While you first stroll as much as Situ Tacos, you’re instantly struck by its pastel pink exterior, which stands out amidst the muted impartial coloration palette of its Ballard Avenue environment.
Proprietor Lupe Flores needed to negotiate with the Ballard Historic Board, which has jurisdiction over the neighborhood, to color the partitions pink stucco in tribute to her Chicana tradition.
“We needed to keep inside the traditional Ballard look, nevertheless it was necessary for me to have pink stucco as a result of that screams Mexico,” she mentioned. Artist Sean Barton, who’s chargeable for many hand-painted indicators round city, painted the signal studying “Lupe’s Situ Tacos” over the doorway in a daring tattoo-inspired gothic font with roses.
Lupe, who drums for the bands Wild Powwers, Tacos!, and LORBO, first began her Situ Tacos enterprise in 2020, cooking the distinctive two-bite-sized crunchy tacos her Lebanese-Mexican grandmother taught her tips on how to make. They’re full of fillings like hushwe (Lebanese-style beef browned in butter), garlicky potatoes, and harissa cauliflower, then mounted with toothpicks and deep-fried. Since she couldn’t work her traditional jobs as a bartender or musician as a result of restrictions of the pandemic, she started delivering tacos to folks’s doorsteps and hosted pop-ups, finally taking on residency inside Jupiter Bar in Belltown.
In Could, Lupe opened the brand new brick-and-mortar store in Ballard within the former Bitterroot BBQ area, which she fully remodeled from a darkish smoked meats den into a colourful, female, glamorous haven with a sprawling patio. Exterior, Bitterroot’s glass barber pole, which as soon as housed a pig, now shows a sublime 3D-printed black rose created by sculptor, designer, and musician Michael Walsh.
Inside, the partitions are lined with extra hand-painted indicators and flowers, all executed by Barton, and the tables are adorned with vivid floral-patterned vinyl tablecloths. Prospects order at a candy-colored “storefront inside a storefront,” which resembles a Mexican meals stall, strewn with fake bougainvillea. A neon signal above the doorway to the hallway resulting in the again bar reads “The Membership Is Open,” a reference to the Guided by Voices tune “A Salty Salute.” Within the corridor, a collection of infinity mirrors replicate again a glowing gold disco ball, illuminated by a tender fuchsia glow, and the loos are coated in purple and gold glitter.
Each half hour, a Rainforest Cafe-esque animatronic parrot, made by native renaissance man Ben Verellen, who owns Bar Home and performs in Helms Alee, lights up and squawks one among 9 distinctive catchphrases—“Don’t eat the fucking toothpicks!” “Situ Tacos, a greater solution to go!” “Stuffed with tacos, are you? Time to go? Effectively, fare thee nicely.”
“I named him after my uncle as a result of he was form of a foolish goose,” Lupe explains.
Throughout my latest go to, a soundtrack of LCD Soundsystem and Siouxsie and the Banshees performed on the stereo whereas Lupe whirled across the kitchen like a dynamo, stirring pots, dumping garlic into the bowl of a meals processor, pouring potato kale soup into containers, and greeting folks passing by means of with a pleasant “child” and “honey.”
The newly expanded menu is suffused with Lupe’s signature humor. The “Unhappy Lady Shot,” a shot of El Jimador tequila paired with a hunk of Tillamook cheese, is a nod to her and her basic supervisor Kat Wilkinson’s pandemic pop-up days. “We simply drank tequila and ate cheese and tried to powerful it out for a few years there,” she mentioned. Conversely, there’s additionally a “Sensible Lady Shot,” a shot glass crammed with white wine as a substitute of tequila for occasions while you’ve had a couple of too many however nonetheless wish to knock again a spherical with pals.
