Food Trucks – Page 4

Mariscos Monday: The Mariscos Nine Seas Truck

March 17, 2014 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

**** The Mariscos Nine Seas Truck is no longer

I'd been wanting to try out the Mariscos Truck in Hipster Land for a while……that would be Mariscos Nine Seas which is located in the parking lot of Gala Foods and across the street from South Park Abbey.

I really like the "seating area", chairs to sit and stools for tables…..kind of neat.

I also quickly noticed that the menu was basically in English, amking it very gringo friendly. No pretense at the customer base it seems. That Baja Trio seemed like a decent way of tasting a decent range of items, the shrimp, fish taco, and the smoked fish, so I decided on that. It did take me a while to order….for some reason, even when I tried calling into the window; the woman working didn't hear me. It wasn't until one of the guys walked out the door and noticed me that I got my order taken.

Anyway, I had my seat until my tacos were ready. I did notice that the guys who came after me were given consomme; but I wasn't, kind of strange. I'm sure I could have asked for it, but since I had three tacos coming, if they were good, I'd be back……

I wasn't a big fan of the tortillas which were crumbly and bland. The best of the bunch was the shrimp; which were plump and juicy and handled the simple batter quite well. The flavoring was simple, though bland. The fish taco was decently flavored, the batter a bit too light, and the fish kind of slimy, what's with all the watery crema nowadays. Also, even tohugh it was 11am nad they open at 930, they seemed ill prepared….I had to ask for napkins, salsa, there was no cebollas, no limes…….

Tacos de Marlyn is one of my favorites….I love the combination of smoke, saltiness, and the flavor of the fish. This however, was probably the worst version I've ever had….it lacked a decent smoke flavor and was terribly fishy….I'm no shrinking violet; I've eaten fish curd and what they call "fish poo", but this just didn't taste right. I went back to the truck and asked for a "salsa picante" something spicy to see if that would fix tihngs….it didn't…I dumped it.

I'm guessing a lot of folks love this truck…..I'll pass.

The Mariscos Nine Seas Truck
3030 Grape St
San Diego, CA 92102

Mariscos Monday: The Mariscos Tijuana Jr Truck and Mariscos Godoy closes

March 10, 2014 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops

**** My understanding is that this truck so no longer

A couple of weeks back, occasional commenter "Buddha" who I've known since the "Chowhound Days" shot me an email telling me that he believes the best fish tacos are now being served from a truck on the corner of J and Broadway in Chula Vista named Tijuana Jr. This past weekend, I finally had some time to drive down there are check them out.

When I arrived at 10am, they were already doing some serious business. The truck is located in the parking lot of a tire shop with very limited parking. I was lucky enough to snare a spot.

There's one guy manning the order window and another manning the window for payment making things easy.

Of course I went with a Taco de Pescado – the fish taco $1.25.

Good god, this thing was huge for a typical fish taco. Two large pieces of fish, moist, the batter is almost a laquer-tempura style, very crisp. Not to much flavor, the crema is watery, you'll need to add some sauce to this one, a squeeze of lime, and maybe the habenero onions. Still, this is a super deal for a $1.25 and I think it may be the best……I need to get back to Mariscos el Pescador and El Prieto for a comparison.

I also ordered a Gobernador, which had a ton of perfectly cooked shrimp.

This really didn't seem like the typical gobernador to me….though I loved the way the cheese had been melted and griddled in some spots. This thing literally fell to pieces in ten seconds. If this was indeed a gobernador, I really missed the onions, peppers, and seasonings. Still no complaints about pertion size, though this too was very mild in flavor.

I was more than satisfied as I left. I'll be back!

Thanks for the recommendation Jeff!

Mariscos Tijuana Jr
706 W J St
Chula Vista, CA 91910

On site daily from 9am – 7pm

Since I was down in the South Bay, I thought I'd check on El Charco, which looks exactly the same as 5 months ago. I think the place is a goner.

Mariscos Godoy is now Maricos la Perla Negra:

As I headed to the I-5 down Palomar I took a quick glance to my right and was surprised. Mariscos Godoy was now Mariscos la Perla Negra:

Anyone know what happened?

A funny thing happened as I was waiting at the light to get back on Palomar; CC sent me a text telling me that Mariscos Godoy had closed! Man, that was kind of weird….I squinted my eyes looking out at Palomar Street….looking to see if I could spot her…..

