Sometime in the 1950s, John H. Knox, who’d grown up in New Mexico, hit on the idea of bringing authentic Mexican food to Oregon, and in June 1957 he opened Tico Taco on the highway leading into Gearhart, a quiet little town nestled among the dunes that hug the Pacific Ocean along the state’s North Coast. One early patron was Bill Jenkins, the managing editor of the Klamath Falls Herald and News, who rated Knox’s new restaurant “highly recommended,” noting that “the tacos were good and the enchilada really out of this world for a commercial product.”
It wasn’t long, however, before Knox had set his sights on a bigger target: the city of Beaverton, just seven miles west of Portland in the Tualatin Valley. Knox and a partner, C. Donald Adams, spent some $65,000 to build a 2,700-square-foot, 100-seat place at what was then 120 N.W. Canyon Road. (Today, because of changes in Beaverton’s addressing grid, the address would be 12525 S.W. Canyon Road.) When the new Tico Taco opened on January 17, 1952, a big ad in the Portland Oregonian heralded it as “Oregon’s Finest Original Mexican Restaurant.”
Tico Taco featured Mexican folk dancers in its Fiesta Room, and the food was Mexican through and through, too, from the tortillas (“We Make Our Own,” the menu proudly announced) to more than a half-dozen combination dinners (No. 1, priced at $2, included albondiga soup; an enchilada, taco, and tamale; refried beans; and a “corn crispie”). The kitchen, headed by Harry Conzalles, a chef from a town near Mexico City, also served up such south-of-the-border staples as chili con carne, chile rellenos, huevos rancheros, Spanish-style and charbroiled steaks, tostadas, burritos, and guacamole salad. Then there was the chile sauce. “The sauce is very hot and some people can’t take it,” Knox told an interviewer soon after Tico Taco opened in Beaverton.
Knox’s restaurant, however, may have been before its time. Tico Taco closed on January 1, 1962, just a couple of weeks before what would have been its fourth anniversary. A few months later, after a $100,000 remodeling job, the Town and Country Restaurant opened at the same location, though it, too, would close the following year.
Chiles Rellenos (Stuffed Peppers)
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Loading...Ingredients
- 8 canned green chiles
- 1 cup (about 4 ounces) grated mild Cheddar cheese
- 8 eggs
- Salt
- 3 tablespoons shortening
Instructions
Heat the oven to warm (170 to 200 degrees).
Cut a slit in one side of each pepper. Stuff each pepper with about two tablespoons of the grated cheese and roll to press the seam together so that the cheese is held inside.
In a bowl, whisk two eggs with a pinch of salt until frothy. In a skillet, melt the shortening over medium-high heat until it begins to sizzle, tilting the pan to coat the bottom. Pour the egg mixture in the hot skillet and spread out with a spoon or spatula. Lay two of the stuffed chiles on the batter. When the egg mixture is softly set but still most, fold one side over the top, then the other. Continue cooking until the chiles rellenos are browned on the bottom; then, using a spatula, flip over and brown the other side.
Transfer the chiles rellenos from the skillet to a hot platter and place them in the warm oven. Prepare the remaining chiles rellenos two at a time.
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