Carnitas Michoacan Beacon Hill
Overall vote: Go there.
Depending on what app you use on your phone or search query on the web Carnitas Michoacan can easily be overlooked as a purveyor of raw meats and not the “Mexican Food” and “Restaurant” banners that hang on the windows outside.
Nevertheless I’d say it’s a lot better than Google Map’s headline of a “no-frills Mexican eatery.” Their menu seems to have gone from printed to digital which makes it super easy to stare at and order from right when you walk in the door. All the usual suspects are here: tacos, burritos, enchiladas. Choice of meats includes pollo, asada, pastor, carnitas, and for a slightly higher fee lengua and tripa. After ordering an old man came up and asked in Spanish if they had tripe today which they did so I’m not sure if the premium stuff isn’t there all the time.
In addition to all the a la carte basics most the menu is dominated by thumbnails of the ‘plate’ dishes which include rice and beans. Here you can get all of the a la carte items but also things like tacos dorados (not explicitly in the a la carte list) as well as plates of a particular slab of meat like asada and accompanying tortillas.
I had a panic at the counter. I love tacos dorados but as my first post about Mexican food in Seattle was I going to order something that back in LA most classified as white people tacos[1]? I couldn’t, and for the sake of science went with one of each of the basics: pollo, asada, carnitas, and pastor.
First at bat were carnitas. They had three salsas to choose from at the salsa station and I went with the red and dark green. There was a lighter green probably predominantly tomatillo based which didn’t interest me. For the carnitas I went with green.
Overall fantastic. A entire burrito of this would be epic.
Next up pollo. This is something I have to learn about Seattle as most places serve pollo as a marinated version whereas I’m used to grilled chicken with usually no marinade. I know that’s technically pollo asado so maybe I’ll have to look out for that.
The pollo to me was kinda meh. Texturally crumbly and didn’t show much flavor.
Third up was asada. The beef was good but annoyed that it came with zero onions. I took a plain bite and then added in the red salsa which overall was solid.
Last and definitely not least was pastor. Somewhat of an identity crisis because in LA al pastor is a marinated meat that gets cooked and burnty via a spit and along with roasted pineapple is its own thing. So far in Seattle I haven’t seen pastor and instead its brother adobada which is very similar but kinda lacks the maillard effect you get from roasting on a spit.
Regardless this was great and similar to the carnitas would love this in a burrito or as a plate with some rice and beans.
Honorable mention to the tortilla. These were some of the best tortillas I’ve ever had and 99% sure based on the lady with the giant mixer of tortilla dough going in the back they make them onsite. I should have checked to see if they sell these as part of the carniceria section because I’d come back just for those alone.
[1] While crispy tacos aka hardshell tacos aka tacos dorados have a bad rap on the OG chart of tacos they’re not actually the result of white people but probably more so as the icon of things like Taco Bell. For a really great read check out the Taco Trail’s article on the history of the taco.
