Papos Tacos

About. Friggen. Time!

Yes! I was hoping to score another truck before the close of the year and this was one crazy twist of events. Just goes to show you've gotta stay fluid in this game if you want to win.

Try and keep up.

For a week, I had been planning on, and lusting after, an Al Pastor bowl from Brown Bag Lunch Truck, which would be at Mad/Wack this fateful day. It was planned and in the books and I'd already put out notice at work.

But then The Roost Truck posts a shout out to me about a change in schedule and that he'd be at Mad/Wack.

"I don't know Roost...last night I had visions of BBLT's Al Pastor bowl dancing in my head," says I (Christmas was right around the corner after all).

"Sorry dude, but we are off the road today. Your next al pastor is on me," chimes in BBLT.

"Hey, I got your back," adds The Roost.

Ok, done. I didn't bring my lunch and The Roost is one helluva Plan B, if you ask me.

So, literally, as I'm walking over to Mad/Wack, out of the blue, I get a tweet from Papos Tacos saying he'll be at Mad/Wack.

Shut the front door!

Even I'm starting to get dizzy at this point. But truck 58? Can't pass it up. Especially since Papos is like a stealth truck. Nobody knows where/when this truck will land until it's already there. No way in hell I was passing this up.

Ah crap, but I had already committed to Roost. I figured I'd stop there first, apologize and explain why I was bailing. The Roost was very understanding, and that's precisely when I saw spicy mac on the menu for the day. Oh snap! Ok, hook me up son!

Now, for Papos-Tamale-Foodie-Tacos. What the...? Oh, I see. So Tamale Foodie and Papos are sharing a truck. Wish I'd known this because I probably could have scored Papos weeks ago. Guess I missed the memo.

So Tamale Foodie starts asking me what I'd like.

"Sorry dude. I put you on the boards months ago. I'm here for Papos," I reply.

"Oh that's fine. I'm going to give you a tamale anyway," he adds.

"No way! Alright then, make it a chorizo, please and thank you!" I exclaim.

Finally. The main event. After giving Papos a hard time about not giving us truck fans proper notice, and then not getting any help from either fella about what to choose, I decided on the chicharones in salsa verde. I do love me some pig skin.

"Wait up bro!" Papos calls as I'm turning away with my growing stash of food. "Have a free beef and bacon taco with that."

"Are you kidding me?! Ok, why not!" I proclaimed.

Holy! Freaking!! Hell!!!

First off, this was like The Feast of Three Trucks. But I'm a professional, and sometimes this is part of the job. Great stuff from all three trucks, though I'll focus just on Papos for now, since this post is all about that truck (ok, not really, but play along).

I've had chicharones before, but only fried. And I looooove them. But this! This blew my head clean off. First of all, it's spicy and that almost never happens. +1. Second, that skin. Oh. Perfect texture. Soft, but with a little chew. Hard to put words to it, but man, what an experience!

And that taco! I'll take bacon in my beef tacos from now on please. Damn!

I tell you this my friend, it was worth the wait.