The Epic Taco Truck Hunt
So, I went to a series of taco trucks in search of either my soul, or grand adventure, or maybe a reason to void my bowels in a festive way. I'm not sure what I found, but this is my journey.
After podcasting, Hyde decided that he was in the mood for a taco truck hunt. I'm not sure if anyone on here has ever actually gone to a taco truck (sometimes called a taqueria), but they are usually run by people who speak some English, but are otherwise there to make some tacos for people who wander around in that particular area. These taquerias, being trucks, have the propensity to wander around and not be in the same place all the time. In order to combat the fact that they can be so damned difficult to track down, there is a website devoted to the search for those delicious purveyors of taco-dom. So, let me introduce the best damned resource that I've ever seen.
Due to the fact that I drive like a grandmother, Hyde demanded that I be a passenger on this trip, on the condition that if he decided to drink excessively that I would take over the driving reins. I should point out first that the game we played and the podcasting took us until fairly late (like after 10:30 or so) so we were relegating ourselves to the late night stands. We zipped forth in Hyde's Celica, narrowly getting creamed by about a half dozen douchebags as we tried to find the first on the list, Las Brazas Taqueria. We went to the listed location, but the damned thing wasn't there. Well it is a truck, so they do move. We drove around for a bit, tasting the bitter taste of failure (not tacos) and moved on to our next target, Las Delicias on Georgesville Road.
As we were driving toward this supposed nugget of awesome (after all, it's called "the Delight"), we stumbled upon Mr. Grill, which should have been closed as of 9 pm that evening. Our first stop was a surprise! I had three of the tacos lenguas con todo. Hyde had two de pastor and one de lengua, while Dave had a couple of a slightly undetermined source, I think they were chicken. We stood there under the buzzing external lights, waiting for our first catch of the day and we were not disappointed. The lengua was very soft and pliant and was sliced in thin cross-sections. The salsas were very delightful, with their extra hot being the kind of thing that simmered on your tongue while making you remember that you occasionally do stupid things like put a ton of sauce on your tacos. I also need to point out here that a taco truck taco normally has a handmade shell that is the size of a large cookie, and that the tacos themselves have double shells in order to insulate your fingers from the searing heat of meat fresh from the grill. We plowed through those like we hadn't eaten all day, and with a satisfied belch we headed to our true destination.
Las Delicias was located in front of The Candy Store, a probably poorly named strip club that none of us wanted to venture into. I mean, stripper boobs are pretty common, but good tacos? Those are the real find. I had two tacos de pastor and one de lengua here, while Hyde went de pastor and barbacoa for his. Dave's were barbacoa and I think de pollo again. The pastor was moderately spiced, and was incredibly delicious, and the lengua was shredded and moist and delicious. I discovered that when one orders "supreme style" that one gets shredded lettuce and crumbled queso fresca with sour cream, where "mexican style" gives you cilantro and finely chopped onion. We had a nice big chunk of cucumber with this batch of tacos, and it was a nice vegetable addition. I didn't get to put any of the salsas on these tacos as I was in such a massive hurry to cram them into my face, but next time, there will be SALSA! Another nice feature of this truck was its semi-permanent feel with the awning with table and benches, as well as the stools at the truck window itself. We sat and conversed with the taco guy in a hodgepodge of broken English and some Spanish thrown in there, as he really wanted to speak English. Three more tacos down, we staggered off into the night in search of a minor break from taco consumption.
Well, the minor break turned into a couple of hours at Outland on Liberty, everyone's favorite goth bar where one can enjoy a couple of beers while seeing sights that occasionally cannot be unseen. I love the place dearly, and I'm really glad the club has resurrected itself from the ashes of its former incarnations. I could wax poetic for hours about Outland, but I'll save that for another post, if I ever get around to it. Suffice to say, I saw my friends Aaron and Fran there, bought a drink for my friend Julie to celebrate her birthday week, and then we moved on to greater pursuits, like the location of one more taco stand before 2 am.
We found our last stand, called Mi Pueblito Taqueria, in front of a Hispanic discotheque called La Cabana Lounge. Here, at our final stop, I basked in the glory of two tacos de lengua, while Hyde tackled a couple more de pastor. Dave decided that he was giving up the taco ghost, and had no tacos. We all had some tamarind soda, and sat behind the taco stand munching away. These were probably the worst tacos for me, as the lengua was gristly and had quite a bit of visible fat. Hyde seemed to love his pastor though, and we all thought the tamarind soda was great for the first half of the bottle, while the second half was somewhat lacking. The highlight for this stand was likely the guy quietly pissing against the side of the stand while hoping no one was watching him.
After this, we drove home, and I packed my things and made the drive back to home. For the future, we are planning a Return to the Hunt for Tacos, tentatively called Tacos 323. The intent of Tacos 323 will be gathering a large group of people, assigning designated drivers, and starting in the early afternoon, stopping at as many taco stands as we can find, with pauses in local bars for cervezas and tequila. This has the makings of epic win written all over it. Those interested in participating can contact me, as we are gathering forces and looking to do this some time in perhaps August.
