How many Mexican restaurants can downtown Renton support?

In Freakazoid Freddy's world, the answer to the question "How many Mexican restaurants can downtown Renton support?" would be " All that currently exist plus a few more." For Freakazoid Freddy loves Mexican food.

So...how many Mexican restaurants currently exist in downtown Renton? Well, it depends on your definition of downtown Renton, and your definition of Mexican restaurants. For the purposes of this post, I am defining downtown Renton as anywhere within one mile of 3rd and Burnett, generally recognized as the center of downtown Renton. Thus, it slightly extends beyond the generally recognized boundaries, but close enough. I am defining a Mexican restaurant as one that serves Mexican food, but must have indoor seating(so no taco trucks, much as I like them), cannot be part of a national chain(so no Taco Bell or Chipotle), and the food must resemble or be recognizable to people from Mexico( so no Taco Time, even though I like their white chicken chili). Since the boundary is one mile from 3rd and Burnett, Torero's at the Landing is out.

That leaves us with seven, which is a blessing considering how small an area we're talking about, and they're all different from each other. Mexican food is not a monolith. Mexico is a big country. Food from New York City is not the same as food from Texas, so why should we expect only one type of Mexican food? Mexican food does have this image as something that's supposed to be inexpensive, and good inexpensive Mexican food is lovely, but it's also very limiting(Vietnamese and Indian food also suffer from the expectation, reputation that it's supposed to be cheap. But what if you're preparing labor intensive food using expensive ingredients? Someobody's got to pay for it.

1. The longest established Mexican restaurant in downtown Renton is La Hacienda Santa Fe, 811 S. 3rd St. It's been around for a long time, and for good reason: It's good. Service is friendly and very competent. The place is nicely decorated and comfortable. They've got a full bar. Portion sizes are huge bordering on obscene. The menu is huge, they're trying to be all things to everybody. The cons? They're catering to American tastes, and are of the same style as Torero and Azteca, in fact, ownership is from the same town in Jalisco as these other two, better known restaurants. Cuautla, Jalsico, where many people in the Seattle area Mexican restaurant industry hail from. I like La Hacienda better than Torero or Azteca( and I do like Torero's quite a lot, but it's beyond a mile away.) The food is consistently good at La Hacienda, just not great, and the prices can get high, depending on what you order. But some of the menu offerings are clearly more high end than what you find at a taqueria.

2. Around the corner from La Hacienda is El Burrito Loco,306 Williams Ave S. right next door to the downtown Renton post office, a taqueria with a fairly extensive menu, fairly recently relocated from North Renton, where their building was torn down to make way for a future middle school. Prices at El Burrito Loco tend to run about 40% less than at La Hacienda. Unlike La Hacienda, you order at the counter, and they don't bring chips and salsa to your table( as nice as those are, they're not common in Mexico). But they do have a nice salsa bar, with red and green salsas, pickled carrots and radishes, and dollar tacos on Wednesdays. There's nothing fancy about the place, but the tacos(and most everything else) are really good.

3. Down the block (kitty corner from La Hacienda)is the fairly new Yummy Juan's., 900 S. 3rd St. Yummy Juan's has a fairly small menu, and they don't really specialize in tacos, so it's not exactly a taqueria, but like El Burrito Loco, you order from the counter. They always have posole on the menu, as well as the meatball soup(albondigas), Sopa Azteca(Tortilla soup with chicken) and a seafood soup. The soups are top notch. They have much better than average fish tacos, and their mulitas(when available) are superb. They have happy hour meals from 3-6 for 5.95, which can include the mulitas, or a carnitas plate(great carnitas!), or three tacos(including rice and beans). They purport to serve healthy food there. I don't know if it is or isn't healthy, but it's really good. I've yet to have anything there I didn't like. There are vegetarian options available too. Nothing on the menu is more than ten dollars.

4. Right across from Renton High School is El Kiosko, 526 S. 2nd St. El Kiosko is a sister restaurant to El Burrito Loco, with a very similar menu. Like El Burrito Loco, tacos are excellent. El Kiosko is much smaller than it's sister El Burrito Loco(I'm not sure if it's the same ownership or the same family, but they're both also close family with the excellent El Asadero taco truck on Rainier Avenue in South Seattle). Because of El Kiosko's size, and the fact that they're both next to Renton high school and fairly long established, the place gets crowded. In the summer, I've seen lines out the door. They're good and they're cheap. But the place is a bit claustrophobic when they're busy.

5. Just barely within the one mile parameter are two places almost next door to each other, that share a parking lot: Mazatlan(540 Rainier Ave S.), and La Rancherita(530 Rainier Avenue S.).  Mazatlan is part of a local chain with branches all over the Seattle area, and also has ownership that hails from Cuautla, Jalisco. Like La Hacienda, Azteca, Torero's, etc, it's noted for friendly, solicitous service and large portions. Also has a full bar. However, the food there isn't quite up to La Hacienda's, although they do offer a 19.95 fajitas dinner for two. I would never turn down a free meal there, but it's just a little more Americanized food, the food's a little more processed, etc. If you're driving or walking by, and hungry, you will find something there you like. It's just not one of my top choices.

6. Just across Mazatlan's parking lot is Taqueria La Rancherita(530 Rainier Avenue S.). La Rancherita is an odd hybrid: you don't order at the counter, and they bring you chips and salsa. But they also have a salsa bar, and a three taco special(with rice, beans, and a soda) for 6.95. While they come to your table and take your order, service is not as fast, accomodating, or competent as Hacienda or Mazatlan. And the food's not quite as great as Kiosko, Yummy Juans. or El Burrito. Still, it's pretty good, and if you're hungry and driving or walking by, it's worth a stop.

7. Last but not least, El Bule in the north Renton neighborhood(247 Park Avenue N.)(less than a mile from 3rd and Burnett) is the new kid on the block, and different from all the rest. It's in one of those seemingly cursed locations. It was a Chinese restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, a hip hop nightclub, a sports bar, a Chinese restaurant again, and now is Mexican again. While it still has a bit of a dive bar ambience, it is Mexico City/Oaxaca influenced, and has aspirations of greatness. So  while the lunch and weekend menu features tacos and burritos, the dinner menu features home made mole sauce quite different than most Seattle area Mexican restaurants because it is Oaxacan influenced. Possibly the best mole chicken I've had outside of Mexico. Most mole is too cloyingly sweet. El Bule's is complex. A little sweet, a little spicy, a little bitter, and oh so good! The chips are made in house, and served with a house made salsa and a very delicious bean dip. The pollo asado is surprisingly moist.
The seafood soup is made with fresh crab and shrimp. El Bule, food wise, might be the best in Renton. But they know how good they are, and they know that in order to serve labor intensive foods that cost a lot to buy, prices need to be on the high side.And they are generally, except for lunch and weekends. The chicken enchiladas verde is also pretty great. No out of the can sauces for these guys.
The photo atop this post is El Bule's mole enchiladas with pork.

It's possible I missed a restaurant or two. Let me know if I did. And maybe the White Center neighborhood , Seattle's South Park neighborhood, or downtown Burien have more Mexican restaurants per square mile. But downtown Renton has to rank right up there.