Friday, July 5, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
South of the border, at Gearhart’s El Trio Loco
VIEW FROM
THE PORCH
EVE MARX
L
ast week Mr. Sax and I had
an unusual day. What was
unusual was we went out
for lunch. Lunch at our house is
a mundane affair; we eat, but not
for fun, as much as for sustenance.
My usual lunch is almond butter
smeared on a rice cake. For vari-
ety, I might top it off with a cou-
ple of slices of banana, or a cut up
strawberry. Mr. Sax, who comes
home for lunch, favors a glass of
kefi r, although occasionally he
shows up with a pastrami sand-
wich from the Tsunami Sand-
wich Company, or smoked salmon
with capers and onion (“The New
Yorker”) from Bagels By The Sea.
Sometimes he brings home sushi
from Safeway or a tuna sub from
Subway. If he brings home any of
these things, we share. We’re not
in the habit of having leftovers for
lunch, largely because we rarely
have leftovers, and if we do, in the
interest of retaining our fi gures and
Eve Marx
The chimichangas are delicious and they give you lots of guacamole.
our food budget, I reimagine them
in some way (like served over rice
or pasta) for another dinner.
Nevertheless, last week for no
particular reason, we went out to
lunch. We went to El Trio Loco
on Highway 101 in Gearhart. We
hadn’t been in awhile. The last
time we went I swear the restau-
rant was smaller, but then again,
we haven’t been in awhile.
The main thing I recalled from
our last visit is that El Trio Loco
has a vast menu and their margar-
itas are gigantic. The margaritas
actually come in two sizes, small
and regular. They have basic mar-
garitas, as well as fancier ones.
They also have cosmopolitans,
mojitos, and other Mexican cock-
tails, and, of course, beer.
If you were to visit the restau-
rant’s Facebook page, you’ll see
people raving about the fajitas but
griping they don’t have queso or
horchata, but this seems a minor
complaint. El Trio Loco has a lot
of food to choose from and they
put a lot of food on the plate. They
have four styles of huevos if you
arrive when the restaurant opens
at 11 a.m. and you’re in the mood
for breakfast. They have tosta-
dos and sopitos and tacos al pastor.
They have brocheta de camaron,
which is grilled skewered shrimp;
they have seafood chile relleno
y mas. In addition to chicken,
shrimp, and steak fajitas, they offer
a family style fajitos that comes
with enough Mexican rice, refried
beans, guacamole and warm tor-
tillas to easily feed two very hun-
gry adults or two modestly hun-
gry adults in the company of a
couple of young children. They
have a menu specifi cally for chil-
dren 12 years and under. They have
nine different kinds of enchila-
das, and nine beef dishes, including
steak a la diabla, top sirloin, and
T-bone. There are multiple choices
for those who eat cheese, but not
fi sh or meat. There are 10 different
chicken dishes, and I haven’t even
gotten to the burritos. On our recent
visit, I focused on the lunch menu,
which is smaller and more manage-
able, and ordered chimichangas.
Against my better judgment I
ordered a margarita. I ordered the
regular-sized one. I can’t remem-
ber now exactly what it cost, but
it was very reasonably priced
and came with a lot of alcohol.
It arrived at the table in what
appeared to be a glass tureen, or
maybe it was a fi sh bowl. All I can
say is was it went down fast.
As soon as we ordered our
drinks, our server, who was
delightfully attentive but not intru-
sive, brought to the table a bowl
of salsa and a bowl of chips. He
also brought a bowl of puréed
refried beans. They were a perfect
accompaniment to the margar-
ita. By the time my chimichangas
arrived I was in a very good mood
and frankly not at all hungry.
Mr. Sax also over-ordered (he
got three different kinds of tacos a
la carte) so we asked for a box. The
rest of that afternoon passed in a
pleasant haze. I don’t recommend
margaritas at lunch if you’re a work-
ing stiff, but heck yeah if you’re on
vacation. Hey, tequila rules.
