couldn’t understand it. I thought Azteca was fine. Now I only eat there when other people force me to.
There are rare places in Kitsap, though, that use fresh ingredients in their tacos, which makes an enormous difference. I plan to find the best of those places over the next few weeks. Every day, I’ll visit at least one of the 20 or so Mexican restaurants in Kitsap (franchises count as one restaurant, I don’t need to be redundant and visit each individual branch). I’m not going to taste every item on every menu. I’ll stick with the most accurate indicator of a good Mexican restaurant: the tacos de asada. Every taco stand and restaurant in Mexico has carne asada tacos. It’s the simplest, most popular dish, and it’s something that every restaurant calling itself Mexican should know how to do well.
Because vegetables and salsas are also important parts of the taco experience, I plan to garnish each taco with at least the basic toppings. After all, a taco with fresh beef is worthless if the salsa is watery or the lettuce is limp.

I’ll begin my search Monday, Aug. 2, at El Huarache and Taqueria Los Cazadores, near my office in Poulsbo. I plan to update this blog every few days, with brief bits of info about each restaurant I visit. Until then, buen provecho!

North Kitsap Herald reporter Brian J. Olson is on the hunt for Kitsap’s best taco. Reach him at bolson@northkitsapherald.com.

Here are a few stills from Ovation! Musical Theatre Bainbridge’s current production of “Cabaret.” This weekend is your last chance to catch the dazzly musical: It runs at 7:30 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, July 30-31, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 1. Here’s a snippet from a piece What’s Up put together earlier this month, talking with director Ron Milton:

“I like the audience to realize they’re in the theater, I like them to feel the sweat from the performers,” he said. “Theater holds a crowning place in entertainment in that you can never recapture the ephemeral feeling of theater, because no two performances are quite alike.”

Enjoy the show. WU

(Photos courtesy Ovation! Musical Theatre Bainbride.)

The annual Kitsap Pride festival will celebrate the county’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and ally community in Bremerton’s Evergreen Park this Saturday, July 17. A marketplace of local vendors and community organizations, a kids’ bouncy house and “Cirque de la Queer” for teens (from The Q Center) will run from noon to 5 p.m. The Jbaum Band plays at 1 p.m., dueling pianos are fired up at 2:20 p.m. and Boy Blue and The Moon play at 4 p.m. In between, two drag shows take the stage, at 2 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. Later on, a Pride Party will be held at the Bremerton Eagles. Learn more at kitsappride.org.

It’s been a big few days at movie houses, with the controversial opening of cult favorite “The Last Airbender” and the descent of thousands of teenage girls crying battle between vampire and werewolf at “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” midnight premieres.
One of Kitsap’s smaller cinemas, The Historic Lynwood Theatre on Bainbridge Island, is marking its 74th anniversary this Monday, July 5, with a performance from house organist Dennis James and a showing of Cecile B. DeMille’s 1927 silent “Chicago,” starring Phyllis Haver and Victor Varconi.
“This film has been out of print for many years and it’s a rare treat in this day and age to experience film accompanied by a live organist,” said Jeff Brein, co-owner of the Lynwood Theatre, in a press release.
The Lynwood opened in 1936.
Showtimes are 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $12. Info: (206) 842-3080. Find the Lynwood at 4569 Lynwood Center Road.
This weekend, Kingston’s Firehouse Theater shows Hal Ashby’s “Harold and Maude” at 11:15 p.m. Saturday, July 3, and Sunday, July 4. If you haven’t seen the film, here’s a synopsis from the Firehouse:

In a broad sense, the film is a simple love story about how opposites attract — only, this time around, he’s 19 and she’s 79. Harold, played with deadpan humor by Bud Cort (M*A*S*H), is under extreme pressure from his overbearing mother, Mrs. Chasen (Vivian Pickles, in a performance that is a sheer delight), to enter the dating world. Unfortunately, the shy and morose Harold would rather spend his time attending the funerals of complete strangers. It is at one of these where he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon), who has the spunk and energy of a teenager. Maude is convinced that Harold needs to come out of his shell and enjoy life, so she brings him into hers. The taboo relationship between Harold and Maude, created by screenwriter Colin Higgins, embodied the spirit of an experimental generation guided by the mantra “If it feels good, do it.” The love affair between the film’s two eccentrics remains one of Hollywood’s most unexpected, but tender, romances. WU

Valentines Performing Pigs will skateboard, jump hoops and bowl at the gazebo in the Commons off Bay Street in Port Orchard at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 27, during the town’s Fathoms O’ Fun celebration. Trainers Steve and Priscilla Valentine, of Gig Harbor, have raised a handful of pigs, including Nellie, billed both as the world’s “smartest” and “greatest” pig. They’ve been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, Late Night with David Letterman, Oprah, The Today Show and Animal Planet, to name a few. The pigs live with the Valentines, and enjoy human comforts, such as their own beds, according to the website. Here’s a link to several features on the snouted performers and their trainers. Check out this video, in which Nellie bowls at the Letterman show while Dave jokes about BLTs. (For more on Fathoms O’ Fun, look here; read about this weekend’s Street Scramble in Port Orchard here.) WU

If you haven’t heard, funnyman Gallagher is bringing his political comentary and splashy show to the Admiral June 24. Learn more about it here, or visit the Admiral’s website.

Here’s a clip to tie you over until his performance. It looks … messy, and that’s some wild and crazy hair. WU