“Is it worth the $2?” I asked my friend, worried that he felt ripped off at TACOS Y MULITAS RUBEN, a SanTana taco truck that's more restaurant than roach coach. “Mmph, mmph mmph. Mmph mmph!” he grunted emphatically, four-day mustache smeared with a creamy fish-taco sauce, cheeks bloated to chipmunk proportions, gracias to the golden mini-fillets he chomped on with vigor.
Tacos y Mulitas Ruben charges a bit more than the average taco truck—five bucks for a torta instead of $3.50, a veritable king's ransom in the taco-truck galaxy. But those extra cents get put to use in wonderful ways. Meats are fresh and span from carne asada to pork belly to liver. Three complimentary salsas are available: a smoky orange-colored salsa, a vicious habanero vintage, and an emerald-green type that looks like relish but can burn a hole through cement. Want some cebollitas, grilled green onions? They're free of charge, as well as grilled pineapples and a pickled cucumber-and-onion salad that would cost two figures anywhere else. Tacos y Mulitas Ruben even offers a flat-screen television, for chrissakes.
But the best part about this lunch truck is that all of the dishes are prepared with fresh masa upon your order—burritos, tacos and a bunch of masa-based dishes native to Mexico City. A picadita is really just a more substantial sope with more Mexican sour cream and enough grease to seep through a plate. You're probably somewhat familiar with huaraches—an elongated masa length so named because of its resemblance to a Mexican sandal—but you've probably never tasted a pichanga, a type of open crepe stuffed with everything from mushrooms to pineapple. And the best meal doesn't contain any masa: It's the pambazo, Mexico City's version of the torta. Cooks soak sliced French rolls in red salsa, then griddle the bread so the outside becomes crunchy while the fluffy inside becomes soggy. Between this goes lettuce, salsa, and a slurry of potatoes and chorizo that's incandescent.
There's just one little problem with Tacos y Mulitas Ruben: It moves. Catch it from the morning to the late afternoon on the corner of Main and Bishop streets, where it sets up shop outside a Mexican supermarket. After 5 p.m. or so, it moves to the corner of Cypress Avenue and Walnut Street, behind a Pep Boys. And those fish tacos my amigo liked so much? Only available during the day at Ruben's seafood truck on the corner of Cypress and Walnut—visit now before it leaves for the night.
TACOS Y MULITAS RUBEN, ON THE CORNERS OF MAIN AND BISHOP STREETS FROM MORNING UNTIL AFTERNOON, CYPRESS AVENUE AND WALNUT STREETS FROM EVENING UNTIL THE NIGHT, SANTA ANA. NO PHONE NUMBER.
