Taco Trucks in the Seattle Weekly

Taco Trucks in the Seattle Weekly. More trucks coming soon...

Taqueria La Fondita #2

Taqueria La Fondita #2
9811 15th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98106
Health Report: Pristine (although it has a different address, so who knows?)
Open: 10 - 11

Taqueria La Fondita #2 is one of my new favorite trucks in Seattle. Situated on a patch of exposed concrete in the heart of White Center, prices at #2 (and portions) are slightly higher than at other trucks in the area. The standards (tacos, mulitas, sopitos, etc.) abound and are served with the full compliment of fixin's. Usually I prefer a selection of the appetizers instead of the full meal plates at Seattle area taco trucks, but the full plates looked excellent here - I'll have to go back to try them.

Typically you can grab some radishes with your meal, but #2 serves up carrots, radishes and wonderful whole fried onions. You can feel like you're in a toasty oven under the heat lamps on cool evenings.

This truck served free food with a suggested donation for a full day after Hurricane Katrina. All of the proceeds went to the Red Cross. The employees volunteered their time and the owner donated all the food.

The pork (carnitas) tacos and mulitas are great

Tacos and meals come with tasty extras

The $1 special is limited in scope

The full menu is a little tough to read

Art on the side of the truck

Taqueria Matamaros

Taqueria Matamoros

14501 15th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98155
206-852-3561
Health report: decent
Open: until they run out of food (which happens) or take down the 10 OPEN signs

Taqueria Matamoros (map). Open until they run out of food. They make a decent "sandwich" which is meat, avocado, grilled onions, mayonnaise and lettuce on a hamburger bun. The identifiable difference between the sandwich and torta is the shape of the bun (the torta comes on a hot dog bun) and the price ($2.50 for the sandwich and $4.00 for the Torta).Taqueria Matamoros lets you know when they're open. You can also get your car serviced here.

The sandwich.

Veggie tacos are good at Taqueria Matamoros.


Two "double decker" tacos at Taqueria Matamoros ($2.00) and a Taco ($1.50). We cleaned them out of Carnitas and were forced to step down to beef steak for our seconds.

The prices were decent but the meat was questionable. The "double decker" ($2) is a taco ($1.50) with an extra tortilla and a melted layer of cheese between the two. My recommendation: try other trucks first.

Tacos El Asadero

Tacos El Asadero

3517 Rainier Ave S
Seattle, Washington
Health report: (usually) great

Open: 10AM to 10PM.

The outside eating area is there all summer

What a great taco truck / bus! While picking favorite taco trucks is probably as uncosher as picking favorite children, I keep coming back to Tacos El Asadero over and over again.

The kitchen lies within

Located in the midst of auto repair shops and wrecking yards, the white bus of Tacos El Asadero should not be mistaken for a junker. Within, half of the Tacos El Asadero bus is a kitchen and half is a covered, heated eating area. Menus, line the walls and, while some menus may be redundant, you might miss the great tamales if you only look at the pictures.

It says tamales in the lower right corner

Tacos el Asadero has the usual choices and, for the no-Spanish speakers, big colorful pictures of all the dishes. Be prepared; the pictures under-represent the amount of food you'll be getting. Unfortunately, I always end up eating the food before the camera comes out. But you can't go wrong if you follow the owner's advice and stick with the basics. The recommendations:

- the chicken quesadilla ($4.00) is a full meal and comes piled on the paper plate
- the mulitas are excellent (and only $1.50).
- the tamales are hidden on the menu and are sometimes piled in a basket in the kitchen. They're often great, but not always.

Go on a weeknight and random people will be passing through. Go on a Sunday night and the bus literally rocks with activity. The native English speakers usually mix and match two or three taco-like items, whereas the native Spanish speakers go for entire meals shown on the pictures that surround the inside of the bus.

The Pepsi machine next to the ordering window

Get a Coke out of the Pepsi machine: It's from Mexico, which means it has even more sugar than you're used to (and therefore tastes extra-good). Also, Tacos el Asadero does not offer giant accommodation. Watch your head.

The spinny stools are fun

Tacos el Asadero gets all dolled up for Christmas. Note the colorful menu choices and once you've ordered, sit near the space heater on the driver's seat for warmth. And close that door.

About Los Taco Trucks

This is a map/blog of the fixed-location taco trucks in the Seattle area. Some things to know about taco trucks and the site in general:

There are almost uniformly fixed location taco trucks due to health department codes. The Seattle health department mandates that a "mobile food vendor" pay $200 per food-serving location, so genuinely mobile trucks by and large do not exist.

I include health department information on the site not to show how bad places are, but to show how harmless they are. Please see other restaurants if you think these health infractions look bad.

(more to come...)

Taqueria Los Potrillos

Taqueria Los Potrillos
6230 Rainier Ave S
Seattle, WA 98118
Health Report

Taqueria Los Potrillos is a small taco truck in the parking lot of a gas station in Rainier Valley, South Seattle. The food is great and has a certain home-made, light-on-the-spice-spice quality to it. It features a little tent with a couple of underutilized tables and ample parking space, where most of the patrons eat in their cars. The islands of the gas station add lumination, but surprisingly little gasoline scent to the interior of the covered eating area.

