Way before food trucks were a thing, there were taco trucks. While the food truck boom helped push a lot of new chefs to the forefront during the 2010s, taco trucks in the Columbia area remained saddled on the sidelines, not necessarily doing poorly, but not making a name for themselves until recently, when places like Tacos Nayarit grew from vehicle to beloved storefront and trucks like Los Chicanos became fan favorites.
For the most part, though, the area’s taco truck culture revolves around immigrants, with workers seeking a solid, affordable lunch, and finding a point for community gathering in the process.
Few places in the city have such a high concentration of taco trucks as West Columbia, where the trucks, while competitors, also work together to provide stability and support to the working Latinx community in the area.
Last week, I took a trip out west to check out some of these long-existing trucks to sample the interesting food they have to offer — and explore the community built around them.
The first stop of the tour was Taqueria El Jarocho Express (2322 Augusta Rd.) Located in front of Kimbrells, the bright yellow food truck is soundly fixed on cinder blocks. The menu is simple, with a choice of tacos, tortas, burritos or plates. Besides the typical taco fillings (carne asada, carnitas, pastor) the truck has a few extra specialties, including bucha (pork stomach) and crispy tripe.
There is also one less-often-seen option on the menu: mulitas. Described as “two corn tortillas grilled with cheese and stuffed with your choice of filling,” both tortillas are covered in a thick layer of Oaxaca cheese. Best described as a cross between mozzarella and Monterey Jack, the cheese melts incredibly quickly to form a beautiful flat layer. The best part is the excess that dribbles off the tortilla, becoming thin and crispy on the griddle so you get all these intensely cheesy bits of crust.
Cooked like a grilled cheese, the mulita is assembled bottom-up and flipped, so both sides are golden brown, much like a quesadilla. I filled my mulita with pastor, which was good, but I could really see something heavier, like carne asada, being really delicious and bringing out more of the sandwich aspect of the mulita. The most exciting part was the well-grilled tortilla which tasted fresh and beautifully crisp off the griddle.
Further down the road, I found an absolutely bustling truck called La Morenita (3117 Augusta Rd.). While the truck is easy to spot, the location might seem off-putting, seeing as the truck is essentially in a former tire shop. It’s parked in front of a mostly vacant building, with tables inside for customers to bring their food in and eat, which was great on the wet winter day I dropped in.
La Morenita had by far had the most diverse selection of tacos, with 10 options on the board, including chorizo, asada, barbacoa, pastor and other familiar favorites along with a few less common options like tripe, lengua, cecina and cabeza (roasted beef head, commonly the cheek which can be incredibly fatty and delicious).
This was my first ever encounter with the cecina as a taco option. It’s essentially beef that is thinly pounded and seasoned before being dried out slightly for more of a chew. La Morenita’s version is pounded moderately thin and cut into strips. The flavor is best described as a thinner version of asada.
The other interesting thing that La Morenita has going for it is its pellizcadas. Similar to sopas, pellizcadas are little rounds of masa dough that have a bit of a lip around the edges, helping catch all the different ingredients that are inserted. The lip also gives it a bit of structure, so you can pick up and bite them a little easier than other similar dishes.
The final truck I stopped at was Tacos El Primo (2123 Augusta Rd.), which absolutely glistened under the darkness of the rainy afternoon. What’s special about El Primo is the collection of specials. Beyond the vast array of torta options, along with quesadillas, burritos, tostadas and sopes, there’s two uncommon standouts: sincronizadas and huaraches.
A sincronizada takes all the fillings in a torta — lettuce, refried beans, choice of meat and Oaxaca cheese — and swaps the bread for two flour tortillas to make a quesadilla-esque sandwich.
A local favorite for many at Moctezuma’s Taqueria in Rosewood, huaraches feature masa dough and cooked, smashed pinto beans mixed together and shaped into an oval, shoe-esque shape. The deep-fried huaraches come topped with refried beans, choice of meat, cheese and salsa. They are hugely satisfying, with layers of flavor and texture from all of the ingredients piled together.
While all of the trucks were incredibly friendly, for those with limited experience with Mexican food, Tacos El Primo is a great first option thanks to a well-written English menu that covers every option beautifully.
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