After lying dormant more than two years, Portland’s former The Original Taco House locations have a new lease on life.
The nearly 60-year-old Mexican chain closed both its remaining Portland restaurants two years ago. But in the past month, business has been stirring at both, with the Northeast 82nd Avenue location now home to a new family-style Mexican restaurant, and the Southeast Powell Boulevard building reimagined as a sprawling beer bar, bottle shop and food cart pod.
Portland’s longest running Mexican restaurant, The Original Taco House was opened by the Waddle family in 1960, growing to five metro area locations, then contracting back to the two in Portland. The restaurant, known for its big bowls of rice, beans and melted cheese, was known as one of Portland’s oldest and longest-running Mexican restaurants.
In Northeast Portland, Juana and Hugo Mendoza saw an opportunity to bring the Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes and margaritas that their Albany and Corvallis restaurants had become known for to a third location. But after opening El Palenque at 3255 N.E. 82nd Ave. in February, the husband and wife were forced to close for three months due to the state-mandated COVID-19 shutdown, according to son Eduardo, a co-owner.
Now those doors have opened back up, giving fans of the old The Original Taco House in the Roseway neighborhood a new family-style Mexican option to try.
Favorites at the Mendozas’ Albany restaurant include fajitas, table-side guac and chile rellenos, with the latter available on a platter with bacon-wrapped shrimp. According to Eduardo Mendoza, the family hails from Queretaro in Central Mexico, and uses less spice and heat in its food than some customers expect. The restaurant’s name refers to both an ancient Mayan city and to the small concert and cockfighting arenas found in Central Mexican towns, a meaning reflected in El Palenque’s colorful rooster-themed decor.
The other former Original Taco House location is now home to the second outlet for John’s Marketplace, a beer bar and bottle shop that has operated in Southwest Portland’s Multnomah Village since 1999. The new location at 3550 S.E. Powell Blvd. is airy and spacious, and includes a massive bottle selection, much like the original John’s Marketplace, boasting more than 3,500 beers, plus cider, and more than 1,000 wine selections and hard seltzer.
Sibling owners Rob and Paul Petros, with their push into the eastside, have transformed the former restaurant into what could potentially become a true community magnet for the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood, include a roomy beer garden and bar adjoining the bottle shop, with a food cart pod onsite as well.
Andre Meunier contributed to this report.
-- Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell
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New businesses take over Original Taco House’s two Portland locations - OregonLive
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