Tacos Porvenir
It’s been a really long time since I’ve had good tacos.
I have no idea why that is. There are good tacos all around me. I just haven’t ventured out to the places I normally go to get them.
I was pretty much on my own at work for the majority of last week. The colleague that usually works in the office with me was on vacation and I only had one day where a Grand Rapids colleague was sent down here to work with me.
I did what I could to keep busy and didn’t end up eating out nearly as much as I wanted to.
I found some time on Wednesday to get away from the office for lunch. I had an idea on Cork Street but I told myself that if I saw a taco truck out and it was open, I was going to stop. I intentionally went down Portage Street because there are two locations where there are trucks somewhat permanently parked.
As I approached the Town and Country Market on the corner of Portage and Reed Street. I saw one of the trucks I was looking for. The window was open and the generator was on so I pulled in.
Tacos Porvenir has been parked in the back of the parking lot of the Town and Country Supermarket for quite a while. The brightly painted trailer is hard to miss when driving by. I’m just usually in a hurry when I drive on this side of town so I never get a chance to stop.
There is a menu taped just below the order window with prices but I didn’t even really look at it other than to see how much a taco cost. I miss the days when tacos were cheap and I could get five for $10 or less. I also miss the days when I could order delivery pizza and get it for like $5. Those days are gone though and tacos now cost at least $3/each. In this case, they were $3.50 so I just ordered four steak tacos. The total cost was right around $15.
It took a few minutes for the box to be put together. It was handed out about five minutes after I ordered and it was heavy. The four tacos were packed in to the box with lime wedges, grilled onions, radishes and other vegetables that just eventually made their way in to the garbage. I’m sure there are people that them that way but all I wanted was the four tacos.
Like I mentioned at the top of this blog, it’s been a while since I’ve had good street tacos. These tacos were amazing. The meat was super tender and melted like butter in my mouth. The double layer of tortillas were soft but also had a little bit of crunch around the edges. There were two small cups of hot sauce in the box and it was just enough to give each bite a little bit of spiciness. When I crave tacos, this is what I crave.
One of the best things to happen to Kalamazoo is the influx of taco trucks after they finally let food trucks enter the market. They’re not quite the cheap meals they used to be…..but what is? Tacos Porvenir has been on my radar for a while and they’ll remain a go-to for tacos after this stop.
SW Michigan Dining 