White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Just in from the King County Public Health department – a $2 million grant to help people who live in Greenbridge and High Point expand their physical activity and social connections. Here’s the full news release: Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s anything that I am an expert on it is burritos: the kind of Tex-Mex hearty burritos that come wrapped in white flour tortillas and do not have the pretense of yuppie “wraps.” Hell, I was eating burritos when I was a baby. My mom would dump a cheese & bean burrito into the blender and then feed it to me with a side of jalapeños. Later I was inaugurated to tripe and brain barbacoa burritos. So I know of what I speaketh.

We in White Center are blessed with a bounty of Mexican and Latin American restaurants. Way back in time when White Center actually lived up to its reputation as Rat City I discovered Taqueria Guaymas on the corner of 17^th and Roxbury. Guaymas serves mission-style burritos which, strictly speaking are not actually a Mexican product. Mission-style burritos originated with California’s Chicano community. These burritos are defined by their hefty girth and the prodigious helping of rice and beans. In this regard, Guaymas makes the best mission style burrito around, Spanish rice, whole beans and your choice of fillings. Guaymas has locations in more upscale neighborhoods but the original one is still the best, especially when it comes to authentic meats.

At the other end of the spectrum is the taco trailer between 15^th and 16^th Avenue SW, otherwise known as Taqueria La Fondita. The burritos here leave good grease stain on your plate and hefty piece of lead in your belly. In other words, this is the real deal, Tex-Mex burritos as I recall them. Unlike mission-style burritos, these are not as packed with carbs but what they lack in grains they make up in flavor. You can taste this morning’s huevos rancheros in the grease they use to fry the carnes for your burrito. This is the stuff you eat when you need to cure a Tequila hangover. The salsa they use is nothing to write home about, but the side of grilled carrots and jalapeños is excellent.

More recently El Paisano, WC’s great Mexican butcher shop, has opened a restaurant by the same name close to the intersection of 15^th and Roxbury. The meats used are excellent and include my favorite barbacoa de chivo (goat meat barbeque). These burritos are more authentically Mexican. The red meats are succulent and leave no doubt that these were made with a very fine grade of meat. The roasted chickens are coated in a red adobo sauce that permeates the chicken with a subtle spicy flavor. The red salsa is excellent and is strongly recommended.

If you want to explore there are more Mexican and Latin American restaurants in White Center. I did not review these others, because they are somewhat outside of my orbit and are more in the nature of sit-down restaurants; these include Restaurante Del Rio and Viva Mexico (both on 17^th Ave. SW). In any event, it’s hard to go wrong when it comes to burritos at WC.

From the Seattle Times: King County Public Health authorities have for the first time studied its Pacific Islander residents as a distinct group, and announced the results at this weekend’s festival in White Center. As the paper reported, some of the findings are “grim,” but community advocates hope the study will be a tool to help them move forward with education and prevention.

George White, the eponymous co-founder of White Center, could not have known that, in so founding this neighborhood, he was displaying an ironic sense of humor. White Center certainly has its share of white residents but what most likely defines it, in most peoples’ minds, is its amazing diversity. There are literally people from every continent who have as their primary tounge, the language of their native land. Alongside English you will find people who speak: Vietnamese, Spanish, Tagalog, Russian, Chinese, Japanese along with a couple dozen other languages. This rich diversity of cultures is welcomed by most and disdained by some. As some long-time residents of West Seattle said to me recently, “we live in West Seattle not in spite of White Center but because of White Center.”

I myself love the infusion of life that immigrants bring to White Center. You would have to travel many, many miles in most Seattle neighborhoods to find the rich diversity of food that you will find in the few blocks that make up this wonderful neighborhood. From papayas, prickly pair apples, mangos to rambutan (chon chon), durian (sau rieng), and sapodilla, you will find fruits and vegetables literally from every corner of the world. The same goes for chicharones, goat meat, brain tacos to Ca cuon fish rolls, Chao tome prawn paste, and mam salted catfish, snakehead and mackerels along with the necessary condiments, you will find them all in White Center. So next time your Greenwood friends start ragging on White Center, invite them over to an international dinner befitting a world traveler.

The big event this weekend is the

Pasefika Annual Festival

White Center Heights Elementary School

10015 6th Ave. S.W.

10 am until 5pm

Pasefika’s 5th Annual Festival. There will be performances by various Pacific Island groups. Also there will be drawings for gifts donated by vendors, sponsors and community partners, as well as food booths. Free admission.

Full Tilt is having Rat City Ruckus on Friday at 9pm http://www.myspace.com/ratcityruckus

and our first art opening with Chris Hunter Saturday at 8pm http://www.myspace.com/alkigypsy

If you have any events, news, or concerns, drop us an email at whitecenternow@gmail.com

I just wanted to write a quick introduction and welcome folks to this new blog.  I am the co-owner of Full Tilt Ice Cream, in the heart of White Center. The store has only been open a little over a month, but I have been in the area for a little over four years now. I wanted to start this blog to share with people the stories of White Center and the people in it. This little neighborhood is to often over looked. The only glimpses many people get are of crimes that happen to make the news. No one seemed to be reporting about the artists, activists, writers, poets, and small business owners that make White Center a vibrant and lively community.

There are going to be a few other people working on this with me. I will let them speak for themselves.

That’s Big Al himself, Alejandro Brown of Big Al Brewing, which opened this afternoon at 9832 14th SW in the former home of Pacific Rim Brewing. This is definitely a place for beer lovers, because that’s all Big Al is selling — beer; don’t wander in thinking you’ll find a burger too. Starting at 6 tonight, Grand Opening Night will be celebrated with live music and raffles. Welcome, Big Al!