Tener o no Tener

Thank God it's Friday.  After a busy week at work, a head cold, and a less than stellar credit report (more on that another time.  Maybe.), I needed to end my day and ring in the weekend with an El Rinconcito burrito and a cold beer, and there was really no two ways about it.

El Rinconcito is a terrific taqueria housed in a trailer on Cascade Ave.  I was glad to find that someone has even taken a picture of it and posted it online:

As you can see, there are no bells and whistles on this establishment.  Unless you count the umbrellas.  And the Mexican pop band calendar hanging inside featuring photographs of Latino men in waxed mustaches and painted-on jeans, with their thumbs slung through their belt loops.  But bells and whistles are not necessary when you can get a huge Veggie Supreme burrito filled with fresh, delicious ingredients that actually hold a candle to the mission-style-heaven-in-foil-wrapped-cylinders of my young adulthood.  I'm talking fresh, whole pinto beans, yummy rice, sour cream, shredded Jack, and this amazing kind of pico de gallo involving cilantro, cabbage, and onions all chopped superfine.  And then there are two homemade hot sauces to choose from (and if you're smart, you'll get one of each): the smoky, spicy red sauce; and the green, fresh stuff.  It's good enough that I completely forgot to take a picture of it before polishing it off.

But my allegiance to this place was put to the test tonight.  While Adam and I stood at the cash register placing our order, I asked the pretty young cashier if we could get avocado in the burritos.  She turned around and asked an elder Hispanic woman-- a woman shaped somewhat like a burrito herself-- "Tenemos avocates?"  The woman looked up from the grill, which, being inside of a small trailer, was a tortilla chip's throw from the cash register.  She eyed Adam, and then me, each of us head to toe.  We stood there, the cashier stood there, somebody else's carne asada sizzled on the grill.  Then she looked back down and said abruptly to her grilling meat before resuming to chop it: "NO."

Sigh.  Well, we hope that whichever customer passed the avocado test tonight is enjoying the fruits of their coolness.  And we'll still go back to El Rinconcito.  Sometimes you just gotta eat what the woman gives you.