NYC Food Truck Lunch: Tacos From La Gringa Taqueria

It's currently the off season for food trucks, which makes it a good time to open a new one. You have time to work out the kinks without swarms of people clamoring for lunch.

La Gringa Taqueria opened last week, and we must say, they have one of the more striking food truck designs around. It plays off Mexican Day of the Dead iconography, with a skeleton, spider webs and roses. Nice job on the truck design!

As for the food, it's a good thing they have time to work out the kinks before high season, because there were several problems that need to be worked out. We understand it was one of their first days out, but we have to report things as they were.

No worries though. In the New York Street Food world, everyone gets a 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) chance, so let's get to the review.

We got an assortment of tacos, which were 3 for $10.

The menu included tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos and salads. Fillings were listed as meatless, chicken, pulled pork, steak and grilled tilapia. Toppings were the usual Mexican offerings such as pico de gallo, yellow rice, beans and jack cheese.

First problem - no tilapia. We really like fish tacos, so that was a disappointment right off the bat. Ok, there was still chicken, steak and pork.

2nd problem - a single, stiff tortilla. The first taco was pulled pork, but picking it up, the problem was the tortilla. Not only did they use only one tortilla, but it was stiff and had split before we even picked it up.

The pulled pork tasted fine, but was on the watery side. This may have added to the tortilla problems. The pulled pork did not have any bbq flavor, which we expected from the "pulled pork" description.

3rd problem - cold food. Yes, it's winter out, but we only walked around the corner back to our office. The food was cold enough that we could tell it was served that way.

The chicken in the chicken taco had a nice grilled, charred flavor, but we had the same problems with the tortilla and the temperature of the food.

Crema and tomatillo sauce were good choices for the chicken.

The final taco was steak with crema and picante sauce. The steak itself was decent, and the picante sauce packed quite a wallop! If you like hot sauce, order the picante. Otherwise, be careful.

This was not a good first look at La Gringa Taqueria, but that's what happens sometimes on your first few days in operation. The question is whether these problems will be corrected or not. That's what will determine the longevity of La Gringa Taqueria, not the cool truck design.

So far La Gringa Taqueria has been parking on Broadway between 55-56 St, but we expect they will start hitting other neighborhoods too. You can locate them on Twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies Twitter feed.