Category Archives: Latin

Guanaco Truck

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Serving up one of the authentic dishes from El Salvador, the Guanaco Pupusa truck has hit the streets in this new round of food carts approved by the City of Vancouver to work the booming street food scene.

The truck has only been working downtown Vancouver (Seymour and Georgia) since May 1st, 2012 and it’s become and instant hit with locals and visitors to the city.  I’ve had pupusa’s before in East van on Commercial Drive so I was familiar and hooked already.  There extremely labor intensive to make and restaurants usually have someone dedicated to making the pupusa’s-each one has to be hand formed from corn masa, filled and then fried on a flat top grill and this is all done to order.

The menu offers 3 different variety’s of pupusa’s, some delish appys and a couple of dessert selections.

A variety of homemade drinks are available as well.  They have the traditional horchata as well as a tamarind fruit, a pink beverage made from barley and colored with crushed seeds.  I had the barley drink and it was flavored nicely with cinnamon.  If you like horchata then you’ll like this as well seeing they taste very similar.

I made my first visit on opening day after their lunch rush but it was still packed.  All pupusa’s are served with curtido (picked slaw) and salsa de tomate (fresh tomato sauce) and yuca frita, they ran out of yuca by the time I got there so they gave me a Pasteles to try.

The Curtido is a bit spicy but very refreshing and cuts the richness of the pupusa.

There salsa de tomate is bright and not spicy, when eaten with the pupusa it definitely brightened the flavor.

The Pasteles was a nice treat.  It’s a deep-fried maize pocket stuffed with beef or chicken, cheese and vegetables.  This had a lot of the flavor combinations I like, cheesy goodness, a nice crisp deep-fried crust and flavorful beef.  I’d definitely order this again seeing it’s perfect for eating on the go.

On another visit I managed to get some of the Yuca Frita.  I think I like these more than fries.  The yuca is really crisp on the outside and it’s light and very airy on the inside-great for dipping in the salsa de tomate.

The 1st pupusa I had Revueltas pupusa for $8.50.  It has a filling of seasoned pork with vegetables, cheese and refried black beans.  This is the pupusa that I wold recommend to anyone trying the Guanaco truck for the first time.  The meat was nicely seasoned and very flavorful without being blow your mouth off hot.  The pupusa’s here are a bit bigger than I’ve had other places, getting one is a nice lunch that will fill you up.  On another visit I had the Queso Y Frijoles pupusa and while I found it good flavor wise I still preferred the Revuleltas only because I’m a meat eater.

The Guanaco truck is a welcome to the amazing line up of food carts and trucks we have on the scene.  I’d recommend them to anyone looking for something different street eat wise.  They take cash or credit cards and you can find them on the Eat St app or the Street food app depending on your preference.

