@FifthCrichton, your wait is over

Its signs have been up for months and the space looks ready for customers. The time has finally come for Carmelo’s Tacos on Broadway.

Early last year, CHS reported the family-owned destination for Mexico City-inspired street food planned to open a new spot in the former Starbucks space at the corner of Broadway and East Denny Way. Workers installed colorfully branded signage, and passersby could peek through the windows to monitor the build-out’s progress, imagining the beefy and cheesy griddled quesabirrias served with a side of consommé for dipping, chorizo-and-steak campechano tortas, and cinnamon-dusted churros served with vanilla ice cream and Nutella drizzle.

A year and a lot of passersby later, the new Carmelo’s Tacos on Broadway has yet to open.

“It has taken longer than expected, for sure,” Carmelo’s son, Raúl Delfin, told CHS last week.

“We are finally done with all construction and passed our final Health Department inspection just this past Wednesday [Feb. 5]. We are going over details and waiting on some equipment. We do not have a specific date yet on when we will open, but we are shooting [for the] mid[dle] of March.”

CHS reported on Carmelo’s Tacos 2018 debut inside the Hillcrest Market, taking over space formerly occupied by Best Teriyaki and generating buzz: long lines formed outside its walk-up window, and people crowded 11 stools for indoor dining at the counter. Three years later, a second location opened near 12th and Cherry.

Carmelo Gaspar, 65, grew up in the small town of Diego Sánchez, roughly 95 miles southwest of Mexico City. He was a miner for 10 years—hence, Carmelo’s Tacos logo: an illustrated image of Gaspar, sporting a mustache and yellow miner’s helmet—before moving to Seattle in 1991. He spent the next 27 years working at the local Cactus restaurant chain, washing dishes for the first five years before being promoted to a line cook position. When Hillcrest Market’s Best Teriyaki shut down, Gaspar, with the support of his wife, Eulalia, and children took a risk and opened his namesake restaurant.

According to Delfin, the Broadway location will be comparable in size, kitchen space, and seating capacity to the 1,300-square-foot, 28-seat Cherry Street location. “We are doing the same menu with only a couple new surprise menu items we will be introducing at this location. Our goal will be the same affordable, quality, delicious, and quick service.”

Delfin didn’t offer up a lot of excuses for the long wait. It has been the process of a family business opening something new in the city.

Carmelo’s Tacos joins other Mexican restaurants—La Cocina & Cantina, Antojitos Jalisco, Paradise, Nacho Borracho/Noches en Oaxaca, and Tacos Chukis—lining a five-block stretch of Broadway. The new location will be in addition to Carmelo’s Tacos’ Cherry Street and Hillcrest Market locations.

Carmelo’s Tacos is located inside the Hillcrest Market (110 Summit Ave E) and near Seattle University (1223 E Cherry). It will soon open at 101 Broadway E. Learn more at carmelostacos.com.

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