Relish: El Puerco Lloron
It's been a while since Seattlest has visited El Puerco Lloron (a.k.a. The Crying Pig) in the market. El Puerco used to be our favorite Mexican restaurant and we'd visit often and sing its praises to anyone who cared to listen. But then Oaxaca de la Carta sauntered into town and without a second thought, we dumped El Puerco for the more glamorous and sexy La Carta.
Where La Carta is young, modern, bright and sleek, El Puerco feels worn and tired; it's been around the block a few times. Seattlest was slightly ashamed about our fickleness, but we were also apprehensive about a reunion. Could El Puerco live up to our memories and expectations? Or would it be forever replaced in our mutable hearts with La Carta?
El Puerco Lloron is located on the Pike Street Hillclimb, next door to the Zig Zag Cafe. The outside is brightly decorated with plastic beer flags and, in the summer, a small section of outdoor tables. 
Upon entering, Seattlest was instantly comforted by the familiar sites: the cool blue walls and uneven stone floor (which helps keep the place cool in the summer), the windows that look directly at the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the ceiling crowded with beer advertisements and punched tin lighting, and the rickety, logo-laden metal tables that never sit straight. We grabbed an orange lunch tray and ordered the Pork Tamales ($5.75) and the Carnitas ($6.50) from the cafeteria-style counter. A wave of grade-school nostalgia hit us as we watched the hairnet sporting woman behind the counter scoop out our order from the warming bins.
We decided to dive right in with the Pork Tamales. Since the mole-coated tamales at La Carta are so incredible and savory, we were fully prepared to be disappointed by El Puerco's tamales. We were shocked to find that while the tamales were entirely different, they were on equal footing. Where La Carta's tamales are rich and heavy, El Puerco's are light and delicate. 
The masa was perfect and didn't need to be disguised or enhanced with any kind of sauce. The tamales were garnished simply and sparingly with a sprinkle of cheese and a few stewed peppers and onions. The shredded pork filling was tender and mild with just a hint of tomato, which let the pure pork flavor shine through.
Seattlest has never been a fan of the beans at El Puerco because they've always tasted bland and slightly undercooked. We're positive that some people out there love these beans, but we prefer ours with more seasoning (or maybe it's the fat we're missing?). The rice, however, is something that we crave. It's packed full of flavor--and although we can't quite pin it down, we're thinking it's cooked in saffron and chicken broth. It's satisfyingly salty and soft, soft, soft. If we had to compare it to an activity, we'd say it's like lying down in warm summer grass.
After the pleasant surprise with the tamales, Seattlest was watering at the mouth in anticipation of the Carnitas. The Carnitas plate is a generous scoop of braised pork accompanied by hand made corn tortillas and the aforementioned rice and beans. El Puerco tortillas bear no resemblance to those hard, brittle corn disks found at the supermarket; these are soft and fresh and bend oh-so-beautifully around the tender chunks of pork. As far as the pork goes, Seattle Weekly put it succinctly when they said "the carnitas is so moist and tender that you'll understand why the pig is crying." The pork in the Carnitas is more aggressively seasoned than that in the tamale filling, but the pork flavor remains predominant. If you're the kind of person who gets squeamish over melting pieces of attached fat on your meat, then this probably isn't the dish for you. But let's be honest: We all know that's the best part.
We’ve decided that even though La Carta is our young, new love, El Puerco Lloron will forever be family.
El Puerco Lloron
1501 Western Avenue
206.624.0541
