This month marks the third anniversary of Taco Trucks Columbus. We’re grateful in the extreme to all of you who have participated in this little endeavor of ours, be it as readers, truck-goers, commenters, or truck spotters.

As we look back on the past three years, we can’t help but be struck by how much something as simple as starting a blog has profoundly influenced the lives of all of the blog’s participants… often in ways we never would’ve imagined. Please allow us the indulgence of recounting:

Taco Trucks Columbus began as an OSU geography class project for Bethia. The class was Latin American Geography, and the project required research to be done within Columbus. Jim had noticed a few taco trucks around town and had been eager to explore them, so with this idea the topic was settled – Bethia was off to collect data, with Jim and I accompanying as tag-along culinary curiosity seekers.

We all enjoyed the taco truck food way more than any of us expected to, felt as though it filled a gaping hole for authentic Latino fare that was emphatically unfilled by more well known ‘Mexican’ food in Columbus, and wanted to let people know about it.

Within a few months of beginning the blog, it was clear that taco trucks captured the imagination (and taste buds) of our increasingly large readership. The interest fueled our desire to continue with the project. Meet-ups for our blog readers were thrown, funds were raised for Latino charities, and a good time sure seemed to be had by all. We routinely took journalists and the curious among our friends on impromptu tours of the trucks.

Taco trucking took us to a lot of areas in town we’d never been to before, and we couldn’t help but observe how many restaurants were in those areas. Moreover, we really couldn’t ignore the fact that few to none of them were getting any press… I mean, some of them had to be good, right? And, given their wide ethnic diversity, they had to expand upon the range of novel food offerings in town, no?

With our curiosity pointed in that direction, alt.eats.columbus (as in, alternative to what’s been covered in Columbus) was begun. Our hunch was correct – there was a lot of great immigrant kitchen food to be discovered.

Another unintended consequence of TTC was born of the popular conflation of taco trucks with food trucks in general. There was a presumption among many that we’d naturally be on top of developments among the rapidly growing non-Latino mobile food vendors. We really weren’t, at first, but once again it did seem to be something food-related that wasn’t adequately covered elsewhere.

And that’s how Street Eats Columbus came to be. That is also when, I suppose, the unifying theme of our blog work became explicit – to discover and expose, to the extent we could, everything food-related in Columbus that wasn’t widely discovered and exposed otherwise.

Which, when thought about in the abstract as such, could easily go in all sorts of different directions.

Like, for example, Columbus Food Adventures. Having discovered so many food options that we believed to be of real culinary value and interest, Bethia and I came to believe that a food tour business would give us a new means of exposing people to the restaurants, foods, and people behind them that we’d become so passionate about. And, to be perfectly honest, it provided an opportunity to make a living off of something that, up to then, had been a compensation-free endeavor. Both Taco Trucks Columbus and alt.eats.columbus have tours based upon them.

Having served just shy of 3000 tour-goers since July of 2010, we’re solidly entrenched in this new and enjoyable career of ours. As we suggested previously, we never could’ve seen that coming!

And then there’s Jim (aka CMH Gourmand) – a man who has forgotten more about Columbus’s food history than the rest of us will ever know. And, a man who, like many of us, had achieved a position of career comfort that kept the bills comfortably at bay while perhaps failing to make best use of his passions (this is certainly true with respect to his enthusiasm for all things food-related).

That is, until last October, when he signed on with the ECDI as the coordinator of their Food Fort program. Now, Jim is helping to shepherd the next generation of mobile food vendors into existence, as well as participating in the team that is building out a new incubator kitchen and providing technical assistance to new and existing food ventures. Thanks, in no small part, to Jim’s tireless efforts, we expect this to be a huge year for ‘street eats’ in Columbus!

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The above amounts to a lot of reminiscing and ‘inside baseball’, but it’s a string of thoughts with a point: all of these somewhat improbable and positive developments are the result of your enthusiasm for our work, specifically starting with this blog. We thank you sincerely, we thank the all of the great folks that run the businesses that give us such great material to work with, and we look forward to sharing the upcoming taco truck season with you!

All of our best,

The Taco Trucks Columbus Team: Jim Ellison, Bethia Woolf, Andy Dehus

Columbus Food Adventures 2012 Taco Truck Tours start on April 1st. For more information or to purchase tickets online click here.

