Taco Truck Night In Review

Well, on Thursday, as part of my contribution to saving the taco trucks of Los Angeles County, I visited all three of San Pedro’s operating trucks, but I caught one while they were still setting up, so I only got to eat from two trucks. It’s funny, the jerks who are backing Gloria Molina in her effort to destroy this part of Angeleno culture all seem to rant on about roving trucks that are littering the streets and disrupting the operations of brick and mortar restaurants. But every truck operating on Thursday was on private property, and two out of the three were operated by locals. One of those local trucks (the one that wasn’t serving when I cruised by) is actually operated by a restaurant, where they set up in the restaurant’s parking lot and operate in partnership.

My conclusion? The taco truck business model is a varied one, and although maybe the special nature of these eateries requires some attentive regulation, it certainly is one that can live right alongside brick and mortar establishments. On to the food. Oh, and if you haven’t yet, sign the petition!

Above – Right to left – buche, lengua & 2 carne asada tacos. Purchased at Tacos Quiroga, the truck seen at top, located at 14th and Pacific. These guys were a little small, but the buche and lengua that I had were delicious. The salsa at this truck was noticeably better than at the other truck I ate at, as well.

Above – Purchased at the truck that parks in the Goodyear Tires parking lot at 5th and Pacific. This truck was bumping with folks. Everyone was ordering the buche, but I already had some from Tacos Quiroga, so I went with the torta seen below. The asada tacos were for Phill and Michele. I thought the salsa at this truck was kind of too thick, didn’t like it.

Above – A “Torta Cubana” from the 5th & Pacific truck. I like to imagine that Cuban cuisine is diverging under the pressure of isolation and poverty, and the traditional Cuban sandwich has forked into two wildly different sandwiches, one popular with Cuban expatriates in the US, and the above, a weird mishmash that has come from Cuba, through Mexico and ended up on the streets of Los Angeles.

That’s not the case, as far as I can determine, the Torta Cubana usually involves milanesa and fried, sliced hot dogs alongside an assortment of other unrelated edibles, essentially a sort of poverty food/leftovers combo that lurks on restaurant menus, patiently waiting for a chance to surprise, shock or even disappoint the eater. This particular sandwich was notable because of the curiously huge chunk of queso fresco and the thin layer of beans on the bread. It was an awesomely novel sandwich, though.

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