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| Loco Cocos Tacos |
PENNY GOURMET
Kittery surprises the Seacoast with a classy authentic Mexican fast food eatery.
More good than cheap, Loco’s adds a whole new flavor to the Portsmouth-area palate.
Penny offers quick thoughts and cheap photos.
Loco Coco’s Tacos
36 Walker St.
Kittery, Maine
(207) 438-9322
We were so impressed with lunch at our new local Mexican restaurant in Kittery that we came back the very next day. Despite the "crazy" name, this place is the soul of sane food – hearty, tasty, well-prepared.
The colorful interior of Loco’s is enough to lift the spirits even in a dark New England winter. You can sit at the counter and watch the food being prepared. The clatter of the knife cutting the vegetables and the sizzle of the grill blends with what sounded like Spanish hip-hop music on the speakers. You may have to shout your order over the noise. The whole place has an energy and an authenticity that most "fast food" restaurants lack.
The sauces are zesty and homemade and you apply your own from a central sauce
cart. Our party of three sampled the giant burrito, fish and steak tacos and an
enchilada plate. There are a dozen tables, but clearly, this is a take-out zone.
Almost since it opened, Loco’s has been very busy, and this brings up the only
problem. The entranceway is too small. Customers order and wait and pay and try
to read the menu and pick up orders and empty trash all in the same cramped little
area by the door. That creates traffic congestion that worsens at peak moments.
Lines are reported out the door.
The food, thankfully, arrives quickly; Loco’s answers the question that has been nagging at the back of your mind for decades – why can’t fast food be incredibly good? This is. It is fast, but not especially cheap. A big burrito runs about eight dollars including tax – but you could split it with a friend. Enchiladas (rojas or con mole) come to a dollar more, plus drink. A single wonderful fish taco is over three dollars, and you really need at least two. We’re going back tomorrow for the taco salad ($6) which hits the top of our penny-wise lunch budget. If it matches the last two lunches, we’ll be here often.
Loco Coco’s Tacos is located just off Route #1, right after (or before from the North) the Kitery Memorial Brdige. It will look like you are pulling into a boat repair and storage business that shares the building. Parking is plentiful but tight and it can be tricky climbing up out of the lot to the street. This place would do a killer business downtown in Portsmouth, but the visit to Kittery makes it seem, somehow, even more worthwhile.
Photos (c) 2005 SeacoastNH.com. All rights reserved. Penny Gourmet (sm) is a regular feature of SeacoastNH.com