I experienced my first Tacogasm at Masa Monday night during their grand opening.  The smoked chicken taco with goat cheese took me to the next gastronomical level, despite it being ever so slightly not entirely hot.  Something about the blend of seasonings mixed with the smoky flavor of the moist chicken, melded together with the goat cheese set my senses afire, perhaps because of the “foreplay” that was the space itself.

I cornered co-owner John Xitco and received the “Xitco tour” from quite possibly one of the nicest guys in Tacoma.  Really. 

He first took me upstairs to the wide-open meeting space, which made me want to get married so I could have a reception THERE.  Something about the view inspired me. I mean, where else in Tacoma can you see the triangulation of Asado across the street, Taco Bell on the corner, and Masa completing the triad of “south of the border” eating? 

He brought me out to the as-yet-unfinished deck where the summer party will rock, with Shucks right across the street; where a bar will jut out into a space covered by a clear-plastic roof that lets in the starlight. When I said something sarcastic like, Yes! Shucks!, and wondered if it was even still open? Would it close down? He grinned broadly and said of course it was, and would stay open, and that was the beauty of having a restaurant in an urban environment.

I remembered to ask him about Taqueria El Guadalajara in the Stadium District, about the rumor I heard from the person who heard a rumor, and he said, "Yes, I do own the building."  And assured me that he had no plans for at least the next year to do anything.  My guess is that he’s probably feeling pretty beleaguered by all the permit delays he experienced in the Masa project, not to mention he’s a smart businessman, and probably wants to see how things shape up with two businesses across the street from each other.

So then there was the downstairs.  He told me about the mural, by Robert Williamson, who also painted the Asado mural.  The colors used in Masa’s Dia de los Muertos-themed mural are cool-toned, with a cerulean blue dominant. The effect is dynamic, very un-dead, and fabulous.  The brown suede backs of the moveable round banquette seating â€" moveable so they can swoop around when garage-style windows are open in the summer â€" blend with the carpet, while the seating portion of the banquettes in a nearly-metallic teal tone neatly ties in the mural. 

Xitco remember, I said he was nice â€" put up the Gagnon welding team at Casa de Xitco through the bulk of the build-up; the metal-heavy space shows why the Gagnon truck was an ever-present fixture on Sixth Avenue.  Between the metal, the mural, the bar, and the furnishings, it’s evident that the theme is “New York meets Mexico.”

For me, it’s a tie as to what I love most.  A four-way tie. Yeah, there’s that taco that haunts me still.  The other food was also good, I liked the carne asado tacos with the sort of  horseradish sauce flavoring them, I loved the Queso Fondida con Chorizo â€" again, if it were ever-so-slightly nearer to “hot,” with the cheese less combative and more melty, it would have hit divinity) â€" but the pollo had me at “pollo.” 

I loved my white wine sangria, disappointed as I was that somehow my second never made it to our table.  My friends’ drinks were equally good â€" a mojito that had none of the cloying sweetness many are guilty of, with plenty of boozy minty lime-y pleasure, and an equally happy-boozy margarita that sang its Mariachi song to me â€" but the muddled Sangria was bliss.

The third in the tie for “what I like best about Masa” might have been the mural, might have been the design scheme in general, but ended up the design scheme specifically in the bathroom.  Yeah, like Natasha says, bathrooms are the ticket.  At Masa, there’s this blue mosaic work on the floor mixed in with the terra cotta, added to the blue tile walls, the incredible basins, and the amazing steel toilet partitions.  Oh yeah, and Claudia Riedener’s Ixia Tile mirror surround-muy fabuloso. All together, the elements make for my favorite bathroom, to date, in Tacoma.

And now, you ask, what’s the fourth in the four-way tie?  In my hanging-on-his-shirttails tour from Xitco, I stopped to ask him about the taqueria.  Cooler than cool â€" this space will be open 24 hours.  Cooler than cooler than cool â€" the meats, tortillas, and salsas will be “on tap” for take-home immidiemente diners, café food (24 hours) can be eaten there, and the regular menu will be offered during business hours, to-go.

But the coolest of the cooler than cool, the taqueria space itself.  Yeah, more tile.  Cool tile.  Yeah, excellent diner-booths, perfect for 4 a.m. munchies.  But look.  On the tables â€" those Mexican candles featuring Our Lady the Blessed Virgin.  Above the tables â€" the art.  Xitco himself was inspired with the idea seeing photographer Matthew Mahon’s photos, a producer found the “models” (car and human) and Mahon shot the classic, fabulous photos hanging.  They’re criminally good, and will be framed in the same metalwork that frames the taqueria café menu on the wall.

As you walk out the front door, the steelwork reads, “dia de los muertos,” and I commented to Xitco that this place will be so flippin’ cool for next year’s Sixth Avenue procession. 

But cooler than all the aforementioned cools?  The Cinco de Mayo party in the works with the Engine House.  Think: deck opened.  Think: street closed.

Think: Mexipartygasm. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler