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Monday, July 07, 2008

Alebrije's Grill - Review #1

Alebrije's Grill Taco Truck
Near the corner of Sycamore
and Pomona in Santa Ana
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(This is NOT the only taco truck in OC we have covered. Click HERE or on the 'taco truck' label below for our complete coverage of Orange County taco trucks.)

Alebrije's Grill Taco Truck

What's a Mexican food blog without a review of a taco truck? This blog has been around for two and a half years now and we finally have a review of taco truck. My cousin Christopher recommended this place to me although he didn't know its official name. He just knew it as "the pink taco truck."

Alebrije's Grill Menu

Its official name is Alebrije's Grill and it is near the corner of Pomona and Sycamore in Santa Ana, which is near the southwest corner of Main and Edinger. I don't know if it ever moves. At least my cousin has never seen it not in its usual spot. If you use the Yahoo! Map widget above the directions will get you within about 75 yards of the truck.

I met Chris there a couple Saturdays ago and we picked up some food for us and his wife to eat back at their place. The workers at the truck seemed to know some English but coming equipped with your "restaurant Spanish" may help when ordering. Chris explained that their alambre tacos are amazing but that they take longer to make than their other tacos and if you order them you have to get at least three. Being short on time I had to put off the alambre tacos for another visit but ordered an al pastor taco and a lengua taco:

Alebrije's Grill Tacos

Both were excellent and the lengua taco may have been the first taco I've ever had that was served in not one, not two, but three tortillas. The tortillas were so good that if they packaged them (and I don't know that they don't) I'd buy a few dozen every month. The lengua taco had a full meaty flavor without reminding you of the sensation you get in your mouth when you bite your tongue that I've experienced with other lengua tacos before.

Gary and Wendy met up with all of us a bit later and Gary ordered what I believe was the torta cubana:

Alebrije's Grill Torta

These next two pictures, of my quesadilla and of one of his tacos, were taken by Chris, who is a professional photographer. I always wonder if Chris is critiquing my photography whenever he looks at my blog. The quesadilla is filled with mushrooms and what seemed like a Oaxacan cheese.

Alebrije's Grill Quesadilla - Photo by Christopher Ziebarth


Alebrije's Grill Taco - Photo by Christopher Ziebarth

I'll be making more trips to "the pink taco truck" when I can but if it ever wants to drive over to my place in, ahem, Irvine I'll be coming right out with my dolares to get that quesadilla de hongo again and some of those alambre tacos I'm waiting to try.

Not the first taco truck I've been to but the first one I've been to since starting this blog so it now becomes the gold standard by which future taco trucks reviewed will be judged and there was nothing I got that I didn't like. Five Speedy Gonzaleses:

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales



Alebrije's Grill Taco Truck #2
On Cubbon St. between Main
and Sycamore in Santa Ana
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UPDATE: Alebrije's now has a second truck that is usually parked on Cubbon St. between Main and Sycamore in Santa Ana and they say they have a third one on the way.

IMG00341-20100911-1300

Here's the enormous taco acorazado I got a couple weeks ago:

IMG00342-20100911-1307

Click here to see the unedited photo album (29 photos so far) at .

Read ElmoMonster's review here. His review links to even more reviews.

This is NOT the only taco truck in OC we have covered. Click HERE or on the 'taco truck' label below for our complete coverage of Orange County taco trucks.

12 comments:

Captain said...

Ahhh, the trifecta of "the real thing".... tripas, sesos and buche.

Do you ever order any of those items, Mr. Z?

ChristianZ said...

I had tripe recently but that'll be mentioned in an upcoming review.

Captain said...

When you see tripas on a Mexican restaurant menu, they don't mean tripe. Tripas are small intestines, cooked in one of 3 or 4 ways. I like mine extra crispy.

For your readers:

Cabeza = Beef cheek meat
Sesos = pork or beef brains
Buche = pork stomach, fried
Suadero = A smooth, tender beef cut from either the breast plate or the lower side just in front of the leg, depends on region.

Personally, I can't do sesos.

HogDAWG said...

Glad to see you add trucks to the reviews. I'm a BIG street food eater and will give this one a try. If you liked Alebrije's, you should try the two trucks over on Main and Bishop, Ruben's Tacos. One is all meat the other seafood. The tripas are the best I've ever had north of the border! Eat them right off the truck though. Tripas never taste as good when cold.

ChristianZ said...

So tripas is small intestine and tripe is large intestine?

Captain said...

Tripe is stomach lining.

Bill said...

Thank you a taco truck worth stopping but and its closer to me than driving all the way to NoHo.

Anonymous said...

you should try the truck on edinger ave and fairview in the stater bros parking lot, it is an orange truck, it is there every weekday, not sure their weekend schedule. Al pastor, carne asada, and tripas tacos are really good.

ChristianZ said...

Duly noted.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could get something like that here. Unfortunately, places like that are few and far between.

Anonymous said...

Mmm cheesy goodness. That quesadilla looks divine.

ChristianZ said...

Oh, it was divine.