The Taco Truck on 96th and Broadway

[Fat Guy]

In a review titled "The Taco Truck that Delivers," Peter Meehan seems at first glance to be singing the praises of Super Taco, the nocturnal taco truck that parks at the southwest corner of 96th and Broadway. I had to switch from the 3 train to the 96th Street crosstown bus this evening, so I decided to grab a few tacos.

I tried chorizo, al pastor, beefsteak and goat. They were all passable, better than mediocre, good even, but not great or in any way inspiring.

So I went back to the review and read more carefully. Turns out, Meehan did reach the right conclusion:

In the end, the fact that Super Tacos makes tasty and cheap tacos (and, it should be noted, serves them late at night) may not be cause for a pilgrimage. But they are good tacos. And as anyone familiar with the taco landscape of the city knows, a good taco is hard to find.

Good enough for a snack if you happen to be making a transfer at that intersection. Perhaps not good enough for 600 words in the Times.

P.S. I'm sure Super Taco is one of fewer than ten places in history to be reviewed positively by the New York Times and not post the review.

[raji]

How does it compare to Tehuitzingo and Tulcingo del valle? Del Valle's tongue soft tacos are damn near addictive to me....

Edited May 18, 2007 by raji (log)

[Fat Guy]

With the disclaimer that I'm answering based on knowledge that's a couple of years stale, I think Tehuitzingo has much better tacos. Tehuitzingo is the only taqueria in town that I've tried that I think provides an experience on par with a decent taco place in a city like Austin.

If you look at Sam Kinsey's photo report from Tehuitzingo what you see are nicely minimalist tacos with just the tortilla, meat, onions and a ton of cilantro -- and the meats are quite good. That works for me. The Super Taco truck on 96th and Broadway junks up the tacos with too much stuff, not all of which is good (a quarter-slice of unripe tomato -- give me a break), and the meats aren't on par with Tehuitzingo's. I don't think Tulcingo del Valle is as good as Tehuitzingo -- it's closer to Super Taco, though probably still a little better than Super Taco. Of course if you break it down item by item, each place is going to have some strengths and weaknesses.

A few things that in my experience unify all the best taco places (using best as a relative term) in New York are 1- the tortillas are bad -- so bad that I usually wind up just eating the guts out of the tacos; 2- the condiments are bad -- this is one thing I really love about the good taquerias in the southwest and out west: they have amazingly vibrant, fresh condiments; 3- the offerings are uneven -- you buy four types of tacos and maybe one will be truly exceptional.

[juuceman]

Eat the sopes and the tacos dorado from the taco truck, both are made fresh and are much better than the tacos. Otherwise, on the UWS, head to Noche, the somewhat nice storefront Mexican place on Amsterdam in the high 90's or low 100's, west side of the street.

[slkinsey]

Steven is right, the tacos at the 96th Street taco truck are okay, but can in no way compete with standouts like Tehuitzingo, never mind neighborhood spots like Noche Mexicana or Taqueria y Fonda La Mexicana.

[raji]

With the disclaimer that I'm answering based on knowledge that's a couple of years stale, I think Tehuitzingo has much better tacos. Tehuitzingo is the only taqueria in town that I've tried that I think provides an experience on par with a decent taco place in a city like Austin.

If you look at Sam Kinsey's photo report from Tehuitzingo what you see are nicely minimalist tacos with just the tortilla, meat, onions and a ton of cilantro -- and the meats are quite good. That works for me. The Super Taco truck on 96th and Broadway junks up the tacos with too much stuff, not all of which is good (a quarter-slice of unripe tomato -- give me a break), and the meats aren't on par with Tehuitzingo's. I don't think Tulcingo del Valle is as good as Tehuitzingo -- it's closer to Super Taco, though probably still a little better than Super Taco. Of course if you break it down item by item, each place is going to have some strengths and weaknesses.

A few things that in my experience unify all the best taco places (using best as a relative term) in New York are 1- the tortillas are bad -- so bad that I usually wind up just eating the guts out of the tacos; 2- the condiments are bad -- this is one thing I really love about the good taquerias in the southwest and out west: they have amazingly vibrant, fresh condiments; 3- the offerings are uneven -- you buy four types of tacos and maybe one will be truly exceptional.

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Tehuitzingo hasn't changed their flavors a bit in the past several years - if anything they've gotten more American-customer friendly. I knew it was the place to go when I saw that that's where all of the mexican kitchen staffs and delivery guys in the neighborhood went to eat!

I completely agree with you on all points and especially on your last 3 points - the best I've had in the US has been in Arizona, LA and SF, and that's more of a function of where in the US Southwest I've been -

The lengua tacos from Tulcingo Del Valle are truly standout; meanwhile, the carnitas, asada, etc. are all standouts at Tehuitzingo. If you are a decent chef, however, you can reproduce a lot of the best tacos - as they're a grocery too, they sell everything you'd need, including pre-marinated pork for carnitas. Which is useful if you don't live in the neighborhood.

Edited May 18, 2007 by raji (log)