Portland Mexican (Part 6): Taco Truck Directory

3 Hermanos (moved and renamed La Chiquita)

Last December, Robb Walsh, a Beard-award winning food writer from the Houston Press, contacted me about a project he was working on. You’ll notice one of his books has regularly been featured on my site in the left column. I own several of his books and respect his work a lot, so I was honored to have him contact me — to even know who I am.

The project? Taco trucks outside the southwest, how they provide “formerly virgin taco territories” the opportunity for some truly authentic comida — an article for Gourmet Magazine. Would I like to help? Hell, yeah.

Clockwise from Upper Left: Torta Cubana at La Catrina; Huarache at Mexico Lindo; Warm Shrimp Cocktail from Dos Amigos; Salsas at Morelia

Though my posts on Extramsg about Mexican food have been few lately, a quick search shows that my love for the tortilla arts is great. I have more Mexican cookbooks and culinary histories than any other books on my shelf. By far. I’ve travelled to Mexico more than any other country — probably more than to any state except California (ehem, formerly Mexico) — primarily to eat. I’ve taught two classes on Mexican cooking at In Good Taste, plus an online class at eGullet on salsa-making. It’s a passion.

And so, with only a week’s lead time before Walsh’s arrival, I set about researching. I’d already been to most taco trucks around town, but I needed a better sense of who was doing something special and how good they truly were relative to each other. The result, thanks to the help of several other PortlandFood.org members, especially Craig, was the taco truck directory. While nowhere near comprehensive, it is a good start with names and addresses of over a dozen of the better trucks, an attempt at indicating their specialties, and ratings for each. Here is the current version (please, join in the discussion at PortlandFood.org and improve the directory):

TACO TRUCKS

Downtown

Chintos
SW 9th & Alder, Portland
some uncovered seating
al pastor, machaca
C-

Jarochita
SW 5th between Stark & Oak, Portland
huaraches, sopes, horchata, tamales, carnitas, al pastor
small covered table
A-

King Burrito
SW 5th & Oak, Portland
carnitas
small covered table
B-

Loco Locos Burritos
SW 5th between Oak & Stark, Portland
large burrito selection
some seating
C+

Loco Locos Burritos
SW 9th & Morrison, Portland
some uncovered seating
carne asada, carnitas
C+

Mr. Taco
SW 5th between Stark & Oak, Portland
can’t recommend anything
two seats
D+

Ortiz’s/Francisco
SW 3rd & Stark, Portland
can’t recommend food, cool painting on the truck
small covered table
D+

Tito’s Burritos
SW 3rd & Washington, Portland
carnitas
one covered table
B

Taqueria Villanieva
SW 3rd & Oak, Portland
pastor, asada
one table, plus covered counter for standing
B

North Portland

Cabana Rolling Grill
N Vancouver & MLK, Portland
carne asada
no seating
C-

La Chiquita
(formerly 3 Hermanos)
N Killingsworth & Interstate, Portland
fresh tortillas, birria de chivo, sopes, pollo, salsa verde
covered seating
A

Northeast Portland

La Estacion Express #2
NE Lombard & Killingsworth, Portland
panuchos, huaraches, cochinita, cabeza
covered seating
A-

Taqueria Mendoza
NE Killingsworth & 57th, Portland
carnitas, carne asada, al pastor, beans
some seating
B

Southeast Portland

El Brasero
SE 12th & Hawthorne, Portland
barbacoa de borrego estilo DF, consome, birria de chivo, pollo, tamales
covered seating
A

Los Gorditos
SE Division & 50th, Portland
Carne asada en cebollada, nachos
covered seating
B+

Lindo Michoacan
SE Division & 34th, Portland
fresh tortillas, oversized sopes, tamales de elote
covered seating
B+

Torres de Morelos
SE Powell & 31st, Portland
offal, specials
covered seating
B

Taqueria Pardo
SE 7th & Division, Portland

Eastside

La Catrina (Tortas Gigantes)
9684 SE 82nd, Portland
tortas, torta cubana, carnitas, carne asada
covered seating
A

Dos Amigos
SE Powell & 122nd, Portland
ceviche, pollo, encurtido, champurrado, horchata
covered seating
B+

Morelia
SE 82nd & Lambert, Portland
salsas, champurrado, birria de chivo, deshebrada, carnitas, postres, gorditas, flautas, enchiladas, chicharron en salsa roja
some seating
A

Taqueria El Cazador #2
SE 82nd & Ash, Portland
seafood, encurtido
covered seating
B-

Washington County

Ely’s
SE 11th & Walnut, Hillsboro
fresh tortillas, empanadas, sopes, birria de chivo, carnitas
no seating
A

Ely’s
Aloha Shopping Center
18565 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy, Aloha
fresh tortillas, birria de chivo, carnitas
some seating
A

Mely’s
10th & Maple, Hillsboro
fresh tortillas, huaraches, cabeza
no seating
A

Mexico Lindo
Aloha Shopping Center
18565 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy, Aloha
fresh tortillas, huaraches, carnitas, cabeza, buche, champurrado
some seating
A

Rico’s Tacos
Aloha Shopping Center
18565 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy, Aloha
carnitas
some seating
C+

Taco crawling with Walsh? Like Stockton and Malone. Like Hall and Oats. Like Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise. Few people can keep up with me on a food crawl, but Walsh can pound down the carnitas and carne asada. He especially loves offal, like tripas and buche. We went to half a dozen places per day and ate half a dozen meals at each. His passion matched mine, making for an enjoyable couple days of gluttony.

I highly recommend picking up the results of that “work” in September’s edition of Gourmet Magazine. Not only does it highlight several of PDX’s best taco trucks, it also highlights Elizabeth Montes of Sahagun and Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon — two fellow taco truck lovers. You can see more about them online.