Taqueria El Tejano
Food TruckSummertime means a lot of trips to St. Joseph County for me. We’ve already spent our first weekend at J’s parents on the lake near Centreville and I’m sure there will be many more of those weekends.
Surprisingly, I was assigned to work in Three Rivers one day last week. It’s not something that happens often and even though I make several trips through town during the summer, I wasn’t going to leave town this day without grabbing lunch.
I’m actually in a couple Three Rivers area Facebook groups just so I can find out about new restaurants. Yeah, I have to get past all of the normal complaining people do on those things about each other but anytime a new restaurant pops up, people talk about it so it’s somewhat worth it.
The talk of the town for about the last year is a taco truck. I actually tried to stop a few weeks ago on my way through town but there were probably three dozen cars parked in the empty lot where this truck sits so I moved on and got a pizza from the Riviera Theatre and Bar instead.
I was in town right around lunch time so I drove by the empty lot and saw the flags out at the road. Only one car in the parking area this time too so I turned in to see what the hype was all about.
Taqueria El Tejano (or the Americanized version Tacos El Texano as their sign says) sets up shop on a large empty lot on W. Michgian Avenue and N. Lincoln Avenue right next to the Elks Lodge. Getting in to the large empty lot is a little tough. There are two driveway cutouts in the curb but both have pretty large pot holes you have to drive through so take it slow. The small, red food truck is parked near the back of the lot so there is plenty of room to park in front of it.
The menu is very simple. It really is a taco truck. They have nachos, quesadillas, and tacos. I put in my order for street tacos. I picked the order of four corn tortillas with steak. The tacos come with a mixture of cilantro and onion (which is pre-mixed so it’s both or neither) and cheese. I was worried they wouldn’t take credit so I stopped at the credit union down the street to get cash but they do have a card machine. The cost of the four tacos was $10 and the to-go box was handed to me less than five minutes after I ordered.
The tacos from Taqueira El Tejano were everything I love about street tacos. The double corn tortillas were filled to a point of overflowing with tender, seasoned steak and topped with that cilantro and onion mixture. The somewhat unique thing about these tacos was the layer of melted cheese under the meat and man did it add a flavor you don’t typically get with street tacos. It was unsuspected until I took that first bite…because there was so much meat I couldn’t even see it hiding down there. The tacos came with both a green and a red sauce to put on top. As usual, the hotter red sauce was my favorite.
There are posts almost daily on the Three Rivers facebook pages asking “Is the taco truck out today” and while annoying, I see why people are always looking for it. These are some of the best tacos I’ve had…..and I’ve had a lot of tacos. This is definitely a place to be on the look out for if your travels take you through Three Rivers.
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