El Catrachito de Olney, alias Taco Loco, Montgomery County, Maryland

Nancy regularly visits her sister-in-law, Lib Berry, who’s out near Olney these days. Some of you will remember Lib fondly as the long-time head of the Middle School at Holton Arms. On this trip, I did the driving and was sent out to have lunch. After research and multiple recommendations I settled on El Catrachito, named for the familiar term Hondurans use for themselves. El Catrachito offers a mix of Honduran, Salvadoran, and Mexican dishes. There are other El Catrachitos in Gaithersburg, Takoma Park, and Wheaton, and they may have a common ownership but it seems that each has its own menu. The dishes overlap, of course, and each location seems to be very distinct. Indeed, this one may actually be a Taco Loco.

Finding El Catrachito wasn’t as easy as I’d expected, but it was well worth it. The address, 18050 Georgia Avenue, seems simple enough, but the traffic on Georgia Avenue doesn’t encourage leisurely examination of businesses. I did see a Taco Loco.

I parked in the two-section shopping strip perpendicular to Georgia Avenue and started looking in vain for a sign for El Catrachito. I finally walked around the corner of a mattress store and saw what I’d missed while driving — one of those wildly flapping signs outside Taco Loco.

I gave up on determining the name of the place and went inside. It’s a tiny space, with six tables give or take, and a counter at which you order.

If you look in the upper left, you’ll see “El Catrachito” again, for what it’s worth. I walked up to the counter and asked what I should order and was told “Tacos.” I looked over the menu (which looks nothing like the Taco Loco online menu) and quickly selected a barbacoa and a chorizo taco ($4.00 each), and asked about the cuerito taco. She replied via Google translate that they were out, and I didn’t pursue the matter. That was just as well, as I’d been down that road before. I added a gordita for $5.00, and asked for water. The water was $2.00, which seemed right. When they brought out the tacos after a short wait, just long enough to show that the tacos were cooked to order, I saw that the water was a bargain. It came in a large screw-top jar with two representations of the Virgin, a nice touch of authenticity for a Central American restaurant.

The tacos came with the usual accompaniments — mild raw onions, cilantro toppings, and lime, with radish and cucumber slices on the side. The red sauce wasn’t especially spicy but it was sneaky hot, with the heat creeping up on you a few seconds after a taste. Good stuff. The mild green sauce was one of the more complex and flavorful green sauces I’ve come across. Here’s a better look at the tacos. 

The barbacoa taco, the one on top, was outstanding. The meat was achingly tender, thoughtfully seasoned, and with a great beefy flavor. This is about as good a barbacoa taco as I’ve had. The chorizo taco also was very good, with sprightly seasoning, and the grind of the meat yielded a welcome texture. The tortilla shells boasted nice grilled corn flavor and substantial texture, much better than the steamed or undercooked tortillas which seem routine these days. So far, a home run and a double.

The gordita arrived just as I was finishing the tacos.

The gordita was fried cornmeal ostensibly stuffed with beef, beans, and cheese, but which turned out to be 90 percent meat and 10 percent cheese. Given the relative cost of beans and beef, that was a surprise. The flavor was okay, and better with the red and green sauces (I used the red on one area, the green on another, and both helped.) The star, though, was the thick corn tortilla shell that had been formed and fried by expert hands. This was a major hit. Had the tortillas been made with boiling water? They had that stunning flavor and crispness of hot water cornbread. (Recipe here. Try it!) Next trip I’ll see if I can get a different filling — the barbacao or chorizo, or something new. If I can’t change the filling, I may just offer to pay the full price with no filling, confident of better luck than Jack Nichols had in a similar effort. It’s that good.

And indeed I hope to get back. I’d like to explore the menu. An there’s a bonus on the way.

I hope for the day when that seems unremarkable, but this while our local Connecticut Avenue station was, at the time, charging $4.21 per gallon, and the rest of the area was at about $3.25 or so. You really should give El Catrachito a try. And pease let me now if they’ve settled on a name — and a menu.

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