651 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

What we ate during the hottest 2 weeks of the year: Revisits to Izakaya Sakura, The Original Sab E Lee, Grandma Tofu and BBQ, Manila Fast Food and Desserts, and Champions Mariscos Truck

September 5, 2013 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Food Trucks, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Sisig, Thai Restaurants

Man, the last two weeks have been brutal….call me a soft San Diegan, but I've been feeling the heat and humidity. I told Cathy that I wish it would just storm like crazy so this weather would break. No such luck so far!

Well, regardless of the weather, you've got to eat, right? So here's some of what we had during the last two weeks.

Izakaya Sakura:

It had been a while and I was craving some Ebi Kakiage cold noodles, so Izakaya Sakura it was.

This time it was the cold udon version, which hit the spot.

This really hit the spot!

Though I could have done without having to listen to Wilson Phillips Greatest Hits throughout my meal….

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

The Original Sab E Lee:

**** This location of TOSEL has closed

Spicy Thai food is a natural for us during hot muggy weather…..not sure why.

The usual suspects at the Linda Vista location.

Man, that Grilled Duck Larb just hit the spot…right between the eyes.

I swear, I recall TOSEL having A/C? Well, not on this day. The result of spicy food with no A/C had me wondering if it was the Salted Fish Fried Rice….or was it me?

The Original Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

Grandma Tofu and BBQ:

I wanted some Bibim Naengmyun, but Buga was closed for renovation (they've since reopened). So I ended up going to Halmouny…Grandma Tofu and BBQ.

Love the flavors….bracing and refreshing. The noodles however, seemed were really rubbery, like rubberbands, I mean, naengmyun is always rather elastic, but these just would not give way!

Grandma's Tofu & BBQ
4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Manila Fast Food and Desserts:

I was up in the area and decided to grab lunch. I hadn't been back in here in almost 9 months or so.

A quick look at the steam table made selecting what I wanted easy.

The Beef Mechado was much more tender than the last time I had it. The flavor was also better, much more tangy flavor and decent salt. It was on the greasy side though.

The sisig was not bad; nice pungent, sour, spice, salt….. would have been nice to have a bit of crispness in it since it was typical "SD Sisig", left-over lechon kawale. But overall; no complaints, better than I've had recently.

Manila Fast Food and Desserts
8979 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Champions Mariscos Truck:

So, just as in the previous four weeks, I broke out the smoker during Labor Day weekend. I needed something fairly close by before I started the ribs, so I headed over to Champions Mariscos Truck in the parking lot of Toys R' Us on Morena.

Consomme might seem to be a bit much on a scortching day, but I can never turn it down. This was a bit too water for my taste, with a bit too much celery flavor. Not as good as my previous visits.

I went with the Arrachera y Camaron…the surf and turf taco. Not enough caramelization on the beef, but it was decently tender. The shrimp were moist and flavorful.

I decided to go with the Taco de Marlyn again.

Man, they really loaded this thing! Unlike my previous visit, it didn't seem to have too much queso…perhaps due to the amount of filling! All this "stuff" seemed to water down the flavor of the smoked fish though….but this wasn't too bad.

Champions Mariscos Truck – In the parking lot of Toys 'R Us on Morena Boulevard

So there you go….we may be overheatin', but we're still eatin'. Hope everyone is staying and keeping cool!

Champions Mariscos Truck in Bay Park

August 12, 2013 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops

So yesterday I did a "Breakfast of Champions" post, I guess it just makes sense to do Champions Mariscos right after it.

Last week I making the drive up Morena Boulevard, something that I do countless times during the week. In the parking lot to the side of Toys 'R Us, where the ill fated Morena Farmers Market used to be was a lonchera…..

I hadn't seen this one before. Yet, I had stuff to do and couldn't drop by. I kept my fingers crossed that this wasn't just a one time deal. So this past weekend, I managed to stop by. Not once, but twice.

Champion Mariscos? I don't ever recall seeing or hearing about this truck. It was kind of weird approaching the lone truck in the middle of a large parking lot, with no one else around. I checked out the menu, the prices seemed in line for most items. The woman handling the counter was quite friendly. I asked her how long they had been here….."since monday" and what they're hours were, "every day 10 to 6".

