EL TONAYENSE TACO TRUCK***'

El Tonayense Taco Truck on Harrison and 22nd. When you haven't eaten all day and have barely a jingle worth of change in your pocket, taco trucks are the way to go. This is one of at least four in the Mission, all of them scattered on or around Harrison Street south of Division. Though it makes no sense, the food at the trucks is better than their bricks and mortar taqueria on 24th Street.

For $7, I ordered two Tacos al Pastor and two Tacos Tripitas, with the spicy sauce and extra jalapenos on top. Even though I ordered them with single rather than double tortillas, I could not finish more than three of these bundles of meat, onions, cilantro and sauce. The al Pastor is very juicy pork cut into tiny pieces and heavily seasoned so that the meat is red all the way through. In fact, the meat with the spicy sauce was slightly overwhelming. My favorite was the Tripitas. The tripe is cut into small pieces and crisped up on the grill so that it is crunchy on the edges, yet has a nice chewiness to it. I suspect they are crisped up with lard or some other pork fat because I could detect a little baconiness to them, but that might've just been the salty fatty flavor. The al Pastor is better than the one at Taqueria San Jose, but I would probably have it with no sauce or inside a quesadilla or burrito - something with cheese to balance the seasoning. The nice thing about the 22nd Street location is that there are a couple of tables with chairs that look like they belong to the corner cafe. Fortunately, they don't seem to mind that patrons of the truck are always using them.


Harrison at 22nd St.