In the beginning, we had no idea if anyone would read this blog. Mobile Mexican food – we knew we were enthusiastic about it, but would anyone care?

To our shock and delight, they did. It’s our sense that the taco trucks in Columbus have, in the past four years, emerged from obscurity to become a point of pride for the city. They certainly have for us. In the mean time, we’ve seen two trucks graduate to bricks & mortar restaurants, and we’ve seen one of them ranked as serving one of the four best tacos in the US.

And, we’ve seen the truck scene mature and, perhaps, reach a critical mass. The total number of them remains consistent, and change mostly comes in the form of trucks changing hands (though our most recent post, Los Sartenes, is a brand new debut). As such, activity on this site is less frenetic than it was at the beginning, but we want to reassure you – we do continue to monitor the goings on in the taco truck world, and are still dedicated to bringing you new content as it is made available.

And, in the mean time, two thirds of the Taco Trucks Columbus team also run Columbus Food Adventures – our local food tour company. It was begun, in no small part, due to the desire we found among people to visit taco trucks, and our Taco Truck Tour is easily one of our most popular itineraries. If you’d like to take a tour with the founders of Taco Trucks Columbus and taste our favorite dishes from our favorite trucks, we’d love to see you – tour tickets can be purchased at ColumbusFoodAdventures.com.

Also, we’d encourage you to check out the preview of Transfusion, showing on Saturday, May 11th, at the The Gateway Film Center​ at 4:00 pm. It’s a documentary focusing on Columbus taco trucks, both in general and with a special focus on the plight of one local taco truck and the family they left behind in San Luis Potosi. We’ve seen an impressive extended trailer of the film and are definitely going to catch this showing!

3740 E. 5th Ave, Columbus, 43219
614.439.5308
Facebook
@lossartenes 

Click here to map it!

Through our experiences with taco trucking, we’ve learned to be concerned for anyone that debuts in the cold seasons. Sad truth is, they don’t often last long enough to see the food truck friendly months. Los Sartenes opened a month or so ago – in the dead of winter – but we’d wager that they’ll experience a much kinder fate.

First off, this isn’t a low-budget operation.  It’s slick in the best sense of the word. From the tidiness of the kitchen to the conspicuous newness of the trailer to the impressive clarity of the menus (both posted and takeaway), it’s clear that much planning has occurred and that plans have been executed skillfully.

At first glance, it almost spooked us a bit – we don’t often find the unadulterated flavors of Mexico coming from trucks with this level of refinement. Thankfully, the only sense in which our instincts were right were that, in addition to fine Mexican, Los Sartenes is also putting out some fine renditions of Central American fare as well. We started off with a couple of tacos – they passed our lengua test with flying colors – and then moved on to the following:

Traditionally a Salvadoran dish, the pupusa kicks off our exploration of the Central American side of the menu. Essentially a thick corn tortilla pancake filled with any of a variety of ingredients, a good pupusa is a great thing. We tried their cheese version and it was no exception.

For a truck that defies expectations, their yuca dish epitomizes it. We’ve previously thought of yuca as a Brazilian root vegetable side dish, and something that’s mushy, starchy, and kind of inert. But then again, we’d never seen it served with generous chunks of fried pork belly, curtido, and sauce. They’ve upped the yuca game, folks.

We were excited to see empanadas de platanos on the menu; they’re a favorite Salvadoran snack of ours, and hard to come by locally. Los Sartenes’ version didn’t disappoint – the empanada shell consists of a thick layer of mashed sweet plantain filled with a sweet soft cheese, and the whole shebang is fried and dusted with sugar. Don’t let the use of ‘sweet’ and ‘sugar’ deceive, though – while these are certainly dessert-worthy, they’re nonetheless fairly tame on the sweetness spectrum. And, they’re really good.

The menu is unusually extensive, and the fine folks that alerted us to their location (thanks Jeff & Pablo!) have mentioned a few other dishes that we need to try (the carnitas torta being first among them). Check these guys out, and let us know what you thought!

You may also recall an earlier post, where we make the argument that print ads show the change in attitude towards and the business model of Taco Trucks. The times are still “a’changin”.

What will we start to see more of next?

2200 East Dublin Granville Road (Near Lev’s Pawn Shop)
Look for Walgreen’s sign
NE corner of SR 161 and Maple Canyon
Phone: 614.390.6346
Summer Hours Monday to Saturday 10 am to 10 pm
Winter Hours Monday to Saturday 10 am to 8 pm
Phone: 614.390-6346

We first wrote about Taco Nazo in 2009 when this site launched – and we have not had a chance to update the post since then. It is interesting to compare the 2009 listing with many listings we have created since then as our knowledge has grown and so has the sophistication of the taco trucks of Columbus. No Latino Mobile vendor epitomizes that more than Quicho from Taco Nazo…..I mean, Super Taco Nazo.

Quicho took what he learned from years in the Taco Truck trade and incorporated that knowledge into the Super Taco Nazo Trailer. He has a better layout inside that has a lower serving window and less hassles than his original truck. He is working on the original Taco Nazo to make it a true mobile Taco Truck for corporate lunches and catering.

