Padres pit stop on the way to Portland
Recently, I made my annual drive down to Portland. I lived in Portland for 10 years before moving to Vancouver and I’d have to say that if you have to live in the U.S. of A., then Portland is a damn fine city to call home.
Before I moved to Vancouver, I drove between the two cities frequently. You see, I was madly in love with this hottie in Vancouver, who—since Vancouver has a fairly extensive transit system—didn’t own a car. Moreover, I had this awesome job where I only worked two to four 12-hour days a week, so hopping in the car and driving the 5 hours between my home in North Portland and Vancouver was a small price to pay to see my man. Needless to say, I made the drive a lot. After we got married, I was still making the trip, this time from Vancouver to Portland to visit family. I’ve tried to minimize these trips to once a year now.
As you can imagine, I have become quite the expert in the best rest areas, bathrooms, quick/yummy eats, and cheap gas stations all along I-5 from here to Portland. I know where the best hop-on/hop-off areas are and I avoid the black holes (highway exits that lead you into a labyrinth or make it difficult to get back onto I-5). I consider most of the Olympia and Seattle exits to be “black holes” and I avoid them like the plague. I once thought I would just hop off the highway in Seattle to find a restroom and I ended up getting lost for a half hour. Never again.
I’ll let you in on one of my favourite hop-on/hop-off areas: Smokey Point. Or at least that is what the I-5 exit sign used to read, but I noticed that now the exit is called NE 172nd St. This area is north of Everette and south of Bellingham. It has gone through extensive development over the past two years, but I still go to the same places and for the same reason: it is easy to hop off of I-5 and grab gas, coffee, and food that is acceptable to me and to Little Man, who almost always accompanies me on these trips. Because everything is so close together and so close to the highway, these rest stops don’t take much time at all. [For anyone that actually makes a trip down south and wishes to incorporate a Smokey Point pit stop into their trip, I have left details at the bottom of the post.]
The other thing about Smokey Point is that it has a little Mexican place called Tacos Guaymas that makes a satisfying chile relleno. Tacos Guaymas is a small chain of Mexican restaurants in the state of Washington. In my opinion, Tacos Guaymas is the first decent Mexican food south of Vancouver. Of course, I haven’t tried every restaurant, but the couple of places that I tried in Bellingham were little better than the fare you’d find in Vancouver.
On this trip, I was alone. Little Man’s great-grandparents had visited us in Vancouver a few weeks previously and had brought him back down to Oregon to visit family. I was on my way to pick him up. What this meant was that I didn’t have to go to Teriyaki Point, where Little Man likes to feast on plain white rice and a small skewer of teriyaki shrimp. I could go anywhere I wanted. I wanted Mexican.
I headed over to Tacos Guaymas to find that Tacos Guaymas had been replaced with Padres. Okay, well, I really had my heart set on Mexican, and this place was likely to be both cheaper and tastier than anything I usually have access to in Vancouver, so I figured I’d try it out.
Padres taqueria & tequila bar
When I walked inside, I saw that the interior had undergone some improvements since I was last there, but the menu appeared to be the same. The set-up was also the same: order at the cashier and take a seat to have your meal served.
I ordered my usual chile relleno platter. I asked if it came with corn tortillas and the guy behind the cashier asked if I’d like some and I said yes. There was no extra charge for this, so I’m not sure if tortillas usually come with chile relleno or not. My meal came to about $12 USD.
I chose to sit on the patio, so that I could hopefully get some decent pictures in the evening light. Shortly after sitting, the server brought me a glass of water with a straw and a basket of chips with fresh salsa. The chips were not too salty, which was good, and the salsa was the kind I’d expect from a Mexican place in the U.S.: very fresh, a bit spicy, and around room temperature. It was probably made fresh in the morning.
Complimentary Chips & Fresh Salsa
I didn’t want to fill up on chips, but I was really digging on the salsa and I couldn’t seem to help myself. Fortunately, my platter arrived not too long afterward and saved me from myself. As you can see, the platter was HUGE:
Padres' Massive Chile Relleno Platter
It came the way I like it, with 4 corn tortillas on the side in a warmer box (not pictured), a fat chile stuffed with cheese, beans, seasoned rice, and a mound of lettuce, diced tomatoes, onions, and a goodly-sized dollop of fresh guacamole.
Now, I’m not sure if this is how Mexicans usually eat it, but I like to cut up my chile and fill a corn tortilla with a little bit of everything and then eat it like a taco. This lets me savour all the flavours simultaneously. Oh man, just thinking about it now gets me salivating.
All around, this was a fine meal, especially for a chain restaurant. The mild beans and seasoned rice had flavour (imagine that!). The guacamole was a bit chunky, which is how I like it. The chile was packed with a melty cheese magma, doused in your standard red sauce, and liberally coated with sprinkled cheese on top.
Melty Cheese Magma oozes from the interior of the Chile Relleno
Everything was very fresh. Everything was just what I’d expect to receive in a chile relleno meal. Was it the best chile relleno that I’ve ever had? No. Was it the best chile relleno that I’ve found on I-5 between here and Seattle? Yes.
After I had eaten, the guy who had been the cashier and the server came out to take my plates and we got to chatting. Turns out that he is one of the three owners of Padres. He comes from a family that owns multiple Mexican restaurants in the Bay area of California. He joined forces with the previous owners of Tacos Guaymas and they renamed the place Padres.
The owner informed me that my suspicions were correct: everything was made fresh on the premises each day. I confided in him my frustrations with Vancouver’s offerings of Mexican food and told him his business would make a killing in Vancouver, especially if he could keep the prices about the same. He sounded interested and said they were looking to expand, but hadn’t even thought about Vancouver until I mentioned it.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
3704 172nd St. NE
Arlington, WA, USA 98223
360-658-8445
[Pit stop in Smokey Point: if driving south from Vancouver, take the NE 172nd St. exit. Take a left at the top of the exit and pass over the bridge and into Smokey Point. At the first or second stop light, you'll see an Arco gas station on your left. Take a left and pull into the station for a fill up. This is one of the cheapest places to get gas in Washington, at least near the highway. After fill up, don't get back onto the main road; rather, drive past the McDonald's and around the building ahead. On the other side, you will find Starbucks, which always has a clean bathroom and caffeine for those long road trips. Grab something to eat. (Padres is on the other side of the main street from Starbucks, in the shopping area with the Safeway.) Get back on the main street when you are ready to head back to the highway. You'll need to be in the far left lane to continue farther south.]
I think one of these days, we will have to gather together to compare notes about travelling through I-5! Not an expert myself have travelled extensively through it this year!
About the food here, it is interesting the beans were served “as is” rather than “mashed” as in refried beans. However, despite my love for beans, still Mexican won’t be my first choice!
Yeah, I am an I-5 expert!
As for the beans, it isn’t really all that unusual that they aren’t refried. There isn’t really a “set” recipe for beans at Mexican restaurants. Sometimes they are refried, sometimes pinto, sometimes black. And it is all good for me as long as they aren’t super bland or covered in cubes of goat cheese!