I have a usual "routine" of items I order from just about any mariscos truck and I'm just too old to change that habit.

Like any decent mariscos truck, things start off with a cup of consomme…..

On the light side, kind of salty, but not terrible.

I went with the Fish Taco, which was a 99 cent special and a taco gobernador ($4.25).

So let me just get my pet peeves out of the way. The fish taco's batter was kind of mushy, in fact the fish was unusually bland, yet very moist edging on mushy as well. I'm thinking this was probably swali. The under ripe tomatoes add a bit of texture but not any of that nice acid to the taco. Other than that….it's 99 cents, who am I to be a nit-picker, right? There was a ton of shrimp on the gobernador. The tortilla had been lined with melted cheese so it wouldn't turn to mush. The shrimp was cooked decently, but I sorely missed the acid of some sauteed tomatoes and the flavor of bell peppers in this. Still, there was a decent amount of shrimp in this.

So I decided to make a return visit. The consomme was much better this time around. Nice shrimp-fish flavor, with hints of celery.

I decided to just go for it and started with an Enchilado Shrimp Taco….spicy shrimp($4.25). At first I was just going to do a taco de camaron, but I really didn't care for the batter, nor the frying technique on my previous visit.

Good quantity of shrimp, well cooked, though not very spicy. Same tomatoes and mediocre tortillas. Not bad.

I also got the taco de marlyn…or in this case marlin ($4.00):

Unlike other versions, the smoked fish wasn't too salty, but it did lack a distict smokey flavor. The tortilla was nicely griddles, but there was just too much cheese on this. I like the way these trucks make prep the tortilla on the gobernador or marlyn, using cheese as a base to preserve the texture of the tortilla. There's a very mild milky background that you barely notice. Here there was just too much of that. This was not bad by any means, but nowhere near the league of the good mariscos trucks in San Diego.

One thing about my posts you have to understand. It's not in my DNA to drop my standards "just because I'm happy something is close by". Just as I'm not just happy because we actually have XLB in San Diego, I can't say the food here is fantabulous, just because it's the only one. That said, I hope if you live nearby you check them out. I don't want to be negative, but Mariscos German couldn't make it in the neighborhood and sadly, we couldn't even support a Farmer's Market! La Playita closed recently and Playa Azul a couple of years ago. So unless you just want Taco Shop fare, this might be one of your few shots at something different.

Champions Mariscos Truck – In the parking lot of Toys 'R Us on Morena Boulevard

Eating on the hood of your car: The Mariscos Alex Truck

April 29, 2013 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops

So there I was running low on petrol in City Heights. I decided to stop and fill up at the station on the corner of ECB and Fairmount and what do I see but a mariscos truck! I've passed this corner dozens, maybe hundreds of times and had never seen this truck before.

Since it was almost lunchtime and I was famished, this seemed like the perfect stop…..all the stars were aligned it seemed.

All the standard mariscos offerings were present on the menu posted at the rear of the vehicle. I did find it kind of strange that there were no prices posted, except for fish tacos which were a $1.25.

The woman manning the window looked familiar…..was this truck once one of the Mariscos German fleet? She always seemed a bit gruff before and this time was no different.

The consomme was decent, way too much celery for my liking, but not bad.

I ordered a fish taco and a gobernador, which came out to $6.25.

As fish tacos go, this was ok. All the usual suspects. The crema was mild and the tortilla routine. There was too much batter on the fish, which was on he gummy side. The fish tasted a bit off as well.

I hoped my Gobernador would be an improvement and while not as good as, say the original Mariscos German(no tomatoes), Beyer, or El Pescador, it was not bad.

The shrimp were plump and juicy, though the vegetables were undercooked for my taste. The cheese was perfectly melted and this was super hot, though it could have used more seasoning…oregano, salt, pepper. Still it wasn't too bad.

So I returned the following weekend for another try. Same gruff woman, though she must have a heart of gold as she gave the homeless guy a fish taco……me on the other hand, I just a "yes" as she looked down at me. This time I ordered the tacos de camarones and a taco de marlyn, which cost $7.50 total.

Quite a bit of shrimp in my taco, though this confirmed that I'm not a big fan of the gummy and not especially crisp batter. The tomtoes were green and not very good. The rest was decent.

The taco de marlyn….smoked fish taco was the best item I've had here.

The fish had a nice smokiness to it and while the versions at many places teeters on salty, this one isn't.