Guanaco Truck on Urbanspoon

La Taqueria Downtown

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Craving good authentic tacos I knew La Taqueria would satisfy my craving for authentic Mexican tacos made with heart. They make their tacos from traditional recipes with local, organic and sustainable products so it’s good eats all around.
The outside is bright and lively and with the Virgin de Guadalupe in beautiful tile mosaic while the inside is long and narrow with seating for 15 or so and ordering is simple~meat tacos are $2.50 each or 4 for $9 and the veggie tacos are $2 each or 4 for $7.  I went with a plate of 4 meat and a plate of 4 veggie so let’s get on to the food shall we.
De Cachete, pollo con mole, carnitas and al pastor $9
The Al Pastor, this is one of my favorite tacos and at La Taqureia they do it authentic with the pineapple on top and it’s also in the achiote marinade for the pork.
The Carnitas, pork confit with pickled onions, cilantro and finely diced white onions, now only if all the other places in town did carnitas like this!, the meat is nice and moist and the pickled onions cut the richness of the confit pork beautiful-it’s like the pulled pork of Mexico.
The De Cachete, show braised beef cheek with mild green salsa, finely diced white onions and cilantro.  I love beef, pork and lamb cheeks big time and I’m happy this is a regular item on the menu here, the meat is melt in your mouth tender and if you’ve never had it before I highly recommend it.
The Pollo Con Mole, traditional Mexican mole mixed with shredded chicken and sesame seeds to garnish, I added some of the mild green salsa to this bad boy, it’s one of the most popular tacos they make here, it’s not uncommon to see someone order 4 of these alone, it’s a traditional mole with a million ingredients including Mexican chocolate as a finishing ingredient so you definitely taste that sweet note and when you mix it with one of the salsa you’re in HEAVEN.  It’s definitely one of the best mole’s in Vancouver if not North America.
Mushroom with Garlic Sauce and cheese daily special,Rajas Con Crema and Frijoles Charros Con Cueso tacos $7
Mushroom,garlic sauce and Mexican cheese daily special, wanting to try just veggie tacos but not really wanting to try the tofu taco I grabbed a couple of these, the mushrooms were the predominant flavor and the cheese was nice and creamy, the garlic sauce was nice and not to strong so all around it was a good taco.
Frijoles Charros Con Queso, described on the menu as re-fried cowboy beans with Mexican cheese I wasn’t expecting the cheese to be so strong like it was, it almost was like a provolone level of sharpness, the beans were spiced nicely but the onions they have and sauces on hand really added another level of flavor and texture otherwise it would have been really mushy texture wise.
The Rajas Con Crema, roasted poblano peppers cooked with cream corn, Mexican cheese and sour cream.  My favorite veggie taco by far was this one, it was creamy from all the dairy in it and smoky from the peppers and the corn added a sweetness and crunch, the onions again capped it all off nicely.
La Taqueria has two locations in Vancouver to serve you some of the best, most authentic taco’s outside of Mexico and is not to be missed, the other location just opened at Cambie and Broadway so check them out.

La Taqueria Taco Shop on Urbanspoon

Feastro~The Rolling Bistro

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After seeing Feastro featured on the Food Network Canada TV show Eat St my mouth started to water-freshly prepared seafood and other delish meats served up by a classically trained chef Steve Myddleton and co-owner Paul Fenton is there to greet you and take your order.

Their location at W.Cordova and Thurlow street is perfect~your surrounded by the Vancouver Trade and Convention center and the Olympic torch and there is ample seating to enjoy your food which is kinda rare I’ve found with a lot of the food carts in Vancouver.

The menu here is one of the biggest I’ve seen on a food truck so far, consisting of a selection of grilled soft shell taco that are also available with a corn tortilla if you ask and full plate dishes along with a selection of sides if you are in the mood.

I went with the halibut taco~crispy chickpea battered fresh halibut, tomato/anise chutney with Henry Reed organic greens, tikka masala yogurt, hand cut salsa~$7

this was a winner for me even but the amount and type of greens on top made the taco a bit tricky to fold over and eat so I let my inner rabbit out and munched on a few to make things easier, the fish was cooked perfectly and the masala yoghurt sauce was unexpected and surprised me and chutney is delicious.  I would order the taco’s again but would get them on a corn tortilla~the flour version gets a bit dry and brittle with the grilling of it.

Next on the menu was the Crab and Shrimp Cake~cayenne, coriander, sweet bell peppers, on Henry Reed organic greens, with truck made smoked tomato cocktail sauce and topped with crispy tortilla strips~$13

I really liked this dish and it’s got to be one of the best crab cakes I’ve ever had and what crab cakes should be~made without filler, from what can’t be judged by the photo was the size of the cake~the plate its on is a full-sized paper plate and was about 3-4″ thick.  It’s filled with tender crab and shrimp and is super moist, there are finely diced red peppers inside that add a great flavor.  For me the real star of the plate was the crab cake and the homemade cocktail sauce, it was sweet and smokey unlike traditional cocktail sauce and complimented the crab and shrimp cake, the greens for me kinda didn’t work for me~I don’t know if it was the fact it was cold and wet out but I would have liked something else served with it instead of the greens~something like a rice dish but on a hot summer day I could see a salad served with it.

At the end of the day I had a great meal and would go back if I was in the area and if the weather is nice.  If you find yourself in the area of the Vancouver Trade and Convention Center or are visiting Vancouver check out Feastro and there take on West Coast seafood.

@coastfeastro
www.feastro.ca

Feastro the Rolling Bistro on Urbanspoon