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

Thought I’d share a quick update on our local poker players, many of whom faced off at the Clearwater Casino for a bid to the Main Event at the World Series of Poker in Vegas next month. (See last week’s feature on the competition here.) I received this email from April Leigh, the casino’s media coordinator. She wrote this:

Quick Facts: 161 people entered the tournament. The top 16 finishers were paid. Payouts for the top 16 players totaled more than $33,000. In addition, Judy Vigoren (who was featured in the What’s Up story for winning a spot in the senior event) was also in this tournament. She took 5^th place (that means she beat out 156 other people and was the only woman at the final table). The tournament lasted approximately 12 hours. It started at 11am and the last hand was dealt at 11:15pm.

Hats off to Judy, who has only been playing poker for a few years and seems to be quite the natural. The photo below shows the event’s winner, Rick Larsen, who gets to compete in Vegas in July. The second gives you an idea of just how packed Clearwater’s poker room gets when a ticket to the Main Event is on the line. WU

An old-fashioned BBQ, a raffle and a mini-auction ring in the 4th annual family-friendly Theatre School benefit fundraiser at Bainbridge Performing Arts, which takes place at 5 p.m. Sunday, July 18. The fundraiser boasts some good entertainment too: The Edge Improve will perform, and kids in the audience are invited to join in their fun.
Tickets, $35 for adults and $20 for kids 18 and under, can be purchased online at www.bainbridgeperformingarts.org, by phone at (206) 842-8569 or in person at 200 Madison Avenue North, Bainbridge Island. Currently enrolled BPA Theatre School students get in free when accompanied by a paying adult.