Again the peppers, celery, and onions weren't stir-fried long enough, making it them and raw tasting.

It was also a decent sized portion though another customer ordered the same thing while I was leaving and was only charged $6.50. Shades of Vietnam!!!

I'm hoping the pricing was a mistake. I wouldn't want to think the place does random pricing based on customers.

Overall, just ok, not quite in the same league as other trucks I've been too.

Mariscos Alex
In the parking lot of Qwik Corner Service Station
4357 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92105

Caguamanta – The Barbacoa & Frutas El Vaquero Truck

February 25, 2013 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

Until this past weekend, I hadn't been back down to Chula Vista in a while. On Saturday I made a trip to Hogetsu Bakery and since I had a bit of time took a drive around. I saw at least three trucks that I hadn't seen before. One of them was of particular interest, so I made some time to return the next day. In the lot of the liquor store where Third becomes Beyer and intersects Main was this truck.

Just the barbacoa sign would usually be enough to lure me in. I did enjoy the sign for some of the more "interesting" tacos and though fish tacos were priced at a dollar on the sign, they were going for 75 cents on this day!

So I placed my order and received a cup of consomme of the barbacoa type. Hot and soothing.

And of course I had to try the Barbacoa de Res Taco. It was worth the $1.75 as there was quite a bit of meat.

Loved the fact they brushed one side of the tortilla with consomme and put it on the griddle….I still haven't bought into having beans in these though. The salsa roja had some kick and the lime added some nice acid, but as a whole, the barbacoa was a bit too mild in flavor for me.

Still, I was really here because I saw this sign on the previous day:

In this case Caguamanta, a soup made with re-hydrated, dried manta ray. I love the intense, briney, ocean flavor of mantarraya, ever since I first had it while visiting Ed in Yuma back in 2005. It's not something very common; Mariscos Godoy sometimes serves Manta Ray Machaca, but other then that it's pretty slim pickings….

I ordered a "chica", the small size, not cheap at three bucks. I had it with cilantro and onions with crackers instead of tortillas. It arrived steaming hot.

The broth was pretty straight-forward and nothing fancy. I loved the addition of avocado which added an interesting creaminess to the whole deal. I was surprised at the amount of shredded mantarraya in this little cup! The flavor is not what you think; think of less salty bacalao meets less intense dried scallop. I've been told that mantarraya is a good substitute for sea turtle dishes…..though I can't really say from experience if that is true. As Ed from Yuma says, there a "Manhattan Chowder-ry" flavor to this.

I ended up buying the large size….which was a bargain at six bucks for the Missus who loved it.

The woman who took my order was quite nice as was the rather serious looking young man who replaced her. It seems like this is a family operation. It's good to have some variety amongst all the taco trucks in the area and I hope they keep the mantarraya on the menu.

Barbacoa & Frutas El Vaquero Truck

On the corner of Main and Beyer.

Current hours are from "about" 830 to as late as 5pm. The nice woman told me that they are currently in this location daily, but are thinking of taking Sunday off.

Eating on the hood of your car: Mariscos El Jefe Truck

October 14, 2012 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

I've been shopping at the Northgate Market on the corner of 54th and University quite a bit. The Missus bought a new juicer and has been some interesting concoctions, several of which use nopales. The most disturbing one was nopales and beets which looked like bloody snot….but I digress. One day, Instead of heading just getting back onto 54th and my way home, I took a right on University and saw a pretty busy taco truck.

The selling point seemed to be the 99 cent fish tacos…which is quite cheap since most trucks, including my favorite have raised prices north of a buck. The seating area is a very small – four chair and no table makeshift looking set-up. So you really will be eating on the hood of your car here! The folks here were very friendly. One of the women started chatting with me….talking about favorite taco trucks…hers being El Kiki, while lamenting the crazy price of gas. The menu is interesting, the top half is in Spanish, the bottom half is the English translation.

I went the cheap route, two Tacos de Pescado.

The batter was on the soft side, with a hint of sweetness, a bit too spongy for my taste. Not much fish in this at all, but what do you expect for 99 cents? The crema had no taste and the tortillas….eh…

So that was it, right? Well, maybe not. I went shopping again this past weekend and was just plain starving. I decided to try some of the other stuff at El Jefe.

