Taqueria El Cuate has best taco in Oregon, says media site

“The meats are juicy, the toppings crunchy, the house-crafted tortillas are perfectly warmed, and you get boatloads of flavor from the spot-on red salsa and salsa verde. Whether you’re en route to Hood River or Portland, this shop will satisfy,” the article says of El Cuate.

El Cuate was also named the “best food truck in town” on a Thrillist list from February 2018, titled, “Why Portlanders Should Be Eating and Drinking in Hood River.”

“Widely considered to possess the best Mexican in the Gorge, you’ve gotta make a pitstop at Taqueria El Cuate. Handmade tortillas mean original, hearty tacos with generous servings of meat. This is Hood River’s most resonating response to the drunchies. Sidenote: They even make a superb hamburger for $7, which is cheaper than what you will find at any of the local breweries,” Thrillist writes.

El Cuate — which loosely translates to “the buddy” — currently has five stars on both Yelp and Facebook, with 37 and 62 reviews, respectively. Most of the reviews on both platforms praise the high quality of El Cuate’s tacos, tortas, quesadillas, burritos and burgers — as well as the friendliness and passion of the food truck’s owners: Ricardo and Lola Lopez.

“I think we have the passion to do what we’re doing,” Ricardo Lopez said.

Before opening up El Cuate, Lopez worked at Nora’s Table, where he “learned a lot” from the restaurant’s owner, Kathy Watson. “Working at Nora’s, I met a lot of people and I think I know how Hood River eats,” he said.

He had been working there for seven years when Watson decided to sell Nora’s, and Lopez started thinking about opening his own food truck. With the support of family, friends and people he met at Nora’s, Lopez decided to go for it and bought the truck that would become Taqueria El Cuate.

“They knew that I would do good,” Lopez said of the people that supported him in the beginning.

One of those supporters was his wife, Lola, who co-runs the food truck.

“I can’t do anything without my wife; she’s my right and left hand,” he said. “She’s supported me since I had the idea.”

While El Cuate is being recognized for its tacos this year, Lopez said that next year it could be its tortas being praised, or its burgers. “It’s the people, it’s what they say is the best food,” he said. “It’s not me, it’s you guys.”

Due to limited storage space in the truck, Ricardo and Lola prep all the food they intend to sell that day in the morning, before the window opens for business at 10 a.m.

Together in the back of the truck, they grill meat, cut vegetables and roll balls of tortilla dough — which will be pressed and grilled to order.

“It’s simple,” he said of his food. “I don’t have any recipes, I just do everything,” he added, saying he relies on intuition and taste to create the flavors that have earned El Cuate its reputation as one of the best food trucks in the state.

Instead of coming up with a wide variety of menu items, Lopez focuses on perfecting the same menu he’s kept since El Cuate opened five years ago.

“When I started, people said, ‘Don’t change this, it’s so good,”’ Lopez said, adding that even though their menu is relatively small at just eight food items, they work it well and focus on the quality of each item they make. “I like the small menu because I can work on it,” he said.

He thanked all of his customers and encouraged them to review the food truck on either Facebook or Yelp. “Whatever it is, good or bad, we want to know,” he said.

“We pray every morning when we come in here: Okay, we’re here,” he said. “It’s really hard to have 100 percent of the people happy, but we’re trying to do the best that we can.”

Taqueria El Cuate is currently located off of State Street in the Hood River News parking lot, 419 State Street, and is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during winter, Monday-Saturday, 10-6 p.m. in the summer. They accept call-in orders at 541-380-3493.