No. 59: Mulitas from Tacos & Mulitas Ruben


When a restaurant names their business after their specialty, it's a no-brainer that you should order that thing. This time, it's a mulita from the Ruben truck of Santa Ana.

The Ruben truck specializes in hand-patted masa, which you should always fork out the extra 50 cents when given the choice.Tacos? Yes, of course get the tacos with tortillas hecha a mano instead of their store-bought tortillas, but some dishes, like the namesake mulitas, are made only with hand-pressed fresh corn masa, filled with cheese and the meat of your choice and griddled on the flat-top like a pumped-up quesadilla.
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It's not a quesadilla in the gabacho bastarized sense, though, with that pasty-dry flour tortilla and shredded generic yellow-and-white plastic cheese. Here, in the time it takes to cook the raw masa to perfection on both sides, the flavorful cheese and the fresh off-the-griddle meat have a chance to commingle their juices inside the packet of steaming-hot cheese-ooze.

Those meats–while the carne asada is just fine, the things to get here are the suadero and the al pastor. The suadero is a twice-cooked cut of beef that's both tender from simmering and crisp from the griddle. The al pastor is a Ruben specialty, its gyro-like cylinder of pork chops rotating on a vertical spit in a display window. The crisp grilled meat is sliced and mixed with a generous amount of minced pineapple, also grilled on the spit.

Tacos Ruben has several trucks, but with a poor web presence, it's hard to nail down where they are at any given time. The most reliable place at dinnertime to find the neon-green super-stretched truck is on East Walnut Street between Main and Cypress streets (behind the Pep Boys) in SanTana, at least until they're out of food.

Click here for our 100 faves from 2010!

The list so far this time around:

No.60:  Pho Ga from Pho Quang Trung
No. 61: Panuchos from Conde Cakes
No. 62: Sandwich and Egg Cream from Benjie's
No. 63: Margherita from TJ's Woodfire Pizza
No. 64: Macaroon at Disneyland
No. 65: The Sputnik at Rick's Atomic Cafe
No. 66: Corn Dog from Disney California Adventure's Corn Dog Palace
No. 67: Bacon Fried Rice at The Loft Hawaiian
No. 68: Charcuterie and Cheese at SideDoor
No. 69: Burger (With Duck Confit) at Watermarc
No. 70: Korokke Pan at Cream Pan
No. 71: Chorizo and Quail Egg on Toast at Sol del Sur
No. 72: Fried Brussels Sprouts at 320 Main
No. 73: G-Style Fries at G Burger
No. 74: Fried Cuttlefish at Benley
No. 75: Roti at Bangok Taste
No. 76: Wet Burrito at 301 Cafe
No. 77: Pork Curry at Miyabi-Tei
No. 78: Bánh Tieu at Bánh Mì So 1
No. 79: Any Sandwich at the Crosby
No. 80: Fish Pho at Pho Vinh Ky II
No. 81: Quesadilla Chilanga at Alebrije's Grill
No. 82: Lobster Roll at Lobsta Truck
No. 83: Nem Nuong Cuon at Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa
No. 84: Wild Boar Balinese Sausage at Valhalla Table
No. 85: Comida Corrida at Taquería La Raza
No. 86: Breakfast Burrito at Troy's Drive-In
No. 87: Mandoo at L&M Liquor and Deli
No. 88: Chicago Dog at Chicago Harv's
No. 89: Sweet Potato Tater Tots at Pee Wee's Famous
No. 90: Kaya-Stuffed French Toast at Chomp Chomp
No. 91: Egg Breakfast at Rick's Atomic Kitchen
No. 92: Sticky Rice With Chicken at Quan Hy
No. 93: Beef Koobideh at Hen House Grill
No. 94: $5 Fish Bento at Bentoss
No. 95: Milanesa Sandwich at Piaggio's Gourmet on Wheels
No. 96: Samurai Burrito at Wafu of Japan
No. 97: Carnitas Gordita at Bodega R Ranch Market
No. 98: Spam Musubi at k'ya Street Fare
No. 99: Tortilla Andorra at Anepalco's
No. 100: Lemongrass Chicken, Extra Spicy at Vietnam's Pearl

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