Yuma Taco Truck Update

Hello, this is Ed from Yuma. I know many of you think that I am just a fictional character who exists only in Kirk's imagination and on his blog, but on my good days, I am actually a real functioning in-the-flesh human being. In a moment of folly (or perhaps just laziness), Kirk has asked me, ed from Yuma, to write a post for this wonderful blog of his, so here goes.

Careful readers of this blog will remember that Kirk visited Yuma a while back and sampled some of our unique taco truck cuisine. Considering how much the taco truck scene can change literally overnight, it is remarkable that Kirk's posts are still very relevant in 2007 - though some trucks are closed for the summer. In this post, I will look at the best of the new taco trucks and revisit some old favorites from Kirk's trip here.

Tacos y Mariscos Juanita's

The most important new addition to Yuma taco truck choices is Juanita's. It is located in a lot just west of Avenue A on 8th St.  Unlike many taco trucks, Juanita's is more than just the truck. There is a covered ramada with five small tables each offering plenty of hot sauce choices. In addition, restrooms for men and women are provided as well.  Not only do these come in handy for obvious reasons, but they also provide a way to clean taco sticky hands.

During Yuma's main season, there is also an outdoor  grill next to the truck, preparing meat for carne asada tacos, but seafood is the specialty of the  truck. Both shrimp and fish tacos are available ($1.25 each):

The fish taco is on the left, and the shrimp is on the right.

The fish taco (taco de pescado) contains a generous portion of fresh meaty white fish. The lightly flavored white sauce adds a bit of moisture and a little tang , the diced cabbage adds crunch, and the chopped tomatoes add a nice color contrast. While numerous bottled sauces are available, I always use Juanita’s own homemade salsa, and a squirt bottle of this spicy and powerful sauce sits on every table.  My only complaint about the fish taco is that its breading is not crunchy. Normally I'm not a huge fan of shrimp tacos (tacos de camerones), but Juanita's version is outstanding. Each small shrimp is individually breaded, and these have the required crunchiness that makes them a delight to eat. In this case, as you can see, I squirted too much of Juanita's great salsa over the taco so that some of the shrimpy taste was lost in picante overload. Very tasty nonetheless.

My favorite item at this truck, however, is the campechana "con todo," with everything, meaning with all the seafood choices and chopped red onions and cucumber ($11):

Juanita’s serves one of the most outstanding campechanas I have ever eaten. The mildly flavored tomato water (who knows exactly what is in it, along with tomato juice, lime juice, and perhaps a little Clamato) provides an outstanding backdrop for the fresh and tasty seafood.  One or two squirts of salsa and I am ready to devour. The shrimp here are large and perfectly cooked - completely succulent, juicy, and flavorful. The octopus chunks (pulpo) are not at all tough and rubbery; instead the pieces of octopus are tender and almost soft, having just enough chew to provide some complexity in mouth feel with the other ingredients.

But there is more than just octopus and shrimp:

Yes, your eyes are not lying. This seafood cocktail also contains raw and extremely fresh bay scallops, squarish chunks of canned abalone (thanks Melanie), and three flavorful oysters. For some reason, the oysters are always my favorite as, in my mouth at least, the briny and slightly funky oyster flavor perfectly complements the tomato water while the soft texture contrasts with the crunchy onions and cukes.

If I have any complaint about Juanita's, it is that it is too popular. At peak times during the winter, there is no room at any of the tables, and I have to stand in line to order. However, the food is quickly prepared - and tastes great even when eaten in the front seat of my car.

Taco Trucks Redux

In this part of the post, I just want to add some information about three of the trucks that Kirk visited in Yuma. First, Tio Juan is still making an outstanding mixed seafood cocktail (campechana) although they are closed now for the summer - which is why I have no pictures (sorry). But twice this winter when I visited the stand, the coctele contained unusual and very flavorful black clams. While the exterior of the clam is grayish, the interior is solid black like coal. No matter how strange they looked, the firm textured flesh was clammy sweet. The young man who made my campechana told me the clams came from Los Mochis.

I also watched carefully as he made my campechana and was surprised by the complexity of the liquid. He used small amounts of ketchup, lime juice, Clamato, canned tomato sauce, and dashes of bottled hot sauce. He then ladled shrimp water (“this is the water we get from boiling the shrimp,” he said) into the mix. The liquid was much fishier tasting than in other cocteles I've eaten. My only complaint was that the shrimp were hammered, so overcooked that their texture was not ideal.

