We had dinner at Mama's Mexican Kitchen in Seattle on Sunday, March 24, 2013. We were in the Belltown neighborhood to see Lianne La Havas live at the Crocodile later that evening (see later review). I had actually heard of Mama's many years before in the late 1990s when I used to work in Belltown. I would often walk by Mama's from where the bus dropped me off between Bell and Blanchard streets on 1st Avenue. A coworker told me they were a good "Hole in the Wall" Mexican restaurant. But I never got around to trying them. Since then I hadn't even thought about them until late February when I saw on the news that the Elvis statue in front of Mama's was stolen. I looked them up and was reminded that they were located at the corner of 2nd and Bell, on the north side of the same block as 2nd and Blanchard where the Crocodile is located. We decided to go there for dinner since they were so close to the venue and this was a good opportunity to finally try them.
We left Tacoma at around 3:45 p.m., took the I-5 north, exited at Mercer Street with its off ramp in the leftmost lane. From Mercer we turned left on 9th Ave. N that became Bell Street after crossing Denny Way. We turned left at 2nd Avenue at the corner where Mama's was and made another left at Blanchard Street where the Crocodile was. There was some angled parking along Blanchard between 2nd and 3rd and one open space, but it looked like we had to back into it. We turned left onto 3rd Ave., cross Bell St., and found a spot on the west side of 3rd. We turned around in a pay lot and parallel parked in the spot along 3rd. There were pay machines but we didn't have to pay because it was Sunday. It was around 4:30 p.m. when we parked. The weather was mostly clear and sunny and just a bit chilly.
Our first visit in the area was to the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum at Seattle Center. We walked north on 3rd Ave., crossed several streets including Denny Way. We walked by the Pacific Science Center and a large orange metal sculpture of tube segments and found the museum close to the base of the Space Needle. I had heard the year before that Seattle Center had changed a lot, that they had removed the old rides such as the Gravatron, fun house, galleon, and carnival booths. We didn't quite walk to that part to confirm. Admission to Chihuly Garden and Glass cost $19 per person but we had a coupon that brought our tickets down to $17 each. They gave out free earbuds to listen to an audio tour on your phone. We only had my "dumbphone" that did not have a headphone jack. The museum starts with a hall of large photos of Dale and some of his works around the world. I think one of them was of the Bridge of Glass in Tacoma. We saw the Glass Forest; the Northwest Room with both the glass baskets and the woven native baskets that inspired them; the Sealife Room with its octopi, crabs, turtles, and charcoal drawings by Chihuly that looked like they had happy faces; the Persian Ceiling that's similar to the Seaform Ceiling on the Bridge of Glass; the Mille Fiori, Ikebana and Float Boats, Chandeliers, and Macchia Forest.
On the way to the Glass House there were many drawings of glass conservatories in all parts of the world including the WW Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park in Tacoma and the Conservatory at Rose Garden, Druid Hill Park, in Baltimore, MD. In the garden itself there were black and blue and other round floats in which we could see the Space Needle reflected. We went to the theater and watched a series of short films mostly showing Dale Chihuly coordinating his artwork. In one he and his crew set up artworks all over the Citadel in Jerusalem. A couple of films showed him throwing glass floats into the water to be picked up down river for an exhibition. We made a brief visit to the Collections Café with Chihuly's collection of bottle openers, dog figurines, and accordions. We looked at the menu and some things looked pretty good. Our last stop at the museum was The Bookstore that sold original Chihuly works for $3,000 to $8,000 each along with many other lower-priced things. I liked how they showed the sample DVDs on very old-school portable TVs. We got a postcard and a bar of coconut dark chocolate.
After leaving the Chihuly Garden and Glass we walked over to the food court building known as the Armory. It looked very different inside from what I remember in the late 1980s. Pizza Pete's and the rest were replaced by more upscale-seeming eateries. The interior was more modern and professional-looking. We walked back past the Pacific Science Center, looked in and saw the square shallow pools of water that Elvis' character ran past in the film It Happened at the World's Fair. We again walked by the orange metal sculpture, crossed Denny Way, walked south on 3rd Avenue back to our car to stow our purchases. We crossed Bell Street and walked east down to Mama's Mexican Kitchen. Just outside their front door we were happy to see that they had gotten their Elvis statue back. The door itself looked like it was decorated with dark trinkets. Once we entered the hostess brought us to a table up a couple of steps and through a long room to the left. I think they seated us sometime after 6:30 p.m. Up on the wall behind our table was a picture of Elvis and a street sign for Elvis Presley Blvd.
Along with the Elvis décor Mama's still had a Mexican theme with the green and red colors, cartoon drawing of Mayans on the walls, and some paper patterns hanging from the ceilings. The space was large, cavernous and slightly dark. A hall near where we sat led to a bar or cantina as it was labeled. I had heard that they had an Elvis Room but I wasn't sure where it was. The restroom had lots of graffiti on the walls. Over the speakers they played R&B music rather than Latin music or Elvis. The place was fairly full and loud. There were two menus on our table. The cover described their food as "Authentic Southern California style." Their menus consisted of three pages with sections for appetizers, tacos, burritos, combinations, favorites, and several others. My wife was considering the Walkin' burrito that was made with jalapeños. I looked at their fajitas and noticed they had tofu fajitas, a kind I haven't seen very often at Mexican restaurants. In their beverages section on the back of the menu it said they had Jarritos. Prices ranged from $3 for a la carte tacos, $9 for burritos, and $13-$19 for plates. After thinking about it a bit we placed our orders. Most of the plates came with rice and beans.
The brought us a basket of tortilla chips and a small bowl of salsa. I couldn't tell if the chips were freshly made but they seemed better than most store-bought tortilla chips. After a while they brought out our orders. My wife's Elvis burrito was substantial and covered in melted cheese and a bit of sauce. Inside it contained carne asada, avocado, cheese, and her choice of beans. She chose black beans. She enjoyed it and found that it contained some shredded beef in addition to carne asada. After much thought I ordered the chorizo con huevos that was scrambled eggs cooked with chorizo, chopped green bell pepper, onions, and even bits of olives. It had a lot of flavor though it wasn't too spicy. They complied with my request to exclude beans, cheese and sour cream, though I'm not sure if it normally comes with the latter two. In lieu of both rice and beans on the side they gave me an extra amount of rice that was good with the chorizo and eggs. It was also a substantial amount of food.
As we ate we noticed a party of six or so men be seated at a table near us. They were later moved to a table in another room. They sounded like they spoke with English accents. One of them had white hair and a credential around his neck with a picture of Lianne La Havas' album cover. We would later see him help set up her band's microphones and equipment at the concert. We finished our meal between 7:30 and 7:45, paid our check and walked the short distance to the Crocodile. I'm glad I finally got to try Mama's Mexican Kitchen after all these years. Someday I would like to return and see their Elvis Room.
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