Los Guachos has been in print quite a bit over the last year. It is well deserved. Of the the hundred or so Taco Trucks that over come and gone as well those that have stayed and made a living, Los Guachos has consistently been among the best. The guys at Los Guachos have also done the best job of crossing over to the Gringo mainstream without compromising their food or culture. Earlier in the year they were in Maxim Magazine (with a quote from the “annointer of good things, Roland K. The Pierogi King of Columbus) Five Best Dinners from the Maxim staff . Most recently, Los Guachos was noted as the best in the Midwest and fourth in the nation by Every Day with Rachael Ray. Now think what you will of the Food Network celebrity but it is acknowledged that her staff do a good job of finding the best of the best. In this case they were dead on. So check Los Guachos out at their trailer on the west side or try them any day at their brick and mortar restaurant at Bethel Road and Godown in Northwest Columbus.

Tarcisio “Quicho” Perez is the owner of Mexican taco truck, Taco Nazo. A little research on Yelp and TacoTrucksColumbus.com will reveal what many of us that have tasted Taco Nazo already know. Taco Nazo is one of the best in Columbus. This May Taco Nazo will celebrate its seventh year in business.

Jorge Lasso’s number is 614 403 4136.

Hmm…maybe we should do a fundraiser to help this great cause. What do you think?

On the morning of Sunday November 6th, Maria Garcia, Marianna Zhumi & Maria Saico, were heading home after completing their shift at Park Street Cantina, They were southbound on Wilson Rd. when a northbound suv crossed the center line and struck their car, the suv driver and a passenger jumped out and ran off before deputies arrived, because beer cans were found inside the suv, authorities suspect that alcohol was a factor in the crash, so far, the suspect have not been found.
Zhumi was dead at the scene, Garcias died at the hospital and later Saico passed away on Wednesday at the Grant medical center.

Here is the news video from FOX 28.

LET’S HELP THIS FAMILIES, COME THIS THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17th TO LOS GUACHOS TAQUERIA LOCATED AT SULLIVAN AVE. IN WEST BROAD STREET, WILL DONATE THE ENTIRE SALES OF THE DAY, TAKE YOUR FREE FOOD IN EXCHANGE FOR A DONATION. PLEASE MAKE AN EFFORT TO BE PART OF THIS CONTRIBUTION. THANK YOU.

2400 East Dublin Granville Road
Columbus, OH 43229-3520
614.537.1311
Open Tuesday-Sunday: Tuesday-Wednesday 10-9. Thursday 10am-2am. Friday-Sunday 10am-3am.

Click here to map it!

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.

2725 W. Broad St. (Corner of Broad & Harris, in Sunoco lot)
614.286.7044
Open 11am – 10pm, 7 days/week

Click here to map it! 

It’s always a pleasure to be able to share a good new taco truck with our readership, and El Halcon is good.

It’s also brand-spankin’ new, and as clean and tidy as any truck we’ve ever seen. The owners started with an unmodified trailer and outfitted it with their own kitchen which, somewhat atypically, includes a full gas range in addition to the typical plancha (flat cooking surface). We’re eager to see what their plans are for that!

Portions are generous. The tortillas for tacos are larger than the usual, and are filled with a surprisingly large quantity of meat. Three of their tacos would make for a full meal.

We’ve never seen lengua served like this at a taco truck before (above, left) – literal slabs of it piled high. It was tender, juicy, and thoroughly flavorful. The carne asada, right, was also solid.

Having passed our usual taco truck test order with flying colors, we moved into more adventurous territory. ‘Zazonada’ was a term we’d never come across, so a zazonada taco was next. Appearance-wise, it struck us as little more than carne asada tossed with a sauce, but the char of the beef mixed with the deeply umami quality of the sauce meant that the whole was resoundingly greater than the sum of its parts. We suspect there might have been some soy sauce in there somewhere, but whatever it was (and the owners aren’t telling)… it was delicious.

As was their sope, which we tried with chorizo. The whole thing was good, but the masa base was exceptional – crispy on the bottom with a tender interior.

The shell of their gordita was similarly satisfying. We tried their ham and cheese version, and thought it would be the perfect thing for someone who wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about latino flavors. You could imagine someone selling these as an alternative to the traditional grilled cheese and doing well. El Halcon also sells a wide variety of more traditionally filled gorditas.

On a second tasting trip the focus was Tortas. The sandwiches are large, loaded down with the meat of your choice and plenty of toppings. Having sampled Tortas from Geoegesville Road to Cleveland Ave, the El Halcon Torta rates at the top.

Ready to take a trip to Broad & Harris yet?

1060 Georgesville Road (near SSA Office) and Growing Solutions Garden Center.

near Georgesville Road and Clime Road

614.732.2773

Click here to to map it!

This truck has been here for at least 5 years but with new owners and a different menu we decided to re-post it.

