Progressive Cinco De Mayo On Wheels-Good Tacos In North Everett

I see people comment all the time on the socials, “Do we need yet another Mexican restaurant?”

I say yes, yes we do. Especially if you want to do a progressive taco dinner on Cinco De Mayo without a car to participate in Bike Everywhere Month and support as many local Latino businesses as you can!

First, Cinco De Mayo is not a federal holiday in Mexico and does not celebrate its independence. Mexico’s Independence Day is September 16th. The fifth of May (el cinco de mayo) is recognized for a successful battle against the French in Puebla, Mexico in 1862. Soon after, the day came to be celebrated by Mexican-Americans in California to fight against oppression in the United States alongside the ending of slavery and to honor their heritage. Over time, Cinco de Mayo has grown to become an widely celebrated American tradition, mostly due to capitalism in the 60’s (much like St. Patrick’s Day) but it is important to remember its roots.

Last year, the hubs and I decided to see how many taco places we could visit in one night via bike before we were too full to ride. Turns out that is 4 (but may have been five if a fifth one had been open). All of these restaurants are within a mile of our home, giving us about 5.3 miles and 1.5 hours on a loop around the neighborhood. Easily walkable if so inclined and have the time…

We had hoped to start at Taco-Book which is further north but alas, the doors were closed when we rode up (not open on Mondays). If you live here, you also know there is taco food truck even further up Broadway (Taqueria Dona Mari) but we forgot about it when making our original route so we turned back towards the south.

Our first tacos were at Taqueria Loma Bonita, a long time taco establishment in North Everett on Broadway. I had one taco de lengua (my favorite) in hopes that I might be able to have one at each place we visited during the evening. These did not disappoint.

Our second stop was much newer addition to the neighborhood but oh, so good. I first tried Dos Hermanos Chapines at their food truck close to my work in South Everett and was overjoyed when they moved in just a few blocks from my home. They are the only place I know that grill their onions! And in case you are wondering, the pupusas are bomb and they still make some pretty good Thai food.

I know, Guatemalan, but look how good these are!

Our third stop was a new-to-us food truck on the corner of Broadway and Pacific, Costa Sur Taqueria. They have another food truck and restaurant further south from us.

They did not have tacos de lengua but there was a table for us to eat our tacos outside and the plate came with cucumbers instead of radishes so yay, variety.

Our fourth and final taco stop was Tacos and Beers in downtown Everett proper. I have eaten here a few times, their menu is extensive. They also have a second location in Seattle. As it was Cinco De Mayo, the building was packed and I was glad we were just getting a couple tacos to go.

They had the most expensive tacos ($1 to $1.5 dollars more than the other places we visited) but the portions are substantial. These also took the longest to be prepared, not surprising due to the crowd.

Despite the exercise of riding our bikes and the time between eating, we had a hard time finishing these beauties. We were definitely glad we had not started any further north on our run or we would have been full before enjoying them.

After a quick stop at the Sno-Isle Coop for kombucha, we finished our ride home down Grand Ave.

Although we arrived home with no leftovers, we did manage to collect quite a few salsa samples to enjoy later in the week.

With Cinco De Mayo just a few days away, do you think you would be up for a progressive taco dinner on wheels or foot? Do you live somewhere were this might be possible? We hope to do this again this year but head south from where we ended!

Editor’s note: if you do not partake of the occasional corn taco, on option could be to pack some lettuce wraps and do a swap so you can still enjoy the yummy guts of the tacos. But I say allergies aside, enjoy some corn tacos if you can.