We had a few food trucks at my job, years ago. This one was the most popular, to the point where…read morewe've had them back a few times.
We somehow managed to get them on Cinco de Mayo this year, a/k/a Cinco de Drinko--this despite the fact that Mexican food can be hard enough to come by on Cinco de Mayo that shots are sometimes fired.
Were they not aware of the holiday? I'd suggest that there's no way that they wouldn't be, but I don't want to assume, what with this being 2026.
Or is it one of those things where Cinco de Mayo is not a real holiday in Mexico? It might be the Mexican equivalent of Kwanzaa, invented by the CIA to get people shooting at each other down on Cherokee St, as a pretext for ICE raids.
In addition to the free tacos, we were treated a performance by a mariachi band, Modelo, canned margaritas and churros from a local bakery. They spared no expense! Suffice it to say, it wasn't the most productive afternoon. Not that it would have been otherwise.
Since I wasn't paying, I went with a "flight" of tacos, as if I were in Napa, one of each type: pollo, al pastor, lengua, asada and chorizo. I didn't do the thing where I tried a little bit of each and spit them in a bucket, but you're welcome to do that, if you're suffering from, er, surviving, an eating disorder. You could probably make use of a nearby potted plant, like Harvey Weinstein.
Tacos are served on two small-ish corn tortillas that have been heated up on a griddle, like at an authentic taqueria. They come served with diced raw onion and cilantro, and they ask if that's alright with you, in case you're one of these people who think cilantro tastes like soap, or you're concerned that it can't really be washed and hence could lead to GI distress.
I preferred the chicken and steak to the tongue, sausage and, erm, al pastor. All of it seems to have been warmed up on a griddle rather than cooked from raw, but the "dry" meats had nice bits of char. I didn't care for the texture of the al pastor and chorizo as much, though they were nicely seasoned. The tongue isn't as flavorful as regular ol' steak. As I recall, they were charging a premium for it, and I'm assuming that's just taking advantage of curiosity.
Prices were written in dry erase marker, and they may have jacked everything up by a dollar for the occasion, which was fine with me. I was also upsold a tres leches cake, which was an excellent recommendation. It was premade and served a bit cold, but it tasted fresh. I found it odd that it was wet, like it had been left out in the proverbial rain in MacArthur Park, or maybe an unhoused person used it as a urinal, but it tasted good enough that it didn't matter. If that's not a testament to the culinary wizardry on display on this truck, I don't know what is.