A number of indicators are emblazoned with the motto “Don’t eat the fucking toothpicks,” which has turn out to be each an inside joke and a needed warning, as a result of, imagine it or not, many individuals have tried. “I get DMs about it later. One man threatened me together with his lawyer,” Lupe mentioned with a sigh. “Not solely will we fucking let you know about it each time we convey you tacos, there’s indicators in every single place. There’s a T-shirt I made that has it. But in addition, don’t eat wooden. You’re a fucking grownup, get your shit collectively. I can’t imagine I’ve to let you know this.”
Along with Lupe’s traditional tacos, the menu additionally includes a rotation of Lupe’s well-known soul-soothing soups—one among her favourite issues to make—plus crispy taquitos, tangy Mexican coleslaw, chips, contemporary guacamole, pico de gallo, gooey queso blanco with hatch chiles, refried bean dip, and nachos. All the things is lovingly seasoned to perfection. Drinks embody batched margaritas, aguas frescas (which could be spiked with vodka or tequila), bloody Marias, boozy slushies, and beer. The larger location has enabled Lupe to supply a brand new brunch menu from 9 am to midday on Saturdays and Sundays, together with chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, huevos divorciados, breakfast burritos, and breakfast tacos.
Lupe’s household served as a significant affect on the area. She plans to plaster one of many partitions with old-school household photographs that appear to be “if the Manson household was within the mafia.” And the glitzy again bar will probably be named Tilda’s Bar in tribute to Lupe’s eccentric great-aunt Matilda. “She was form of a nasty lady,” Lupe mentioned. “She was the one musician within the household, and she or he adorned her home in all pretend gold and chain-smoked and taught me tips on how to gamble.”
And, after all, the largest affect of all is Lupe’s eponymous situ (Arabic for “grandmother”) Delores Flores, who sat her down and taught her tips on how to make her trademark crunchy tacos as a baby. Lupe describes her as a robust, “bossy” matriarch who ran a number of companies. “She’s been lifeless for 20 years now, however I really feel like she can be actually proud,” Lupe mentioned earlier than pausing. “Or she is perhaps actually mad. She was form of grumpy.”
Like her situ, Lupe espouses an perspective of heat and hospitality blended with a wholesome dose of sass and grit, honed by means of practically a decade working as a bartender subsequent door on the beloved dive Hattie’s Hat. She has no qualms about kicking anybody out in the event that they’re bringing “dangerous vibes” or inflicting issues for her staff. “Solo bartending for eight years makes you powerful, even in Ballard, and it’s important to put up with a whole lot of shit,” she mentioned. “You might want to be taught to take no shit. And so I’ve tried to impart that to my ladies. We’ll be good, for certain. However we’re undoubtedly no nonsense.”
Having labored within the service business since she was 16, Lupe additionally tries to take care of a non-hierarchical tradition of “enjoyable and belief and equality” within the kitchen. She beams with pleasure when speaking about her employees, which has gone from three staff to 22 and is usually made up of ladies. “I really feel like when individuals are comfortable at work, it makes for higher meals and a greater atmosphere,” she mentioned.
Now that she’s employed extra employees, Lupe, who has been on the restaurant each day for the final 4 months, can even have the ability to step away extra typically to spend time on her music profession. She’s set to play an album launch present with Wild Powwers at Neumos on July 6 and can embark on a West Coast tour with the band.
Situ Tacos has already acquired an effusive response. Lupe’s mother and father just lately visited for the primary time, and she or he mentioned, “the quantity of crying was unreal.” The Ballard neighborhood has embraced it with open arms: Individuals continually wander in, captivated by the pink exterior, and rave in regards to the flavorful meals and share their very own household reminiscences with Lupe. Some clients have even eaten there day by day for the reason that opening.
“I really feel lucky sufficient to have the ability to unfold my tradition and my upbringing, the way in which I used to be raised, with the better neighborhood, and I’ve gotten a lot love and appreciation again tenfold,” Lupe mentioned. “It’s probably the most rewarding factor I’ve ever executed by far.”
Situ Tacos is situated at 5239 Ballard Ave NW. See Lupe Flores in motion when Wild Powwers play Neumos Saturday, July 6, with Fixed Lovers.