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NY Food Truck Lunch: Chorizo Tlacoyo From Paty's Tacos

Perry, the voice behind New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City food trucks.

We first ran across Paty's Tacos on the Upper East Side, where they were fixtures on 86th St & Lexington Ave for a long time. A couple of years ago, Paty's was forced out of the area by complaints from local businesses, which is not unusual with popular food trucks.

(As for the spelling, some signs on the truck say "Paty's" and some say "Patty's," but their business cards only use one "t", so that's what we're going with).

Paty's is now on Union Square West by 14th St, and I decided to try a Mexican dish I've never had before - tlacoyos (lah-koy-yoz), which cost $6.  I offer the pronunciation because I had no idea how to say it until the woman in the truck told me how.

More: The 5 Best Bars Near Union Square

You can't see how a tlacoyo is made from the photo above, so let's build this from the bottom up:

Tlacoyo from Paty's Tacos
(credit: New York Street Food)

It starts with a corn tortilla stuffed with beans that's shaped like a surfboard. On top of the tortilla is your choice of meat (I got chorizo), along with lettuce, tomato, onions, crumbled cojita cheese, cilantro, crema, and a few thin avocado slices.

More: NYC's 9 Best Mexican Restaurants

To put it in other terms, this lunch was like eating salad first, then down to the main course (chorizo), then the bread (tortilla).

The avocado, lettuce, tomato, crema and cheese were all fresh, with the cojita cheese adding a little saltiness to the mix.

The chorizo wasn't spicy, but it was tasty. It wasn't oily, either, which some chorizo can be.

The thick tortilla had a pronounced corn taste, and the beans in the middle added some heft and a little black bean flavor.

Tlacoyo from Paty's Tacos
(credit: New York Street Food)

Paty's Tacos has much more than tacos.  In addition to tortas, quesadillas and the like, they have a specials menu with fajitas, buffalo and bbq chicken wraps, 4 different types of burritos, and even a Mexican gyro.

More: NYC's 5 Best Tacos

There is an account on Facebook for Paty's Tacos, but there's hardly any activity.  Our suggestion is to go down to Union Square West and look for the big, neon TACOS sign on the front of the truck.

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