Border Grill Truck: Curbside Ceviche

Food trucks and taco trucks especially are filling up the streets of LA ever since Kogi's success story. But the Border Grill truck rolled out bringing the food of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger that had already stood the test of customers in the Border Grill restaurants into the streets.

When I approached Ciudad for a donation for Bid and Eat for Haiti, they asked me if I had checked out the Border Grill truck. Why, no, I hadn't. I promised I would so per their invitation I stopped by for lunch en route to work. The truck was parked in front of LA Mart for the day.
I asked them to just give me whatever they want/think is best and ended up with a lot of food for one!

Peruvian ceviche ($5.00) - mahi mahi, lime, ginger, aji amarillo chile, pickled onion, corn, tortilla cone
Ceviche for $5? Nice. This was a good lightly spicy ceviche rendition with generous amount fresh and meaty mahi mahi. Also, being a corn-whore I really liked that extra touch. It was a bit too acidic for me to finish the whole thing though. In the end, I prefer my ceviche with leche de tigre sauce as the one I had at La Mar Cebicheria (in Lima - I thought the SF one was not as great) - a subtle tang and more focus on the fish instead.

Next I had two of their favorite tacos:
Yucatan pork taco ($2.50) - roasted achiote pork, pickled onion, orange salsa
crispy Baja fish taco ($3.00) - chipotle honey, creamy salsa fresca
Both of these tacos were great. The price point for tacos here are higher than other "taco trucks" and the portion smaller yet that higher price is worth it. These tacos weren't simply "put together." The ingredients are fresher, leaner, higher quality and you won't feel like as much as a grease pit as you usually might after a taco run. The condiments are well thought out and complement the main ingredient. I particularly liked the fish taco. The crispy breading held a meaty and juicy piece of fish. With the creamy salsa fresca? It's like fish n chips with a kick.

Dessert options here are still limited. I tried their Churro bites ($3.00) dulce de leche infused churros, cinnamon sugar, whipped cream
Unlike your usual crunchy churro, these infused churro bites are doughy. I liked the dulce de leche infusion but still preferred it crunchy outside like a typical churro.

I'm now a bit bummed about going to the truck before the Gold standard event though, since apparently there they served an amazing avocado and fried quinoa taco that both vegetarians and carnivores alike rave about.

Border Grill Truck
http://www.bordergrill.com/bg_t/bg_twel.htm
Twitter: @BorderGrill

Tacos El Fenix: The Real Baja Fish Taco

What would a Baja trip be without Baja fish tacos? Since even the thought is unacceptable, our Cotuco-sponsored weekend FAM Media Trip naturally included a stop at Taqueria El Fenix in Ensenada.

Taqueria El Fenix uses angelito shark (angel shark) meat, coated in a secret-recipe batter (rumors suggest mustard and oregano, among others), and double-fried in, yes, lard.
Here at El Fenix, you dress your own tacos the way you like it. The expected toppings like cabbage, onions, cilantro, salsa, guacamole, etc etc are all there.
The crunchy fried batter makes way for the juicy and meaty piece of shark. It really is about the batter and the double frying here. The mustard laden batter gives it that much more flavour and the double frying makes it so crispy yet very much not greasy, despite the frying in lard.


Taqueria El Fenix
At Calles Espinoza and Juarez (Calle 5)
Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

7am-9pm daily