Today we felt like chorizo taco. Yesterday we had an appointment on 14th St & 5th Avenue that ended at lunchtime, and headed north on 5th Ave to grab some lunch. We didn’t have anything particular in mind, but several food trucks have been parking daily on 5th Ave anywhere from 17th-22nd St.
Approaching 18th St, we saw a light blue truck on the next block that we hadn’t seen before. The name on the side said Taco Bite Mexican Grill, so we crossed the street to get a closer look.
Our first thought was “not another taco truck”. With Mexico Blvd, Tribeca Taco Truck, Calexico Carne Asada, Mexicue and Paty’s Tacos, they better be good if they hope to survive serving the Manhattan lunch crowd.
The menu had tacos, burritos and quesadillas, and there were a couple of positive signs on the menu in terms of taco fillings and sauces.
The menu did remind us a lot of the Tribeca Taco Truck menu, including the sauces, but the Tribeca Taco truck rarely ventures above Houston St, so there should be room for both vendors.
We ordered an al pastor taco, a chorizo taco, and the veggie special, a tofu taco marinated in adobo chipotle sauce. The tacos cost $3 each.
The guy in the truck told me they have been around for about a month, but this is the first time we ran across them.
There were 7 types of sauces, so when we ordered, we asked them to pick the best sauces for the fillings we ordered.
Each taco came on two tortillas (yay!) with onions, cilantro, lime, and a slice of radish.
First up was the al pastor taco, on which they put pineapple bbq sauce and spicy mango sauce, the daily special.
With these sauces, the al pastor taco was quite fruity and spicy, but it did get a little drippy from the juiciness of the meat. We had to be careful not to get pork juice on our clothes, but that’s not what we would consider a problem.
As you can see in the top photo, there was plenty of meat, although it could have been trimmed a little better, with a couple of pieces of fat. The pork seemed to have a slightly spicy rub on it, and the pieces of pineapple were great.
Chorizo can get fatty or greasy if not done well, but the chorizo taco here was actually less fatty than the al pastor pork.
The chorizo had a really nice taste, and it was paired with the picante rojo and chipotle crema sauces. This was definitely the spiciest taco of the day, with the picante rojo sauce carrying a hell of a kick. My mouth was feeling the heat for a while afterwards. Yum!
The last taco was tofu marinated in adobo chipotle sauce. It came with avocado crema and salsa verde.
Since the sauces weren’t as strong as the previous sauces, the cilantro came through more than on the other tacos. This was the creamiest and greenest tasting taco of the bunch.
We don’t usually order tofu on tacos, and the texture was a bit different than we’re used to. The tofu was milder than expected, considering it was marinated in adobo chipotle sauce. The marinade added a little flavor, but we expected the tofu to be more flavorful based on the marinade described.
Our First Look at the Taco Bite Mexican Grill was promising. We really enjoyed the chorizo, liked the al pastor, but weren’t crazy about the tofu. We’re going to have to head back to try the grilled chicken, grilled mushrooms and nopales (grilled cactus) at some point.
The sauces were flavorful, especially the fruity ones. There’s no better combination than fruity and spicy.
The Taco Bite truck is currently parking around the Flatiron District, but check their twitter here or our Mobile Munchies twitter feed to be certain. It doesn’t look like they are out today, or at least haven’t tweeted yet.