By the way, if you're ever looking for the cebollas, limes, and salsas, they're behind the gobernador door!

Speaking of gobernador, I got one of those and one of the spicy shrimp tacos. These looked quite a bit more hefty.

Both of these had things in common, both had cheese melted on the base of the tortilla to prevent the tacos from disintegrating. Both had some kick, though the spicy shrimp was surprisingly spicy. Both were two tortilla jobs, you could tell much more care was taken with these. The gobernador was the better of the two, but nowhere as good as others. The shrimp in both tacos were on the overcooked side as well. The spicy shrimp taco was interesting….I wasn't fond of the very finely diced cabbage mixed with crema. Though it served to buffer the heat, it was like dumping coleslaw all over a taco.

The shrimp were spicy, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they use habaneros for this. The overall flavor was pretty one dimensional.

I'd say that El Jefe, wasn't quite "the boss" of Mariscos trucks in San Diego. Probably not in my top five. But like the woman said, "the price of gas now is so high, we have to find alternatives to driving to South Bay."

Mariscos el Jefe Truck
5599 University Ave

South Bay Taco Run: Birrieria’s La Guadalajara, Mariscos El Pescador, El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas, Tacos El Kiki, Birrieria El Prieto, and Mariscos El Prieto

April 16, 2012 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches, Seafood

Recently, my good FOY (Friend of Yoso) TammyC requested a “taco crawl” something that I’ve done a couple times before…once even with this group of folks. This time, YY and her husband MrQ had to be done by 1230, so this would mean a fairly close proximity…..I pretty much had the plan done. I knew this small group would be game, after all we already had done a smaller Chula Vista taco crawl and had both the Mira Mesa Banh Mi tasting and the Amazing Graze behind us….but with a short itme period this could turn out to be pretty brutal.

First stop was a restaurant. It would be nice for the five of us to get to a relaxing start. I chose….

***Birrieria’s la Guadalajara has closed.

Birrieria’s la Guadalajara:

We started with a Tacos Rojo – Borrego:

I also ordered the Borrego a la Plancha, Birria de Chivo, and Cabeza en su Jugo, which MrQ absolutely loved. Folks were encouraged to pace themselves and here leftovers would be ok. TammyC had never been a fan of lamb or goat….until now.

Of course, the food here is major roll back into bed food, so it was kind of a tough start….all of those fresh tortillas just sit in your stomach.

Birrieria’s la Guadalajara
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Next stop was a double whammy…first was:

Mariscos el Pescador:

The consomme here always delivers.

I only went with a fish taco…lots more to come up after this. The fish taco here beat El Peito’s hands down on this day. Nice portion of better flavored fish. The only thing El Prieto had on this was the crunchy batter.

Mariscos El Pescador (In the parking lot pf RTA/Toys R Us)
1008 Industrial Blvd
Chula Vista, CA 91911

The next stop was right across the parking lot…..

El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas:

**** El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas is no longer

I’d been here a couple of times and while I loved the bread had never really been impressed.

However, the #1, traditional Tortas Ahogadas had been pretty spicy and MrC really loves spicy food….I mean he eats Ghost peppers for fun. So we got the traditional at a heat level of 10.

I had a fourth of the sandwich, TammyC a fourth, and MrC half. I gotta say, this was much better than I recalled. The bread was great as always, but the pork had fine flavor. MrC’s verdict, “not bad, the heat does creep up on you.”

YY and MrQ, who often order Thai food at heat level “1” (is there such a thing?) had the #2 at heat level 5, which they had no problems with.

I also had a fourth….I prefer the more traditional sandwich.

By the way, based on all the photos around the truck, I guess Andrew Zimmern stopped by and the place will be featured on one of his shows. So if you’re curious, get there before the show airs and all the “Zimm-heads” blow the place up.

El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas
1008 Industrial Blvd
Chula Vista, CA 91911

We jumped back in our cars and headed down Industrial and onto Main for our next stop:

Mariscos Y Tacos El Kiki:

I just recently posted on the place and things are pretty much the same. So here’s a photo of the Taco Perron I ate along with more consomme:

Mariscos Y Tacos El Kiki
Corner of Main St and Hollister St.

We decided to take a breather and headed across the street to a shop that sells spices, chilies, and snacks called….

El Ruisnor:

I’d noticed this place the last time I ate at El Kiki.