Of course, I have returned often to Mariscos el Nayarita as no one can get enough of their wonderful shrimp empanadas. There are, however, at least two other dishes that are done very well at this stand. One of them is whole fish:

This perfectly fried whole tilapia is served with corn tortillas and salsa. The outside of the fish has a nice crunch, but most of the flesh was still moist and juicy. There was no greasy aftertaste whatsoever. As you can see, we liked the fish:

We also tried a very special dish at the truck, pescado zarandeado, a traditional style of fish preparation common along the eastern shore of the Sea of Cortez. Here the whole fish is split in half, sprinkled with Mexican spices, and grilled outside over charcoal:

This type of fish is served only at the height of the winter season, and often one needs to let them know an hour or more in advance so that they can prepare the coals. Again, the fish was served with salsas and corn tortillas. The Mexican spices add a flavorful touch to the fish although this one was slightly overcooked for my taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I was driving along 8th St, trying to locate any new trucks and see which ones were still open. Well, okay, I was also hungry, so this wasn't purely a research exploration. Unfortunately, one of the new trucks I was looking for had vanished, and a couple others are closed for the season. So that brought me back to Deliciosos del Mar, the wonderful little truck that makes the tasty caguamanta, stingray soup. At first it looked like it was not going to be my day as the nice lady at the window finally was able to communicate to me (her English being worse than my Spanish - and that means almost no communication at all) that the soup was not ready yet.

 

 

Well, I was too hungry to look for any place else, so I ordered two tacos:

The taco on the right is a decent shrimp taco though I prefer the ones from Juanita’s. The taco on the left was the revelation. It had never before occurred to me to try a cabeza taco at a truck that seemed so focused on seafood. Now I have learned my lesson as this was the best cabeza taco I have ever had in Yuma:

Look carefully at the chunks of Cabeza here. Each one was like a tender flavor bomb, full of meaty and beefy goodness. If you look carefully, you also can see some of the fat that added so much to the richness (and, no doubt, cholesterol) in this taco. The chopped cabbage and red onions and the leaves of cilantro contributed flavors and textures and helped make each bite a true joy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So even now, a person can find good taco truck cuisine in Yuma, and with temperatures reaching around 110°, the town has plenty of parking places and no lines at the taco trucks. Come visit.

ed

Comments

[Captain Jack]

Hey Ed,

Man the food from the Juanita's truck looks awesome. Tell the owners if they get tired of the heat in Yuma, I will help them find a parking lot in Pacific Beach. It is a comfortable 69 degrees here right now.

Cheers

[Cathy]

All of it looks good, Ed. Great photos. We will be driving that way in November and possibly sooner...just because we can.

[jason]

Ed, I really enjoyed your post. Thanks for sharing.

[Kirk]

Hey Ed - Welcome to the wonderful world of food blogging...and it only took me a bit over a year to coerce you into doing a post....man, I can almost taste those tacos....

[nhbilly]

That looks so good. Now I really need to find a decent marisco place around here.

[The Guilty Carnivore]

Mexican seafood rules. Nirvana even had a song about it.

Thx Ed — you are a brave man indeed for soldiering on in the 115 degree weather for tasty treats.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Yeh, CJ, PB has both the weather and the scenery this time of year. Juanita's is tasty and popular, but still I usually just see Spanish speaking folks there.

Cathy, you have to stop in Yuma for a bite. Hopefully I will do a couple more Yuma posts this summer. Taco trucks make for ideal photos - plenty of light. I also learned some techniques from Kirk.

Thanks Jason - glad you liked.

And thanks Kirk for ALL the help.

nhbilly and Guilty C - you're both right about Mexican seafood. What I don't understand is why it is sooo popular out here in the middle of the desert. I suspect some of the more meat oriented places are only open at night when usually I'm not out taco trucking.

[Candice]

Hi Ed - Hope you had a delicious visit in SD! Thank you for this taste of your eating scene.

[MJ]

Hi Ed,
Thanks so much for your review on Juanita's and Los Manjares de Pepe. We stopped at Juanita's on our drive from Phoenix to SD and Los Manjares on our drive back. The delicious food made the drive so much more enjoyable. I'm going to review both places on Yelp and include a link to your blog if it's ok.
Thanks,
MJ

[ed (from Yuma)]

Glad you found the articles useful. We'd be happy if you linked your comments to the blog. The more people who share info, the better

[J sulek]

Hi Ed, we are coming to Yuma this week and would like to eat some real Mexican food - last year we had an extremely disappointing recommendation for Chretin's - out of 6 different dishes only one was edible -any suggestions? I hope Yuma can do better than Toronto, Canada !!

Thanks in advance !

[ed (from Yuma)]

The most consistent Mexican restaurant in town is Los Manjares de Pepe on 8th Street. See my posting about it at mmm-yoso:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2007/07/los-manjares-de.html

You have a wide range of choices, but the food is consistently good. One can get combo plates, but the individual entrees and daily specials are good choices for the adventurous.

Mi Rancho on 4th Ave is sometimes good, but often inconsistent.

Pepe's has enough variety that one could eat lunch and dinner there each day for a week and not exhaust the choices.

Good eating!

[truck rental]

All of those Taco-Trucks are everywhere, they sale tasty, reliable and edible food, and of course, in a good price. why would I choose this well known fast food restaurant if I can eat those tacos and enjoy much more?