El Gallo Taqueria was a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

restaurant in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States. Owner and chef Jake Brown established the business as a

food cart A food cart is a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell street food to passers-by. Food carts are often found in cities worldwide selling food of every kind. Food carts come in two basic styles. One allows the vendor to sit o ...

in 2009, in southeast Portland's

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

neighborhood. In 2015, El Gallo relocated and began operating as a

brick and mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

restaurant in 2015. The business closed in 2022.

Description

El Gallo Taqueria was a

restaurant in southeast Portland's

neighborhood. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' Ben Waterhouse described the restaurant as "tiny but charming, finished in weathered boards with tabletops milled from wind-fallen maple trees salvaged from the canyon" at nearby

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

. He wrote, "You won't get a very good view of the woodwork, though, because all the space not devoted to the kitchen, where three men in black t-shirts, aprons and baseball caps busily crank out tacos and burritos, is packed elbow-to-elbow with people eating or waiting to eat. If you linger, you can bet another customer is wishing death and dismemberment upon you." The menu included

taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...

breakfast burrito The breakfast burrito, sometimes referred to as a breakfast wrap outside of the American Southwest, is a variety of American breakfast composed of breakfast items wrapped inside a flour tortilla burrito. This style was invented and popularized ...

s with

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

and

chorizo Chorizo (, from Spanish ; similar to but distinct from Portuguese ) is a type of pork cured meat originating from the Iberian Peninsula. In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked meat, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, or ...

burrito A burrito (, ) is a dish in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine that took form in Ciudad Juárez, consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients. The tortilla is sometimes lightly grilled or steamed ...

s with

pinto bean The pinto bean () is a variety of common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''). In Spanish they are called , literally "painted bean" (compare pinto horse). It is the most popular bean by crop production in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United Stat ...

s and

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

, and the Nevada tostada (meat, beans, cabbage and cheese on

frybread Frybread (also spelled fry bread) is a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard. Made with simple ingredients, generally wheat flour, sugar, salt, and fat, frybread can be eaten alone or with various toppings such a ...

). Taco varieties included

al pastor (from Spanish, "shepherd style"), is a preparation of spit-grilled slices of pork originating in the Central Mexican region of Puebla, although today it is a common menu item found in throughout Mexico. The method of preparing and cooking is ...

with charred pineapple and cilantro as well as the "gringo", a

hard-shell taco The hard-shell or crispy taco is a Mexican dish that developed in the United States. The earliest references to hard-shell tacos are from the early 1890s, and by the early 20th century this style of taco was available in Mexican-American commu ...

. The Mexican blackbird burrito had black beans and vegetables. The restaurant also had handmade tortillas, housemade chips and salsa, and Melt Yer Face

habanero The habanero (; ) is a hot variety of chili. Unripe habaneros are green, and they color as they mature. The most common color variants are orange and red, but the fruit may also be white, brown, yellow, green, or purple. Typically, a ripe haba ...

salsa. El Gallo's drink menu included Mexican bottled beers, Mexican sodas, and local beers on draft.

History

From 2009 to December 2014, owner and chef Jake Brown operated El Gallo Taqueria as a

in the parking lot of The Joinery on Woodstock Boulevard. According to the ''

Bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

'', El Gallo was the first food cart to operate in Woodstock. The ''

Portland Business Journal Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

'' called the cart "one of the most sustainable" in the city, using energy efficient appliances and food sourced daily from nearby farms and

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...

s. In 2014, Brown began renovating a 420-square-foot space next to an

Ace Hardware Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the world's largest hardware retail cooperative, and the largest non-grocery American retail cooperative. Founded in 1924 ...

store several blocks away, making upgrades to meet the

Energy Trust of Oregon Energy Trust of Oregon is an independent nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that helps utility customers in Oregon benefit from efficient energy use and generating renewable energy. Energy Trust offers services, cash incentives, and ...

green building Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...

and

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

standards. With the move came an expanded menu, longer hours of operation, and seating. In November 2014, Danielle Centoni of ''

Eater Portland ''Eater'' is a food website by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. Eater launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by ...

'' confirmed plans for the restaurant to open in February 2015. The restaurant closed on July 23, 2022. Brown wrote, "While this was a difficult conclusion to come to, this is the best decision for the business and me personally. Having the privilege to cook and serve the Woodstock Community for the past 13 years has been an honor." El Gallo was replaced by

Viking Soul Food Viking Soul Food is a Scandinavian restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Description Viking Soul Food (VSF) is a Scandinavian restaurant which has operated from an Airstream trailer on Belmont Street, in the Bite On Belmont food cart pod in southeas ...

Reception

In 2015, shortly after the

restaurant opened, Ben Waterhouse of ''The Oregonian'' wrote, "When the restaurant opened in February, the line stretched out the door as hungry fans happily waited an hour or more in eager anticipation. Spring had finally arrived. El Gallo was back." He called the Mexican blackbird burrito an "absolute standout" and said the "gringo" taco "might be the best hard-shell taco in town, with enough

masa ''Masa'' (or ''masa de maíz'') (; ) is a maize dough that comes from ground nixtamalization, nixtamalized corn. It is used for making corn tortillas, ''gorditas'', ''tamales'', ''pupusas'', and many other Latin American cuisine, Latin American d ...

texture left that it still tastes like real food". Samantha Bakall included El Gallo in the newspaper's 2016 list of the city's 25 best Mexican restaurants. ''

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history ''Willame ...

'' named El Gallo one of Portland's five best food carts. Nathan Williams recommended El Gallo in ''Eater Portland'''s 2020 overview of eateries in the Woodstock neighborhoood.

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis News ...

said, "El Gallo serves some of the best Mexican food in the city... This might be the closest you can get to Mexico City street tacos here in Portland."

References

External links

*
El Gallo Taqueria
at

El Gallo Taqueria
at

Zomato Zomato () is an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008. Zomato provides information, menus and user-reviews of restaurants as well as food delivery options fro ...

{{Woodstock, Portland, Oregon 2009 establishments in Oregon 2022 disestablishments in Oregon Defunct Latin American restaurants in Portland, Oregon Defunct Mexican restaurants in the United States Food carts in Portland, Oregon Mexican restaurants in Portland, Oregon Restaurants disestablished in 2022 Restaurants established in 2009 Woodstock, Portland, Oregon

Description

History

Reception

See also

References

External links