Ever since I “discovered” Casa La Doña (meaning: skating past the restaurant about 50 times, without any interest, until I read somewhere that they sell tacos for $1), I’ve been borderline-obsessed with trying everything on their menu – and every weird salsa in their colorful salsa bar (word to the wise: the “Peanut” salsa is incredibly spicy). In an effort to encourage other like-minded taco-fiends, I’m double-dipping at the Doña for this week’s Taco Tuesday.

I headed over to Casa La Doña (don’t get any on ya) and tried something called the “Volcan” al pastor, which has 2 deep-fried corn tortillas covered in refried black beans and juicy hunks of pastor pork. Their pastor pork has a marinate-you-long-time tenderness, packed with that zesty chili flavor that every taco fiend has come to crave – even with a tongue deadened by liberal squeezes of sriracha sauce. Melted monterey jack was evenly distributed throughout, with grilled onions, diced tomato and a sprinkling of cilantro. But the true brilliant finishing touch was a pile of pineapple chunks laid on top. What a perfect way to balance this dish: some fresh, sweet pineapple tidbits,washing it all down with a Jarritos Mineragua.

My wife had the chilaquiles, with perfectly-fluffy scrambled eggs and generous amounts of cotija cheese. I’m not a fan of chilaquiles (don’t ask), so I’ll just let the photo speak for itself.

The slogan for Mineragua should be “DO Drink The Water!”

Apart from the dizzying array of salsa choices, my favorite feature at The Doña is the bipolar signage found on the exit doors, “Push/Pull”, which no one can seem to keep straight as they’re leaving: Customers stumble out of the restaurant mumbling “Thank You” over and over in a meaty, cheesy stupor, pushing when they should pull and vice versa. I prefer to think that these signs are a sly deconstruction of modern restaurant mores. Much like the Volcan’s perfect balance of sweet and spicy, The Doña’s contradictory Push/Pull signage cleverly reminds us that in life there is never only one option for complete freedom. Or, they just fucked up.

Casa La Doña is located at 800 Main St.