The next day at home we had
the leftovers for lunch.
Summer reading fun at the Seaside Public Library
S
ummer Reading is in full
swing at the Seaside Pub-
lic Library and so far we
have over 200 children, teens,
and adults signed up to read this
summer.
Librarians know summer read-
ing is super important, especially
for children and teens, during
the sum-
mer months
because chil-
BETWEEN
dren and teens
THE COVERS
are still build-
ESTHER
ing vocabulary.
MOBERG
Brain develop-
ment is import-
ant all the way
up through the ages of age and
beyond and reading and retention
is important for that development.
To help children and teens in
our county be the most success-
ful in life, we want them to retain
what they have learned during
the school year as well as expand
their brains even more. Our
library countywide summer read-
ing programs help kids do just
that.
Our summer reading theme at
the library is “A Universe of Sto-
ries.” This summer you can learn
about everything from rockets, to
astronauts, and even the moon.
This year is the 50th anniversary
of the fi rst astronauts landing on
the moon.
On Wednes-
day, July 10,
at 10 a.m., the
library will
have a pre-
school story-
time show-
ing astronauts
reading stories out in space. Most
of the Library’s summer read-
ing programs are on the theme of
space and outer space, although
we may throw in a few fun things
from this earth too. Just this past
week we had Creature Teachers
come and share about different
exotic animals from our planet.
Coming up we have a pre-
Kids having fun during the Seaside Summer Reading program.
school storytime puppet show on
Wednesday, July 24, at 10 a.m.
We also have Alex Zerbe the
Zaniac, a comedy, juggling, and
magic show for all ages on Tues-
day, July 16, at 1 p.m. If that’s not
enough for you, when kids and
teens sign up for summer reading
they get a free book just for sign-
ing up and a reading log to track
how many days they read this
summer.
Turning in a completed reading
log means more great prizes and
a chance to be in the countywide
grand prize drawings for prizes
that include Lego sets, book bas-
kets, and for teens, a chance to
win $100 sponsored by TLC, a
Division of Fibre Federal Credit
Union. Adults can get in on the
fun too and most if not all adults
who participate in the summer
reading program will get a prize
at the end of the summer. Adults
will also get to learn about dino-
saurs from a paleontologist on
Saturday, July 6, at 1pm.
Other exciting events com-
ing up in July and August at the
library include a star party for all
ages on Friday, Aug. 2. We’ll be
stargazing outside the library with
a telescope and enjoying many
other great activities for star gaz-
ing fun.
Teens will be eating space
food on July 23 at 3 p.m. as well
as watching Canadian astronaut
Chris Hadfi eld try to make things
in space. There will be weird sci-
ence at preschool storytime on
Wednesday, July 31 at 10 a.m.
Summer Reading ends Wednes-
day, Aug. 28 and we’ll be throw-
ing a party from 1-3pm to cel-
ebrate all the many hours of
successful reading.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
In whom do you
place your trust?
Back in the ’70s I retired
from the military and
went to work for the post
offi ce. A few years later my
brother retired from the mil-
itary and moved to Oregon.
We started talking about
taxes and how Oregon
was not taxing reitred state
employees but was taxing
everybody else. My brother
said, “They can’t do that, can
they?” I said, “They’re not
elected offi cials and surely
we can trust them.” Boy was
I dumb.
In the late ’90s a case
went to the U.S. Supreme
Court involving 17 states
that were doing the same
thing as Oregon (two of the
states were Virginia and
Michigan.) The end result
was all of the states were
told to reimburse us and
state the practice. Our gov-
ernor, Kitzhaber, stated that
if it was all paid back, it
would bankrupt the state.
A formula computed in
the back room allowed the
state to pull another one
out of the hat. (I person-
ally received approximately
$23,000.)