You can smell the spices when entering the shop…there are bags of the stuff lining the shelves.

There are also bulk beans and snacks sold.

Interesting shop.

El Ruisenor
2260 Main St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Then it was back across the street, into our cars and we were off east on Main, stopping at the final “double whammy” location…..

Birrieria El Prieto:

I’d noticed this truck, parked right across from the Mariscos El Prieto truck a couple of weeks ago and had been waiting to check the place out. This El Prieto “twin” did birria, quesotacos, al pastor, and the like. The sold is “res”, beef.

I ordered a birria and cabeza taco to try things out. YY, MrC, and MrQ had hit the wall and were not participating…..

The birria was dry and rather tough and short on flavor. The cabeza was very moist and tender, but a bit short on the condensed beefiness I expect from rendered cow head.

Of course right across the way is the El Prieto Mariscos truck.

Even though MrQ could not eat another bite of a taco, he still had room for more consomme.

Another funny thing I noticed……El Prieto now has a parking attendant….for eating at taco trucks! I just found this amusing.

In the end, only TammyC (one) and myself (two) could manage to finish the three tacos ordered.

While we both loved the batter, very nice and crisp, the tacos had only little slivers of fish in them. This wasn’t the way it was on previous visits. I’m hoping this was just a fluke.

Mariscos El Prieto
and
Birrieria El Prieto Trucks
3031 Main St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

I noticed that it was just past 12….YY and MrQ had to get going. We’d done pretty good with regards to both time and calories. Whew……I went home and had a two hour nap to recover. Still, it was great fun as always, friends and food just go together so well.

Eating on the Hood of Your Car: Mariscos Y Tacos El Kiki Truck

April 12, 2012 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

In a recent morning I'd just finished a quick bite at one of my favorite stops in the Chula Vista area and was headed to another. As I was about to make the left turn on Main street and the Industrial boulevard I glanced to my right and noticed at Taco Truck…….

Even though I recall seeing a Birria truck next to the El Prieto Mariscos truck, I decided to put that off and see what was up here.

The name of this one is Mariscos Y Tacos El Kiki and though there's everything from Birria de Res to Quesatacos on the menu, this fit the profile of a mariscos truck to a tee…..and by glancing around at what others were eating, this was a mariscos truck.

I placed my order and was handed a cup of consomme….this one was fairly light, with a mild briney flavor, boosted by a lot of celery.

Since the fish tacos here were only a buck (even El Prieto is now $1.25), I decided to try that and order the Perron #1 taco as well.

The fish in the tacos de pescado was really buried in there. It was pretty bland, the batter not very crisp. Yes, I guess it's worth a buck, but nothing especially good.

The perron is a combo of marlyn (smoked fish) and camarones (shrimp) sauteed in a chipotle based sauce which added some kick. The shrimp were ok, nothing special and a bit rubbery, but I really enjoyed the marlyn, which was smokey and salty……almost driving me to bacon-bliss.

To me it was worth the four bucks. I noticed how firm the taco was and turned it over….it's SOP for these type of tacos to have a layer of cheese on the bottom to protect the tortilla, which is then placed on the griddle allowing the cheese to melt.

This was nice….I'll probably get a tacos de marlyn the next time. And perhaps a gobernador too. One thing, there ain't much room in this parking lot……

The fellow working the counter told me they were at this location from 8am to 7pm seven days a week. So we'll have to see. He also spoke perfect English, which saved me from doing my usual butcher job of the few Spanish words I know.

Mariscos Y Tacos El Kiki
Corner of Main St and Hollister St.

Yuma Mexican Miscellany – Pollos El Correteado, Rossy’s, El Buen Taquito, and Taqueria Reyes

July 6, 2011 ed fromyuma Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk is busy doing something. Cathy is busy doing something else. ed (from Yuma) has been busy putting together this post on 4 different places in Yuma (in Arizona).

Kirk calls these type of posts "Cleaning out the Memory Card." I have pictures of interesting and good Mexican food I've eaten recently at several different small eateries. No point in doing a bunch of little posts, so I'll just throw them all together here. There should be something of interest in this post for almost any Yuman being.