After podcasting, Hyde decided that he was in the mood for a taco truck hunt. I'm not sure if anyone on here has ever actually gone to a taco truck (sometimes called a taqueria), but they are usually run by people who speak some English, but are otherwise there to make some tacos for people who wander around in that particular area. These taquerias, being trucks, have the propensity to wander around and not be in the same place all the time. In order to combat the fact that they can be so damned difficult to track down, there is a website devoted to the search for those delicious purveyors of taco-dom. So, let me introduce the best damned resource that I've ever seen.
Due to the fact that I drive like a grandmother, Hyde demanded that I be a passenger on this trip, on the condition that if he decided to drink excessively that I would take over the driving reins. I should point out first that the game we played and the podcasting took us until fairly late (like after 10:30 or so) so we were relegating ourselves to the late night stands. We zipped forth in Hyde's Celica, narrowly getting creamed by about a half dozen douchebags as we tried to find the first on the list, Las Brazas Taqueria. We went to the listed location, but the damned thing wasn't there. Well it is a truck, so they do move. We drove around for a bit, tasting the bitter taste of failure (not tacos) and moved on to our next target, Las Delicias on Georgesville Road.
As we were driving toward this supposed nugget of awesome (after all, it's called "the Delight"), we stumbled upon Mr. Grill, which should have been closed as of 9 pm that evening. Our first stop was a surprise! I had three of the tacos lenguas con todo. Hyde had two de pastor and one de lengua, while Dave had a couple of a slightly undetermined source, I think they were chicken. We stood there under the buzzing external lights, waiting for our first catch of the day and we were not disappointed. The lengua was very soft and pliant and was sliced in thin cross-sections. The salsas were very delightful, with their extra hot being the kind of thing that simmered on your tongue while making you remember that you occasionally do stupid things like put a ton of sauce on your tacos. I also need to point out here that a taco truck taco normally has a handmade shell that is the size of a large cookie, and that the tacos themselves have double shells in order to insulate your fingers from the searing heat of meat fresh from the grill. We plowed through those like we hadn't eaten all day, and with a satisfied belch we headed to our true destination.
Las Delicias was located in front of The Candy Store, a probably poorly named strip club that none of us wanted to venture into. I mean, stripper boobs are pretty common, but good tacos? Those are the real find. I had two tacos de pastor and one de lengua here, while Hyde went de pastor and barbacoa for his. Dave's were barbacoa and I think de pollo again. The pastor was moderately spiced, and was incredibly delicious, and the lengua was shredded and moist and delicious. I discovered that when one orders "supreme style" that one gets shredded lettuce and crumbled queso fresca with sour cream, where "mexican style" gives you cilantro and finely chopped onion. We had a nice big chunk of cucumber with this batch of tacos, and it was a nice vegetable addition. I didn't get to put any of the salsas on these tacos as I was in such a massive hurry to cram them into my face, but next time, there will be SALSA! Another nice feature of this truck was its semi-permanent feel with the awning with table and benches, as well as the stools at the truck window itself. We sat and conversed with the taco guy in a hodgepodge of broken English and some Spanish thrown in there, as he really wanted to speak English. Three more tacos down, we staggered off into the night in search of a minor break from taco consumption.
Well, the minor break turned into a couple of hours at Outland on Liberty, everyone's favorite goth bar where one can enjoy a couple of beers while seeing sights that occasionally cannot be unseen. I love the place dearly, and I'm really glad the club has resurrected itself from the ashes of its former incarnations. I could wax poetic for hours about Outland, but I'll save that for another post, if I ever get around to it. Suffice to say, I saw my friends Aaron and Fran there, bought a drink for my friend Julie to celebrate her birthday week, and then we moved on to greater pursuits, like the location of one more taco stand before 2 am.
We found our last stand, called Mi Pueblito Taqueria, in front of a Hispanic discotheque called La Cabana Lounge. Here, at our final stop, I basked in the glory of two tacos de lengua, while Hyde tackled a couple more de pastor. Dave decided that he was giving up the taco ghost, and had no tacos. We all had some tamarind soda, and sat behind the taco stand munching away. These were probably the worst tacos for me, as the lengua was gristly and had quite a bit of visible fat. Hyde seemed to love his pastor though, and we all thought the tamarind soda was great for the first half of the bottle, while the second half was somewhat lacking. The highlight for this stand was likely the guy quietly pissing against the side of the stand while hoping no one was watching him.
After this, we drove home, and I packed my things and made the drive back to home. For the future, we are planning a Return to the Hunt for Tacos, tentatively called Tacos 323. The intent of Tacos 323 will be gathering a large group of people, assigning designated drivers, and starting in the early afternoon, stopping at as many taco stands as we can find, with pauses in local bars for cervezas and tequila. This has the makings of epic win written all over it. Those interested in participating can contact me, as we are gathering forces and looking to do this some time in perhaps August.