Feel like Fish Tacos? Well, what’s a good way to get people to try new menu items? How about removing existing items from the menu and only having the new items for a “trial period”. That’s guaranteed to either make new converts or piss people off. Either way, it shows confidence in your team, and the new dishes they created.
Kimchi Taco Truck started 2013 with two new tacos yesterday – fried fish and fried chicken. They also brought out Big Belly Burritos to replace the Kim-Cheesesteak, but that’s for another day.
We looove fish tacos, so it was a long walk back to the office in anticipation of that first bite. (It was also f-ing freezing out, which made the walk seem longer than usual too.)
So what was on new tacos from Kimchi Taco Truck besides fish and chicken, and how were they?
The new chicken and fish tacos are $3 each instead of 3 for $7, but they are noticeably larger for the difference in price. They told us the larger taco size was served at Kimchi Grill, their brick-and-mortar spot in Brooklyn.
Of course the first one tried was the fish taco. Several strips of fried fish were served with a mango salsa, jicama (or something similar), pickled onions and scallions. The whole shebang was topped with chipotle aioli sauce.
The first bite was fruity and spicy, with the taste of battered, fried fish trailing ever so slightly behind. This was juicy, fruity, fishy and spicy, all at the same time. Delicious!
There aren’t a lot of fish tacos served on the streets of NYC, but this one jumps right to the top of our list. Honorable mention to the fish taco at Mike ‘N’ Willies, but the mango salsa here put it over the top.
After savoring the fish taco for a few minutes, we dove headfirst into the fried chicken taco.
The fried chicken is covered in gojuchang, a Korean red pepper paste that’s often sweetened with molasses, which is used as an emulsifier.
Jicama was also found on this taco, along with crumbled cojita cheese and a creamy ginger sauce on top.
At first the fried chicken taco wasn’t really spicy, but it built up slowly, and had a nice amount of heat as we finished.
The ginger sauce was creamy, but not as gingery as needed with the gojuchang on the chicken. We would have liked the sauce a little more gingery, or to have some shredded ginger in the taco too.
We were surprised the tacos were served with only one tortilla, but both stayed together without any breakage. We would have preferred two tortillas, but at least we didn’t end up wearing lunch.
As we told you yesterday, Kimchi Taco Truck expects to add these two tacos to the existing taco menu of short rib, spicy pork, chicken and tofu edamame falafel, with the timing still to be determined.
In baseball terms, the fried chicken taco is a ground rule double (not a real double, but close enough), but the fried fish taco is a home run!
You can try these new tacos yourself, as well as the Big Belly Burrito ($9) by finding Kimchi Taco Truck on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.
If you’ve tried any of these new menu items, let us know your thoughts, and let them know in the truck too. Vendors introducing new menu items are always looking for feedback from their customers. It helps them serve you better.