Mr Grill has a fairly standard menu with a good selection of meats. The one more unusual item is the migada. Usually a migada is a 4 inch diameter hand made corn base with pinched sides, topped with beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and cheese. The term migada is also used by La Popular but most trucks call this dish a sope. The migada at Mr Grill at Mr Grill is much larger and fills the whole plate – which made the price make sense (usually they are $2-2.50). It was similar to a huarache but round. The migada also had avocado as well as the usual toppings. It was good but the size made it a little unwieldy to eat without silverware.

The tacos and gordita that we sampled were also good. The gordita shell was very fresh and not greasy. Meat-wise we particularly liked the buche and the carnitas was good too. Mr Grill offers 3 different salsas tomatillo, avocado and chile de arbol.

The highlight of our visit to Mr Grill was dessert. Not many of the trucks offer dessert items, but Mr Grill has mini cheesecakes and home-made flan. The flan was really good with a wonderful silky texture and exceptional value at $1.50 (the mini cheesecake was $1).

3330 E. Broad Street
614.625.6287
10-10pm Monday-Sunday

Click here to map it!

Taqueria La Fonda is a good addition to the East Side taco truck scene. It’s located on the North side of East Broad Street just east of the intersection with James.

Offerings include the standard tacos, tortas and burritos as well as tamales and crispy corn tortillas (think taquito or flauta) – either chicken or beef served with lettuce, cheese and crema. The tamales (we had red) were good – plump, light and moist.

They also have sincronizadas which are similar to a quesadilla but contains ham and cheese. Usually, in our experience, a sincronizada is made with two tortillas stacked like a sandwich but as you can see this one was one large tortilla folded.

Meat options include chicken, al pastor, chorizo, steak, barbacoa, lengua and chicharron stewed in green sauce (pictured below with a taco de lengua). Chicharron guisado is in our opinion one of the more challenging taco truck dishes.

There is a good selection of tortas with some additional meat options.

5615 Cleveland Ave.
Southwest corner of SR 161 and Cleveland Ave.
Monday to Thursday 10:30 am to 10 pm
Friday and Saturday 10:30 am to 1 am
Sunday 10:30 am to 11:00 pm
614 843 4275
614 900 9886

Click here to map it!

El Buen Sazon opened late July or early August 2011. This is a truck where a few Spanish language phrases or very good pantomime skills are needed. Some of the information on the signage is not translated correctly and in a few cases….pointing to what you want may not be 100% effective. The signage itself is very good – colorful and numbered, you could order by number with decent success. It took about 10 minutes to confirm the hours for the truck (the hours listed on the truck are not correct) and to clarify a few other menu options. The name roughly translates to “The Good One” or seasoning…..feel free to comment on this translation.

Octavio seems to be the taco slinger on site most often. He and the others working the truck are from Mexico City. The fare is standard Taco Truck cuisine – tacos, huaraches, tortas, burritos, quesadillas and soft drinks. On the weekends they serve goat (birria) stew and menudo (not the boy band). The most expensive item ($8.00) is the Torta Cubano (which is a large sandwich with the meat of your choice, sliced pineapple and a pile of other ingredients).

A Chorizo taco, quesadilla with al pastor and a huarache with goat meat were sampled. Based on these few items, the food at this truck would place in the middle of the taco truck bell curve. Since this is a new truck, expect things to continue to get better over time. Buenas Suerte Taqueria El Buen Sazon.

233 W 5th Avenue
Corner of 5th and Forsythe, Victorian Village
Monday-Saturday 11am-9.30pm (or later)

Click here to map it!

We were sad when the owners of Taqueria Davanne returned to Mexico but it wasn’t long before their truck was reincarnated to become Los Primos. The truck is still parked outside Las Maravillas Mexican Market and you can go into the store to buy drinks or do some shopping while you wait for your food.

The truck offers most of the taco truck staples – tacos, burritos, quesadillas and tortas but no sopes or gorditas. Taco meat options are steak, chicken al pastor, chorizo and cecina (marinated beef). In addition to the standard fare they also offer enchiladas and restaurant style plates with either steak, milanesa (breaded steak) or cecina.

We ordered tacos with cecina, chorizo and al pastor and all were solid but the pale green salsa (we weren’t offered a choice) was a little disappointing.

When we visited they were also offering tostadas de ceviche and tamales as specials. The ceviche had nice chunks of fish and some heat. You may want to add some extra lime and hot sauce. It was thoughtfully packed to go with the tostada separate so it didn’t get soggy. The tamale (green with chicken) was small and suffered from having been overly nuked.