Pollos El Correteado

In Yuma County, there are three different locations for this restaurant chain (I have no idea how widespread the chain is in Mexico, but there are locations in San Luis, Sonora). One location is on Main Street in Somerton, one is on 3E by the base, and one is on Eighth Street next to the Subway across the street from Food City:
These folks do one thing very well:
Great Mexican roasted chicken. What Pollo Loco aspires to be:
These are special chickens that have four legs, four thighs, but no breast or wing. That anatomical peculiarity puzzled me the first time I ordered a whole chicken ($9). Must be a damn strange looking bird when alive, but it looks pretty good when served:

The macaroni salad and the mashed potatoes are pretty much meh, and the salsa and the white corn tortillas (both gratis) are far from distinguished. So I usually get the chicken to go and have it with homemade macaroni or potato salad.

Rossy's

Rossy's used to be a small truck in a small space with rather poor lighting and great corn and hotdogs. Now the same small truck (and a little hot dog cart) occupy the large lot that was most recently Tata's:

The corn (with butter, crema, and cheese) is still good, if not especially good for you:
They now serve a range of decent tacos that you can decorate with guacamole, pico de gallo, shredded cabbage, and lemon wedges. A carne asada taco with all the fixings looks like this:
For me, however, the big draw of the place are the bacon-wrapped hotdogs which they will happily accessorize for you:

Love those grilled onions, along with salsa and who knows what else.

El Buen Taquito

Getting a meal at El Buen Taquito was not easy for Tina and I. First, the truck is almost hidden toward the back of a lot on the east side of Avenue B, about a block south of the intersection with Eighth Street. Then, after we had discovered it, every time we wanted to go there, the place was closed. We realized, finally, that it opened later than most of the other taco trucks in the neighborhood and is not open every evening. However, many times we would drive by – let's say returning from San Pedro or Rossy's – it would be open and busy, much busier than the truck called "Yuma's Best" just up the street from it.

Our luck changed a few months ago when we pulled up, saw the lights, and decided to find out why this place was so popular:
The menu is extremely limited, but very reasonably priced:
We ordered a variety – crispy tacos, tostadas, rolled tacos, and sopes along with a couple of aguas frescas. However, the first thing we were brought were little cups of incredibly rich and flavorful consommé:

The only meat used by this truck is beef, and the beef has been cooked a long time so that its flavor in the tacos and flautas is fairly neutral and background. The consommé, on the other hand, is as beefy as Arnold Schwarzenegger in his glory days.

Then we received our order. The lighting, as you can tell, is far from ideal for photographs, but here is a picture of a couple of the excellent crunchy tacos:

Because the primary difference between the sope and the tostada are how thick the tortilla/patty is, it is hard from me to tell which one is which in my photographs. I think this is a tostada:
And perhaps this is a close-up of a sope:
Underneath the lettuce and cheese is a flauta:

In any case, Buen Taquita does one thing extremely well – deep frying. The tacos, flautas, sopes, and tostadas all had crunchy deep fried corn tortillas or patties. None of them was greasy; all of them were tasty. The sope was a little more chewy than the others. The soft meat and frijoles provided a flavor and texture contrast with the fried shells and abundant shredded lettuce. Everything was covered with cotija cheese.

Would I want to eat here every night? No, of course not. But sometimes you just gotta have crunch and this is the taco truck to provide it.

Taqueria Reyes

Taqueria Reyes recently opened in Palm Plaza on Avenue A, where Taqueria Jalisco had been in business for many years:
As well as providing a range of standard tacos, I am very fond of the tortas there, for example this one made with machaca:

Inside, there is a smear of frijoles, slices of avocado, chopped lettuce, tomato and mayo. I, for one, appreciate the pickled jalapeno, which I've always thought was perfect with tortas.

The other item that I love here is the Menudo ($5.99). For a dollar extra, you can get it con pata. When placed on the table, it looks like this:

It comes with a choice of bread or tortillas and is served with all kinds of condiments including lemon wedges, oregano, cilantro, menudo spices, chopped onion, and a deep and powerful salsa:

After I add some condiments and stir it up, it looks like this:
Look at all that tripe and hominy! But what I find most truly satisfying about the Menudo here is that pata, a big piece of cow hoof. And when I get lucky, the hoof is completely covered with wonderfully chewy tendon:
Sooo goood!! While the soup overall is not as complex as the incredible sopa de pata at the old Pupuseria Cabanas (I still miss that place a lot), it's the best cow hoof I can find in Yuma. And cow hoof is a good thing.