A brief note about the food, it is among the best in the category of standard Taco Truck fare, easily in our top ten, probably in the top five of at least one of the Three Taco Trucks Amigos. Taco Nazo always wins in consistency. This is a frequent introductory trip for first time Taco Truck adventurers and especially those that are skeptical of mobile Mexican Cuisine. The large quesadilla has never let me down when hoping to have a gringo greenhorn try out a truck and want to come back for more.

For the Taco Truck Columbus creators our relationship with Quicho and the truck goes long and deep. Although we have not updated the listing for Taco Nazo in years, this vendor has been the most frequent flyer for mentions on the website and in the community as well. Join me for a trip down memory lane.

There are two counterintuitive and unwritten laws for Taco Trucks: 1) Most of the vendors are not mobile 2) Due to a combination of language barriers, cultural differences and etc., many taco truck owners are not the most, shall we say, consistently time conscious. Quicho from Taco Nazo has always been there when we needed him to help spread the word about these mobile kitchens. Quicho is no slouch when it comes to customer appreciation, every Thanksgiving, he hosts a Dia del Pavo (Turkey Day) with free tamales, atole and other goodies for old and new customers alike.

When we needed a truck to be open at 5:30 am for an early morning television show – Quicho was there and ready to serve. It also connected us with new-found pal and now Foodcast comrade – Johnny DiLoretto. Anytime we needed a vendor for a bike and car Taco Truck tour event – Quicho was ready, willing and able to participate and add to the festivities often with some incredible cakes.

The highlight of the early years was pairing Rick Bayless with Quicho for a special event. We are not sure which one was more thrilled with their meeting but we think it established some major street cred for Taco Trucks in our community. An article by Columbus Alive allowed us to do a tour of several Taco Trucks, including Taco Nazo and cemented a connection with G.A. Benton and photographer Jodi Miller.

All work and no play makes the Taco Truck website a dull read, so when Taco Drew conjured up a David vs. Goliath Taco Truck vs. Taco Bell Challenge – Quicho was ready for the battle. We don’t have to tell you who won that one.

We have observed, in many of our community connections that most successful businesses make a habit of giving back to the community they serve. Quicho continues to do so in his support of the Latino community as well as youth soccer leagues. Quicho is also one of the first go to with mainstream advertising for his business. On an end note (not final note, because Taco Nazo will continue to be on our blogs and in our tweets as the business keeps growing) it has been interesting to watch Quicho share his space and his wisdom with a new Indonesian mobile food vendor in the lot he has occupied since he started. Quicho has embraced the diversity of a new competitor as a collaborator and from the perspective of a peer and coach instead of with fear and distrust that he encountered when he started his kitchen on wheels years ago.

This year something happened under the radar that deserves mention. Again, while still not embraced by Joe Average in Columbus, Taco Trucks have gone mainstream in one area….advertising. See the examples below.

From Crave Winter 2012 issue

a Valu-Pak coupon…one seen over several months in Clintonville.

Taco Trucks are putting money into the local economy via mainstream advertising…that is assimilation as American as it gets.

II
2374 East Dublin Granville Road
Columbus, OH 43229
(parking lot of Central Ohio Dental)
Friday-Sunday 11am-9pm

El Taco Peton is the sibling truck of El Taco Peton on Karl Road. Same owners, different but close location. It is currently only open on weekends.

El Peton has a broad menu with traditional taco truck offerings (tacos, quesadillas, tortas) but also some more unusual dishes:

• Chalupas  -  a taco with mashed potato and onion and topped with lettuce and shredded chicken.
• Huraches – a large masa base (sandal shaped and sized) topped with beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream
• Pambazo – a sandwich containing a fried potato and chorizo mixture, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. (served here with shredded chicken as well)
• Sope – a mini version of a huarache. A disc of masa (corn meal) topped with beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream
• Pupusa – popular Central American stuffed corn cake usually filled with cheese, beans, meat or a mixture of the three.
• Nopal is the pads of the prickly pear cactus and it is usually served grilled in strips.

Generously plump and not greasy pupusas served with a generous helping of curtido (slightly fermented slaw). The curtido was notably herby in flavor.

Pambazo sandwiches are usually dipped in red sauce and then cooked on the grill. That’s not the case here. The sandwich is good, it’s less messy to eat, but it’s not our favorite in this part of town. That honor goes to Don Pedro’s.

El Peton (I & II) are the only trucks we’ve found offering chalupas. It’s a shredded chicken taco with lettuce, finely chopped radish, cheese and mashed potato! It’s a good option for those who don’t like spicy food – or you can add some hot sauce to jazz it up.

El Peton also offers some Sunday specials: goat barbacoa and goat consume. Consume is a meaty soup made with the cooking liquid from the barbacoa and served with finely chopped onions and cilantro. It’s a great accompaniment to the barbacoa tacos.

Click here to map it!

There are now two El Peton taco trucks. The main (larger) truck is located on Karl Road just North of 161 and is open daily. The smaller truck on 161 is open on weekends only.

