Thread: Taco trucks add new dimension

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4294186.html

Oct. 29, 2006, 1:38AM
Taco trucks add new dimension to flavors of southern Louisiana

By JENALIA MORENO
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

METAIRIE, LA. - Inside the Taquería Sanchez, workers slice tomatoes, cook fajitas and take orders from customers who line up outside the mobile Mexican restaurant.

The aroma of onions and beef cooking on the grill wafts through the windows of this taco stand parked outside a daiquiri bar off of Veterans Memorial Boulevard. Over the sounds of sizzling fajitas, norteño and merengue music broadcasts over a radio in the truck.

On a Friday night, the parking lot fills with pickups, cargo vans and cars as Hispanic immigrants and Louisiana natives order dinners of Mexican soft drinks and tacos topped with a green salsa. Construction workers in paint-spattered clothing place paper plates on the truck's stainless steel counters and enjoy their meals.

"They are similar to the tacos made in your country," said construction worker Roberto Palma, who hails from the Mexican state of Veracruz. "These are the ones that are the most similar to the place where I'm from."

Taco trucks are one of the hottest new businesses in the New Orleans area, fueled by the Hispanic population that relocated to rebuild homes, businesses and roads destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Few taco trucks roamed the streets of the Crescent City before Katrina struck, and now 21 mobile vendors plying Hispanic foods are licensed by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Other food vendors are unlicensed, like Salvadoran immigrant Maria Machado, who cooks fried plantains, tamales and pupusas at home and sells food from the back of her car every day to workers who gather each morning on South Claiborne Avenue.

Before the storm hit, 90 mobile food vendors licensed to hawk foods such as hot dogs, fried chicken and po' boys traveled the streets of greater New Orleans. Since then, the number of mobile food vendors has dropped to 74, but nearly a third of those vehicles are peddling tostadas, tortas, quesadillas and other dishes favored by Hispanic immigrants.

"I've never seen that, but then, after Katrina, I see them all over the neighborhood," said Phuong Pham, a researcher at Tulane University's Payson Center. "I think it's going to be good for the city in some ways because it's going to add a different mix of culture."

Several of these mobile food trucks are owned by Houston entrepreneurs, like Fidel Sanchez, who relocated four Taquería Sanchez trucks from Houston to New Orleans after Katrina. Four more of his trucks still operate in Houston.

The native of the Mexican state of Michoacan visited New Orleans late last year after Katrina hit, and he saw no taquerías in the area.

"That's why I was motivated to bring the taquerías here," Sanchez said as he stood near one of his taco trucks, painted with the slogan El Sabrosito, or the tasty one. "After a week, we already had a lot of clientele."

Sanchez will spend $45,000 for another truck he will station in the New Orleans area. And he plans to open a full Mexican restaurant in a New Orleans suburb as well as a commissary where all the area's new taco truck owners can clean and stock their vehicles.

Adorned with drawings of tortas, tacos and burritos, one Taquería Sanchez truck sells about $2,000 worth of meals a day, making it a more profitable business than in Houston.

"In Houston, there's a lot of competition, too much," Sanchez said.

In the building boom that followed Katrina, thousands of Latino workers have migrated to the area, bringing their tools and taste buds with them.

"You get tired of McDonald's and Burger King," said Jorge Garcia, after he bought three tacos from a spotless truck. "I'm tired of buffets. When I got here, that's all you could find."

The Merida native, who left his home nearly two decades ago for Los Angeles, relocated to New Orleans in February to manage hotel and casino janitors. He sometimes buys meals from mobile food vendors twice a day, he said.

And it's not just Latinos lining up.

Metairie native Kenneth Miller had never noticed taco trucks in the area until after the hurricane. He recently stopped by the Taquería Sanchez truck for the fifth time in a month.

"I tried it about a month ago, and it was pretty darn good, so I've been back," the construction contractor said after he ordered a dinner of beef and pork tacos. "It's pretty good food. It's not Taco Bell."

jenalia.moreno@chron.com

The invasion has made it to New Orleans. I happen to like New Orleans the way it was before the taco trucks showed up. Better stop it before it destroys New Orleans too. Nagen better save that city since they were dumb enough to re-elect him. In two years it's going to become Mardi Fiesta if they don't get their citizens back home.

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

The invasion has made it to New Orleans. I happen to like New Orleans the way it was before the taco trucks showed up. Better stop it before it destroys New Orleans too. Nagen better save that city since they were dumb enough to re-elect him. In two years it's going to become Mardi Fiesta if they don't get their citizens back home.

Dixie

The great city is GONE, Dixie. GONE.
Many who stayed are now moving out. Those that left, many won't
return.

It's a crime ridden, hotbed now. Mostly latino and lots of gang problems to boot.

I think the main reason those trucks showed up is due to all the illegals who showed up to rebuild the city after Katrina. It was the post hurricane invasion because even the farmers who had them picking fruits and vegetables in South Florida complained that men left to work higher paying construction jobs. Hopefully they will move on elsewhere and allow New Orleans to be the way it was pre Katrina.

Originally Posted by swatchick

I think the main reason those trucks showed up is due to all the illegals who showed up to rebuild the city after Katrina. It was the post hurricane invasion because even the farmers who had them picking fruits and vegetables in South Florida complained that men left to work higher paying construction jobs. Hopefully they will move on elsewhere and allow New Orleans to be the way it was pre Katrina.

They're NOT going anywhere! They've planted their 'flag.'
That's what I was trying to explain. New Orleans is GONE.

Nagin will be voted out for an hispanic next election.

New Orleans is still a disaster zone and there are parts of the southern part of NO that you can not go in because of the criminals and gunfire. It's a mess.

Those should be Po Boy carts not taco carts. The culture and atmosphere will never be enhanced by a bunch of burritos and taco wagons. Someone needs to send those vendors packing and preserve the unique French environment that has gone unadulterated by outsiders for hundred of years. NO doesn't need an infusion of foreign culture.

Can you imagine Jazz played by a mariachi band? Talk about a stomach turner!!! Having been exposed extensively to both, I'd take Creole over Mexican Food any day. It's superior in taste, ingredients and variety. Mexican food is the same 4 ingredients cooked different ways. That's it. Nothing more. Beans, Rice, Meat and a tortilla, fried, baked filled... Boring!

The Historical Society better get Hysterical.

Dixie