We spent our time in the
service to stop this coun-
try from being overrun by
aggressors and little did
we realize that they are
here and we can’t go to the
Supreme Court because the
PERS debt is legal. And just
as it was 50 years ago, all
of the politicians knew or
should have known about it.
So just where do you
place your trust? Arizona
maybe!
Bob Cook
Seaside
Surreys, please
obey traffi c rules
To all the operators of sur-
rey bike rentals and the
tourists who rents surreys:
Please emphasize the
importance of staying clos-
est to the right side of the
road as is possible. Too
often traffi c is backed up
because a surrey is biking
down the center of Holla-
day, alongside the center
yellow lane as if they are a
motorized vehicle.
I often wonder if I were
to rent a Surrey if I would be
informed to obey the laws
of bicycles and need to say
nearest to the curb as possi-
ble. Or do you merely ask
renters to read some policies,
which we all know no one
actually reads.
When surreys are on the
right side of the road cars
can safely pass by, surrey
riders can enjoy their day
and motorists can get to
work. Just as motorists are
ask to share the road with
bicyclists, surreys need to
share the road with motor-
ists, by staying away from
the center yellow lane.
David Muschamp
Gearhart
Katelin Stuart named to WSU honor roll
Seaside Signal
Katelin Stuart of Seaside
was named to the Washing-
ton State University’s presi-
dent’s honor roll.
The president’s honor
roll recognizes students who
stand above the rest with
excellent academic perfor-
mance. To be eligible for the
honor roll, undergraduate
students must be enrolled in
a minimum of nine graded
hours in a single term at
WSU and earn a grade point
average of 3.75 or earn a
3.50 cumulative GPA based
on 15 cumulative hours of
graded work.
Seaside Rotary
Rotary scholarship winners Seth Trevino, Kendy Lin, Jenna Logan, Gretchen Hoekstre, Majestik De Luz, Shelbylee Rhodes
Chase Januik, Hayley Rollins and Cori Biamont.
Rotary Foundation awards $33, 500 in scholarships
Seaside Signal
The Seaside Rotary
Foundation awarded a
record-breaking $33,500 to
nine Seaside High School
graduates this year.
The winners include:
A&G Harvey Schol-
arships: $2,000 scholar-
ship, renewable for four
years: Cori Biamont, Chase
Januik, Haley Rollins.
Deb Hauger Memorial
Scholarship: A one-time
$2,000 scholarship: Shel-
bylee Rhodes.
Rotary
Scholarships:
A one-time $1,500 schol-
arship: Majestik De Luz,
Gretchen Hoekstre, Jenna
Logan, Kendy Lin, Seth
Trevino.
Annual book sale in Cannon Beach brings wide
selection of genres, signed copies and rare books
Coast Weekend
CANNON BEACH —
This year’s annual Fourth
of July Cannon Beach
Library Book Sale runs Fri-
day, Saturday and Sunday
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each
day.
The sale has been hap-
pening for more than 30
years and is among the
largest used-book sales on
the Oregon coast. It is also
a fundraiser for the private,
member-owned, nonprofi t
library.
“This year’s fundraiser
offers thousands of nov-
els, mysteries, biographies,
histories, children’s books,
rare and old books and
cooking, art and coffee-ta-
ble books at bargain-base-
ment prices,” library board
member Janet Bates said.
She expects this year’s
sale to surpass last year’s
record contribution to the
library’s annual budget.
“To the thousands of
popular fi ction and nonfi c-
tion books donated this past
year,” Bates notes, “this
sale also includes fi rst edi-
tions, autographed copies
and rare old books over-
looked during our Third
Annual Memorial Day
Weekend Rare and Old
Book Sale.”
Doug Wood
Shoppers browse fi ction and nonfi ction books at the Annual
Cannon Beach Library Book Sale. This year’s sale runs 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Thursday, July 4, through Sunday, July 7.
For more informa-
tion, call 503-436-1391 or
email info@cannonbeach-
library.org