Los Potrillos is open and is hopping until 10PM. The parking lot is full after dark, with the area in front of the taco truck doubling as a parking spot when others are taken.

The menu is complete, but prices have been edited.

The menu is fairly standard and is supplemented by an illustrated menu across the front of the truck. As usual, I cannot say much about the platillos, but the sides such as the mulitas and quesadillas are great. Each is piled with the basic ingredients: cheese and meat. No fancy salsa here, but the perfunctory bottles of hot sauce are in abundance.

The illustrated menus looks at you as you place your order.

I'm particularly fond of the hand-written special menu.

Gas pumps feature prominently in the view from the table. Coke is the better Mexican variety.

The mulita comes with pickled (?) vegetables and lots of great filling.

Taqueria la Pasadita - Good food near Northgate

Taqueria la Pasadita
2143 N Northgate Way
Seattle, WA 98133
Health report

Taqueria la Pasadita features a classic taco truck menu to go with the classic, gas station parking lot location. The ambiance is enhanced by two tables in a little tent adjacent to the truck and the sound of the Interstate 5 overpass, just one block away. I would wager you'll get far better (and cheaper) food than you would at the Northgate foodcourt, just over the freeway, or the McDonald's, across the lot.

The menu at Taqueria la Pasadita is extensive and well illustrated. True to form, the quesadilla is essentially a monster taco, and the mullitas are definitely worth the extra 50 cents. The sopitos, however, are not, as they consist of some weird pita-like bread and cheapo-ingredients. The carnitas (pork) is pretty good, although it was sort of lacking in flavor and spice. The pollo (chicken) is lacking in flavor, but that's why one orders it, right? Being partial to carnitas, I cannot tell you much about the other meats on the menu.

The extensive menu.


The illustrated extensive menu.

3 tacos at Taqueria la Pasadita


The sopitos - is that Kraft parmesan?

The mullitas - yum!

The quesadilla.

The food was very good, but I wonder if the flavor was not made bland by the gringo tax added to the price of my meal. I was charged an extra $2 on my last meal for two at Taqueria la Pasadita and was not refunded until I asked the man behind the counter to double check the price 3 times and told him that yes, I would like a receipt. Next time that won't affect the flavor. Next time I will use exact change.

We haven't reviewed this place yet...

...but we promise we will. If you have some wisdom on it, leave a comment in the comments section and make sure you leave the name of the truck. Same thing if you have a place to suggest. Gracias.

Gorditos Too! is never open.

If you happen to be jobless, Gorditos Too! is located at:
1521 NW 50th St.
Seattle, WA 98107

Why no review of Gorditos Too, you might ask? It's because they're never open - 10Am to 5PM or so Monday through Saturday. Not tacolicious in my book!

Gorditos Too! is a spinoff of the very popular Gorditos (which is open normal hours). I assume they have equally huge burritos and a very popular 'wet' burrito.

Eating there won't kill you, although it won't help any chronic health conditions (health report here).

Tacos Pihuamo

Tacos Pihuamo
329 E Main St

Monroe, WA 98272

Pihuamo is a small town of 8,000 people in Mexico, and, while Monroe is clearly much larger, it does seem fitting for a taco truck named after a small town to be in a small town.


Tacos Pihuamo is everything a taco truck should be: it has great food, more types of meat than menu items, a one page tick-mark accounting system, and it's located directly adjacent to a train track. It's also just off Highway 2, which makes it a great place to stop when you're returning to Seattle from a hike in the mountains.



While the menu is simple, the dishes are great. Get a variety of meats on the tacos (or stick to the always really good carnitas) or get the quesadilla, which could be named the taco-mondo because it really is just a mammoth taco. Vegetarians get the goods here - they throw tasty beans on your taco in place of meat.



Things to avoid at Tacos Pihuamo: the horchata. It's too sweet and too thin. Stick to the Jumex or the Jaritos.


Things not to avoid at Tacos Pihuamo: the candy. Mexico is now regulating, with some efficacy, the amount of lead in children's candy. Try it.


Just because the truck isn't there when you go by in the morning doesn't mean that it's gone - they actually do pick up shop and leave every night (or at least some nights). They'll be back around 11 or 12 and a picnic table will be waiting for you.

Taqueria's Los Amigos taco truck in Edmonds, WA.
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Los Amigos...230 SW, Edmonds Wa. (map)

Los Amigos...230 SW, Edmonds Wa (map)

inspection reports 

El Taco Maestro, 135th and International blvd. asphalt parking lot seating in a tent.

Bottom of the page for more taco archives 

behind the scenes on 175th and aurora

yum 

Aurora and about 175th associated with la rinconsita in burien

Supposedly taco trucks are as safe as anything else, although I couldn't find any of them on King County's restaurant inspection records. You'll probably be fine anyway.
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They want a taco truck - where will the next one be? "WANT TO BUY A TACO TRUCK, COMPLETE AND READY TO GO ... 10,000 to 14,000 have cash and ready to make a deal

CALL 206 297 6072 or 206 242 2803 ASK FOR VICTOR OR CLAUDIA... anon-74521891@craigslist.org"
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