Taco Mibile at Dave's Express

There's a new Mexican Taco place being advertised in the Dave's Express. The sign on it says Taco Mibile but I don't know if that's current, or perhaps I missed a change. I stopped in to give the new folks a try. Got a nice big beef torta.

It was a good sandwich. The bun was fresh and toasted on the grill, and the meat had good flavor. The green salsa I got was also fine. It's $10 and big enough to split. I got it with lettuce, onions, cilantro and jalapenos, and I would take it over Subway.

It is best to have some Spanish language skills, we were working hard to understand each other. The rest of the store seems about the same. I got a fountain drink and it was working OK. I wish the new folks well.

My Yelp Review

Ignacio's Kitchen

This is a new offering in La Plaza de los Food Trucks. I had their special, which is available only at lunchtime--a whole roasted chicken with yellow rice, cole slaw and a liter of Coke. I also got a jamaica agua fresca and their Quesillo dessert, which is a take on flan.

The chicken is very tasty--a good strong marinate that really penetrates the meat, and a nice char on the skin. This is a big step up from the roasted chickens you get in the grocery store. The dark meat is moist and tender, but I found the white meat a bit dry--that's pretty normal for a roasted chicken as far as I'm concerned. You can cut the white meat up and put it with other sauces etc. to make several more great meals.

I liked their take on cole slaw--both sweet and sharp, with a bit of mustard in it. I'd have to say the rice was disappointing. Yellow in color but somewhat dry and very little flavor. They offer a lot of sides, I would try something else next time. The flan was a decent one, nice custard texture and the syrup was good. I also liked the jamaica--had the grape juice sweetness I have come to expect, but this version had just a bit of a bite as well, maybe a bit of lemon or lime. Very good and refreshing.

I believe the owner was the one who served me, he was very kind and you can taste the love. I can definitely recommend it and wish him well.

This truck is one of four I saw open for lunch in La Plaza de los Food Trucks. They have a chicken and egg problem--not enough people there for lunch to make it worthwhile, but people won't stop in unless they know places are open. Mostly the Plaza needs a better social media game.

My Yelp Review

La Garnacheria

I stopped by this fairly new food truck in La Plaza de los Food Trucks. I got a couple Tacos de Canasta with chicharrones, the Tostadas de Tinga de Pollo, and the Esquite with bone marrow.

All of the food is intensely and marvelously flavorful. The Tacos de Canasta are filled corn tortillas steamed over hot oil for one hour, then warmed up when you order. The chicharrone filling was the best I have ever had, hands down. Wonderful umami flavor and creamy pork fat. I was warned that they would probably fall apart and they did, but I didn't mind at all.

The tostadas were the traditional corn shell topped with a layer of refried beans, shredded chicken in a tomato and chipotle sauce, lettuce and cheese. They held up well on the drive home (I ordered to go). They are carefully constructed so that you can pick them up and they eat pretty neatly for a tostada. All the different flavors come through.

The Esquite is a corn dish, equivalent to what other Tex-Mex trucks call elote. At $12 for 12 ounces it is kind of pricey. But oh my, the flavor! (I know I'm saying flavor a lot. Flavor flavor flavor flavor). The bone marrow broth gives it an incredible richness. I actually finished that 12 ounce cup, which has not happened before. This has spoiled me for elote now.

The dishes came with two salsa cups. They are more spreads than liquid. There's a red one that has a pleasant kick and more delicious flavor. And a darker one that is flaming hot, but you can still get the flavor of the chile. The salsas are an achievement on their own, and complement the food wonderfully.

I wanted to try the Arroz con Leche, but she was still preparing that when I came and I chose not to wait. Based on the other dishes I think it would be great.

The owner was working the truck on her own and describes her food as home cooking. The prices are comparable to other trucks for a serving, but each item is really only enough for one (you will want three tacos if you're making a meal of them). The tostadas are a pair so you could share if you have a small appetite. I would definitely look forward to trying the rest of her menu. Can't really find anything to fault.

My Yelp Review

Ani's Chao

I stopped by during Grand Opening weekend to try out this new truck at La Plaza de los Food Trucks. We got the Tonkatsu Chicken, the Japanese Curry with pork, a potato croquette, a Fruit Sando for dessert, and I chased mine with a Thai Tea.

This is full-on comfort food. The servings are massive, and the food is easy to eat. The chef is skilled at getting the food cooked just right--all the fried items were cooked perfectly. The fried foods are done in a panko crust, which came out a beautiful golden brown. Both the pork and chicken breast cutlets were done just right, juicy and tender. The potato croquette is a fist-sized ball of mashed potatoes coated in the panko breading. The potatoes were well seasoned so while the potato-to-breading ration seemed high it was tasty all the way through. The Japanese Curry was a true meat-and-potatoes dish, with carrots, potatoes and a large serving of plump white rice. The curry sauce (also called katsu sauce) was very mild, and served as a gravy for the whole dish.

Both the croquette and the chicken were served with the tonkatsu sauce. Their take on it has the prominent flavors of teriyaki and Worcestershire sauce. This was the only challenging flavor combination in the dishes, and made them much more interesting.

The fruit sando was an amusing dessert. Large strawberries and a huge serving of whipped cream between two pieces of white bread, wrapped up so it's a bit compressed and holds together. Fun! If you don't want the bread you can just get in there and scoop the whipped cream out with your finger. The Thai Tea was fine, mostly a sweet flavor but a decent representation.

Did I say the portions were large? When I picked up the order I almost dropped it--felt like six pounds of food. The Japanese Curry will easily feed four people, the tonkatsu 2-3 (also comes with a large serving of white rice). So while the prices are mid-teens you're actually getting a lot of food for the money.

This food isn't made to impress your palate. The katsu sauce has just enough curry flavor to notice, mostly it's a savory base. What it does is fill you up with well-executed cooking. If you want to have that Thanksgiving feeling early this will do it. The owner is enthusiastic about his business and it seems to be doing well.

The atmosphere at La Plaza de los Food Trucks has been better the last couple of times I've been. The center is newly astroturfed and only one truck was playing music, at a reasonable volume. Very pleasant.

My Yelp Review