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El Toro Mexican Store & Grocery
Categories: Food Specialty Food Ethnic Food Restaurants Mexican Ethnic Food, Mexican [Edit]
1701 Simpson Ave FrntAberdeen, WA 98520
(360) 538-0660
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
3 reviews for El Toro Mexican Store & Grocery
3 reviews in English
-
Review from Jim B.
Seattle, WA
11/24/2007
El Toro is not what you are expecting. There's a hidden restaurant inside!
OMG!
So inside you can find a place that caters to Aberdeen and Hoquiam's sizable mexican population. Groceries? Not so much. Phone cards, CDs, foooooood.
Mulitas, Tacos, Burritos, Menudo, excellent! They make their own everything here. Salsas (five different ones), tortillas, everything made here.
Meats, also all done here and done right. Lengua, Carnitas, Mole, Asada, ... you can come back several times before repeating.
Perfectly seasoned. Very inexpensive.
So, a little story:
The first time we drove by it, my wife and I looked at each other and said, "That's the one." We have a sixth sense for hole-in-the-wall restaurants with excellent food. El Toro at one point was listing to one side, it was in such danger of falling down. Another time, there was a huge hole in the sidewalk. Another time in the floor inside the restaurant.
But now it is quite fixed up. They've spent a bit on making the cooking area clean and modern.
But back to the first time, so we walk in and order a bunch of tacos with nearly every meat they have. The woman there tried to warn us off of getting so much food, but we wanted to try the meats. So she instead gave us little helpings of each kind of meat that we made mini-tacos out of. It was sort of like Carne KitchenSink.
The gentleman there brought out the salsas. A normal red, a normal green, a normal bunch of chopped of veggies, and two others.
One was a puree of lime and avocado - creamy and delicious. Both the lime and the avocado distinct on the tongue, but mixing together in near sexual bliss.
The second was an oil based salsa with tons of mashed up peppers in it. It was incredible! In Mexico and in the US, I'd never had anything quite like it. My eyes quickly scanned the store. There was none on the shelves.
I called him over.
Me: "This is great! Did you make this here?"
Him: "What? You mean the bottle?"
Me: "No, the salsa, it's excellent."
Him: (looking at me like I just praised a glass of water) "Um, yes, we make that here."
Me: Do you sell it?
Him: Sell THAT?
Me: Yes.
Him: No, it's free, you don't have to pay.
Me: No, no. I mean I want to buy some to take home. I'd love to cook with that.
Him: But ... well .. no ... I don't sell it, but I will give you some.
Me: Are you sure? I'm happy to pay for it.
Him: No, it's fine. Let me get you a little.
So he leaves and comes back with a quart of it. I'm thinking "My god, 8 oz of this at Trader Joes would be $15."
I thank him profusely for the bottle and leave a generous tip on the way out. That stuff makes the best chicken marinade ever. It is a killer addition to ad hoc BBQ sauces. It is magnificent.
So, when you are coming back from the Ocean and on that fast-food stretch through Hoquiam and Aberdeen, keep your muzzle on until you get to El Toro. -
Review from Francisco A.
Seattle, WA
6/18/2009
This place has the best tortas I have had outside of the southwest! They perfectly toast the bun, season the meat just right, and make the creamy guacamole sauce that Seattle taco trucks always neglect. They also sell tortillas which are ridiculously good. It's too bad I live 4 hours from this place. I'll make a detour here next time I hit up the Pacific coast.
-
Review from Jody F.
Olympia, WA
12/19/2009
Closed : ( And I never got to try it....
