Lunch Tuesday: El Trompo
Posted May 4, 2010 12:30 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
“Did you like it?”
It’s the first question waitress Stephanie Lopez asks when I tell her I ate at her family’s restaurant El Trompo (277 Augusta Ave.) on a recent weekend.
Did I like it? I’ve been enjoying the tacos al pastor (marinated pork, coriander, pineapple, chopped onions) since I stumbled on the place three years ago.
“They’re authentic tacos, they’re our signature tacos,” Lopez said.
The family is from Puebla, Mexico, and Lopez assures me all the dishes are authentic. The palm-sized tacos come four to a plate with a side of lime. That, a dish of house-made guacamole and a jamaica (iced tea) has been my go-to meal for months of visits. So on my last trip, I ventured out of my rut, going for the chicken tinga and the gringa.
“People really like the special chicken tinga,” agreed Lopez.
“It’s shredded chicken in a chipotle sauce. The gringa is pork marinated with pineapple. It comes in two tortillas, one on top of each other, and we cut it in half.
“The guacamole is also a must-have. Everything is prepared at the restaurant, the salsa is made at the restaurant, everything,” she said.
El Trompo has been in Kensington Market for six years.
“We like it here. The market is very good, although the neighbourhood is not as safe as we would like. You definitely get a different feeling from being in Kensington Market. You can buy your groceries and have a quick snack or you can come in before you go out,” Lopez said.
The restaurant heats up on the last Sunday of the month, when the entire area is pedestrian-only, and in the summer, when the patio opens.
“Especially if it’s hot, it’s great to sit outside and drink some margaritas, eat some really good guacamole,” Lopez said.
Even if it’s not remotely warm – on a recent April weekend, the patio was packed with people wearing down vests, digging in to a taste of the south.
