Hold the Mustard Cincinnati: Taco Azul

Lately I have been hitting up a lot of the Food Trucks here in Cincinnati. I don't know what it is about them, maybe the personal feel to them and the tweeting back and fourth with the people that will be serving you the food that day. Whatever it is, it has me hooked right now.

Today I went to Taco Azul a taco truck (obviously). When I got to the truck there were already about 10 people hovered around it. Most of them had already ordered so I didn't have to wait in much of a line to put my order in. I decided to go with three different tacos since I had never been there before and knew I would be writing about it later. I got the chicken, carnitas and the al pastor. I got cheese and guac on all three of them and some pico de gallo on the side. The guac was $.50 extra per taco (yet it seems like they only charge this sometimes, per my friend who got his for free).

We waited to get our food for a good amount of time, but not to the point where I was getting mad about it. To ease the pain, they offered up some free chips and salsa in small dishes to people waiting in line. I'm glad they did because I got to try some and it was really good. It had just the right amount of kick to it without being overbearing. One thing I did want to note to them was that the truck is so loud that they really need to speak up, I had a very hard time even hearing my own name. I had to keep leaning into them to hear what they were asking or telling me. This also caused a problem with the music, I couldn't hear it unless I was right next to it and even then it was hard to hear. It didn't bother me too much, it was just more of an FYI for them.

We got our food and went to a near by bench to eat it. I reached in and grabbed my first taco, which happened to be the al pastor. First thing I noticed when I opened it up was that they most likely were all going to be served on corn tortillas rather than flour (which I expected). The tacos were good, but the main taste I had in my mouth was the tortillas. Next time, I might ask if they can just use one instead of two to maybe cut down on the taste of them. The guac wasn't the best and didn't add much flavor. I did add some pico de gallo to it to try and add some more flavor and juice, which seemed to help a little. I still enjoyed Taqueria Mercado more, but it is tough to beat the price.

The next taco I pulled out happened to be the carnitas, which happened to be my favorite of the three. It had the most flavor and was the juiciest. I didn't even need to add any of the pico de gallo since it was good on its own. I would probably just get two of these next time, yet they don't always sell this taco (bummer).

My third taco was the chicken. Most chicken tacos I get from Mexican restaurants (except Nada) seem to always be the driest tacos, this was no exception. I added the rest of my pico de gallo to help, but it didn't do much. The guac didn't help much and when I opened the taco up to see where everything was, I pulled out basically 1/4 of an avocado. The guac was so hard (due to this avocado) that I couldn't even put my finger through it. I enjoy more of a paste like guacamole. The good thing about this was the fact that I could tell that they were making the guac right there on the truck and that it was as fresh as it could be. But I still think that the guac is the area they need to work on the most.

All in all I did enjoy the meal and for $8.50 for 3 tacos, guac and a drink, I didn't think it was that bad. Next time I go (and there will be a next time) I will most likely just get two tacos for $2/each and then a drink for $1 and leave there only spending $5 and have plenty of food to fill me for lunch. I have heard great things about the steak (within the few hours AFTER I ate here) and supposedly they are always running out of it, so that should tell you something. I usually don't get the steak tacos anywhere because they seem to always be very chewy. So I need to try them the next time I go.