"taco trucks" news and stories

Carne Asada. Photo: No Recipes

It is a rare occurrence when we come across a homemade taco that looks like it was purchased on the street.

At first blush, that may seem like a pejorative statement, but when it comes to tacos many foodies will argue that they're tastiest when served from a truck. (Or while in Mexico, obviously.)

But for some of us -- no matter how hard we try -- our kitchen tacos will never resemble truck tacos. Not so for Marc Matsumoto over at No Recipes, who created this Carne Asada concoction.

Perhaps this is because his philosophy for cooking is "50 percent technique, 40 percent inspiration and 10 percent ingredients." Maybe it's those delectable-looking homemade corn tortillas (which, he tells us, are a breeze to make). And though he doesn't admit it in the post, we're willing to bet the meat was inspired by the street.

[Via No Recipes]

Tacodeli's "cowboy" taco. Photo: Portal and Friends/Flickr

The taco may be the perfect food. Portable and unassuming, not to mention affordable, it proffers fuss-free enjoyment for most everyone. This Slashfoodie's recent move to Austin, Texas, after residing in the taco mecca of Sunset Park, Brooklyn for three years has led him to sample Lone Star State tacos whenever possible. Naturally, a mano a mano Austin versus Sunset Park contest was inevitable.

Austin's taco scene skews toward what some might call "gringo fancy," characterized by the prominence of flour tortillas and nontraditional ingredients like bison and basil -- and fish, which is found infrequently in Sunset Park.

Brooklyn tacos, on the other hand, pay homage to one of the neighborhood's main demographics, Mexican immigrants, with tacos wrapped in two corn tortillas. They typically contain nothing more than a meat filling -- goat, lengua (tongue) and cabeza (brains) are among commonly selected options -- minced raw onion, cilantro, a spritz of lime and an optional flurry of queso fresco (white cheese).

Poll and more after the jump.

New Orleans now offers a soulful culinary phenomenon that's more often seen on the streets of New York City or Los Angeles: taco trucks.

Residents of New Orleans have embraced the mobile taquerias' offerings, including al pastor and pork tacos. Some even go for the more exotic cow's head and tongue varieties, both of which are some of my favorites. Even though the public has warmed up to a type of restaurant little known before an influx of Latinos came to the state seeking reconstruction work, Jefferson Parish officials have recently banned the trucks. The new law gave vendors only 10 days to set up restrooms and washing stations. I've certainly wished for both of these amenities after wolfing down a few tacos de carnitas on the streets of Jackson Heights, Queens. But it's simply not going to happen. It should be pointed out that if my fair city banned the taco trucks, there's a fair chance that I'd soon find myself living in L.A.

But back to the story at hand. Jeff Parish pols raised concerns that the mobile kitchens are unsanitary, even though state health officials found nothing wrong. As the article I read pointed out, the taco trucks are embroiled in a food fight of sorts. To be sure, racisim also plays a role in the ban, but so does a concern that the cuisine of Puebla threatens the historic foodways of the Big Easy. New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas recently asked, "How do the tacos help gumbo?"

The burning question for me is something more along the lines of, "How soon can I get me a boudin noir taco?

Source

Coincidentally related to Nicole's post, The Great Taco Hunt, a blog dedicated to "the Los Angeles Taco Scene" recently pointed out that new fines and regulations are making things a little more difficult for the taco trucks of L.A. Apparently parking fines for catering trucks have increased to up to $310 for repeat offenders. Trucks can now no longer stay in one place for more than an hour in commercial areas or a half hour in residential areas. The new ordinance says that the trucks must move at least a half a mile away and be gone for at least an hour. The Great Taco Hunt also points to an online petition to get the ordinances changed. At the moment the petition has 127 signatures.

Some of the best tacos I've ever had have been handed to me through a Plexiglas window. So, when I noticed that Tacotrucks.net, a website with maps and reviews of taco trucks in Oakland, was back in business, I decided to see what other resources are out there. One of the first I came across was a blog called Seattle Taco Trucks, which has lots of reviews and photos of taco-dispensing vehicles in the Seattle area. Like Tacotrucks.net, the Seattle site also has map showing the trucks' locations. A cool bonus is that they also have links to health department reports for the trucks. Polar Inertia, a "journal of nomadic and popular culture," also has a great slide show of taco trucks with lots of information about the logistics of operating one in Los Angeles. I'm sure that websites dedicated to these mobile taquerias are plentiful If you know of any other good ones, please pass them along.

[Photo: Polar Inertia]