The menu is much the same at both trucks and to our previous post, but the Karl Road location has more Sunday specials: menudo, tamales, goat barbacoa and goat consume. Consume is a meaty soup made with the cooking liquid from the barbacoa and served with finely chopped onions and cilantro. It’s a great accompaniment to the barbacoa tacos. If you want the tamales you’ll need to get there early as they usually sell out.

El Peton has a broad menu with traditional taco truck offerings (tacos, quesadillas, tortas) but also some more unusual dishes:

• Chalupas  -  a taco with mashed potato and onion and topped with lettuce and shredded chicken.
• Huraches – a large masa base (sandal shaped and sized) topped with beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream
• Pambazo – a sandwich containing a fried potato and chorizo mixture, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. (served here with shredded chicken as well)
• Sinchronizada – is like a quesadilla but it is made with two flour tortillas instead of one folded one and it usually contains ham.
• Pupusa – popular Central American stuffed corn cake usually filled with cheese, beans, meat or a mixture of the three.

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Previous post from 11/07/11

El Taco Peton is the newest truck on the NE side of town. Parked in the lot of La Cabana lounge it’s open late at the weekends. This truck is the former Pupuseria Salvadorena and is maintaining the same location, so it is appropriate that they still serve pupusas as well as some standard taco truck fare.

These were the thickest pupusas we’ve ever had but they were well cooked and had a nice crunch to them. We visited El Taco Peton on a cold wet rainy evening – so apologies for the menu photo.

The most interesting thing on the menu was the chalupas, something we haven’t seen on any other taco truck menus in Columbus (yes, we know – Taco Bell has something with the same name). The version of chalupa here was different than what we expected – a taco with mashed potato and onion and topped with lettuce and shredded chicken. I liked it but I’m a sucker for mashed potato. The chalupa is pictured below with a couple of tacos (al pastor and asada).

One of the other more unusual dishes was the pambaso (pambazo) – a torta where the bread is dipped in a red guajillo pepper sauce and the filling is potato and chorizo. We didn’t think that it was quite as good as Don Pedro’s – our favorite pambazo in town – but it’s still a satisfying sandwich.

To the West of 3700 Sullivant Ave.
614.747.7051
Open 6 am to 6:30 pm every day

This new addition to the local taco truck scene adds some new items we have not encountered often. The most distinctive are the jugos naturales (natural juices). On the first recon trip we saw fresh bananas, oranges, beets and carrots that are chopped and blended to order. This trailer also serves breakfast (Desayunos), some seafood dishes (Mariscos) and a few baked goods. The staff was very friendly and the food all tasted very fresh. During the recon trip we sampled a Quesadilla – it was huge and filled with fresh chicken and lots of cheese. It was served with a small side of salad with sour cream and a very fresh green salsa. This trailer looks very promising so expect an update to this post at some point over the wintertime as we explore the menu in more depth.

3115 Olentangy River Rd. (at Riverview by End Zone Drive-Thru)
Open 11 am to 10 pm Thursday to Monday. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday
Carry Out Number: 614.477.6523
Weekend Late Night: 2020 Night Club
6252 Busch Blvd
11 pm to late

No you are not seeing double. There are two Tizoncitos. They are not connected. This one is blue. The other one is orange. This one is officially Taqueria El Tizoncito. The other one is El Tizoncito Taqueria.

Tizon can mean: live coal, brand, burning wood, firebrand or a smoldering piece of wood. A bit of taco truck history, long ago, before taco trucks Columbus was a concept there were rumors of a Taco Truck on Olentangy River Road that had been there for years….this is not the truck – it closed long ago, but is good to see a Mobile Mexican eatery back in one of the first Taco Truck haunts in town.

El Tizoncito has a standard taco truck fare with a couple of additions – mainly Tinga in multiple forms including quesadillas, Pambazos and Tostadas. The service is friendly, the older woman who works during the day loves to chat if you can speak some Spanish and she was very intrigued by the existence of the other Tizoncito. We may write more about this truck when (if) we do a post about Taco Trucks at 2020 Night Club.

2040 East Dublin Granville Road (In between Beechcroft and Maple Canyon)
614.747.8673
Open: Monday to Thursday Noon to Midnight, Friday to Sunday Noon to 12:30 am or later

The first thing visitors need to know about El Tizoncito is that there are two Tizoncitos. This is the newest one and it is orange. As for the other (the original), we will write about it later – although it does hang out in this neck of the woods at the 2020 Night Club on the weekends. The second thing visitors may want to consider is don’t judge a book by its cover and don’t judge a taco truck by it’s exterior or lack of site ambiance. The fare here was much better than this veteran tasting team expected. The truck debuted in October (inspected and permitted by Columbus Public Health on 10/25/12).

The menu features a lot of “plate dishes” or platos. We were a bit skeptical of “D” Joker: beef, mushrooms, and a lot cheese served with a salad of lettuce, cucumber, radishes and tomato. The Gobacha included al pastor pork, cheese and pineapple (pictured below). Both of these dishes would be well worth a return trip.

We found the tacos a little bland but serviceable. We also noted, but were not able to try, the specials which included posole and Menudo.

Although there is a lot of competition among taco trucks in this stretch of town, El Tizoncito (the other) is above average compared to many of its neighbors and features some platters at a good value.