When I arrive at Tacos La Cuadra in the TJ Maxx parking lot near Northgate at 8pm on Saturday night, the line is already 40 people deep. At the near end of the tent, a giant trompo rotates, laden with the telltale red-tinged pork for tacos al pastor. A team of three moves customers through the line efficiently, averaging less than a minute for each person in front of me.

One taquero carves the meat from the vertical spit, attempting the masterful flick of pineapple from the whole fruit at the top of the trompo directly into grease-dipped tortillas. Mostly, he fails. A second mans the flattop for griddled foods like quesadillas, wraps the burritos, and fills tacos with the steam-table selection of additional meats. Lastly, a woman takes orders and accepts money—cash, Venmo, Zelle, or Cash App.

I pass the time chatting with the couple standing behind me. They, too, had seen the photos and videos all over social media showing that Seattle finally has a Mexico City–style late-night al pastor stand, the kind that pepper Los Angeles. They, too, had at first thought it was actually in a different location, about a mile and a half west along Northgate Way, in front of an O’Reilly Auto Parts store. That, it turned out, was an unrelated shop.

Though the sandwich board in front of their tent says they’ve been around since 1996, La Cuadra began springing up after dark in the Seattle area this spring—as evidenced by both the breathless TikTok videos and extensive record of health department closures. They have been repeatedly shut down by King County for failing to operate with a permit—and they continue to do so. (Maricopa County, Arizona recently issued a public warning after a rash of illnesses struck clients of a similarly unlicensed taco stand). As of last week, La Cuadra operated in six different locations, ranging from Sumner to Shoreline.

The rapid proliferation and clearly informal nature of the stand meant that the name, La Cuadra, is often treated as secondary to the description, as in, “OMG, have you tried the new late-night al pastor tacos?!” That description, however, turned out to apply to other places, too. Last week, La Cuadra posted a screenshot on Instagram of Apple Maps, which, like Google Maps, marked a Tacos La Cuadra location at the corner of Aurora and Northgate Way as La Cuadra. The overlaid text simply said, “This is not us.” While they have six locations, this seventh spot was not them.

It's an easy mistake to make, though the imposter opens a little later—they were still setting up when I passed by on my way to La Cuadra on Saturday evening. But when I returned later in the evening, the set up was nearly identical: one taquero deftly slicing pork from the trompo, a second on the flattop and steam table, and a third person as cashier. The cold buffet of taco toppings included a similar red onion and orange pepper salsa, the standard cilantro and onion, a pico de gallo, and trio of blended salsas. Here, the payment was cash only, or, with reluctance, Zelle.

The tacos at both places ran $3 a pop, though La Cuadra’s were a bit bigger and tasted a little less of the fuel powering the flames as they licked at the meat. La Cuadra is, at minimum, serving some of the best al pastor in the city. At both places, the al pastor, carved fresh from the trompo, and the condiment bars could go cabeza-a-cabeza with all but the best places in LA. The tortillas, softened in the grease dripped from the meat and griddled, stayed pliant and hugged the thin slices of pork. The other meats, at both places, went straight from steam table to taco, giving them no advantage over versions at restaurants.

The only other difference between the two was the lack of a sign of any sort at the second spot. When I asked if the stand had a name, the taquero shrugged and shook his head. I was relieved they didn’t seem to be overtly claiming to be La Cuadra; I would have been disappointed in such nefarious goings on. Instead, it seems much more plausible that, given the idea of a late-night tacos al pastor stand is hardly original or unique to La Cuadra, some well-meaning Seattleites saw one and assumed it had to be related to the others they saw on social media.

In other words, it appears entirely possible that Seattle is crawling, slowly and haltingly, away from its long history of lacking both reasonably good al pastor tacos and decent food open past 11pm.

La Cuadra’s six stands open at 7pm Tuesday through Sunday, and close at midnight Tuesday through Thursday and at 1am Friday through Sunday.

This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the nature of La Cuadra's closures by King County Public Health.