Tuesday, September 18

Taqueria Jefes

Taqueria Jefes

We decided to stop by this Taco Truck after passing it too many times to remember. It's located in the old Chair King parking lot on the corner of 53rd St & Airport. Cornbiter and myself pulled in to finally see if these tacos are really the boss. We sampled four of the fillings offered on both the (sigh) store bought corn and flour tortillas. The tacos looked good enough when they arrived to the table. They all had ample fillings, topped with cilantro & onion and both a red and green sauce accompanied the tacos. I tried the Barbacoa, Beef Fajita and Al Pastor tacos. Cornbiter munched on a Carnitas, Al Pastor and Fajita taco.


Barbacoa, Beef Fajita & Al Pastor Tacos

I started with the green sauce on the Beef Fajita and the first thing you notice is, "Wow! This green sauce kicks some ass." The salsa had an excellent flavor and was super spicy, but the taco itself was ho-hum at best with the double stacked corn tortillas lightly grilled and the filling was less than exceptional. The Beef Fajita was decent enough, your typical taco stand fare, and the Barbacoa was actually pretty fatty and saucy and could have used a little attention. The last taco I ate ended the trip on a higher note than expected. The Al Pastor was an interesting taco to say the least. The pork was tasty and lean, but it was the cardamon that added an unexpected, but welcome, flavor to the dish. I tried the Al Pastor with the red sauce which I wasn't thrilled with, but it was a good taco all around. Next time I will have to try the Al Pastor/green sauce combo as I expect that may make my mouth much happier.

Carnitas, Beef Fajita & Al Pastor Tacos

Taqueria Jefes is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area, or if you have to deal with some state bureaucracy at the nearby Travis County Tax Office.


Taqueria Jefes - 3.25 stars - jarod
5335 Airport Blvd
Austin, TX 78722
512.459.0034

4 comments:

JR Heat Warp said...

Nice one. I've been wondering about this truck for a few months now. I'll definitely give their Al Pastor w/green sauce a try.

Anonymous said...

I eat at Jefe's about 3 to 4 times a week. I get the same thing every time. 2 Al Pastor tacos, corn tortillas and a Mexican coke. The first thing I do is unwrap them from the foil, open them up, take one of the little salt packages that comes in the to go bag and sprinkle all of the contents of the salt pouch all over the inside of the taco. Then I take one of those limes and squeeze lots of juice on the inside. Then I open up that little plastic cup of green sauce. Everytime I take a bite from the taco, I pick up the green sauce cup and take a little sip out of it. Just enough to mix it around in my mouth with the rest of the taco. I guarantee if you eat the Al Pastor tacos this way, you will be back a couple times a week. I always get the Mexican coke in the glass bottle because it's made with cane sugar not corn syrup. It makes all the difference in the world.
I tried the Al Pastor tacos at a different taco truck off of Oltorf tonight, and they really sucked. The meat was tastless, greasy and very crunchy. Jefe's RULES!!!

Chris said...

I thought I would share two things about Jefe’s.

I was there a few weeks back, and I found a chicken bone in the green salsa. As a vegetarian, this is pretty disgusting; I don’t expect to find chicken in salsa. The next time I was there, the woman confirmed that their salsa does include chicken. Gnarrr.

I drove past there today, and it seems the truck is gone. My first thought was “that’s just deserts for a place that sneaks meat in where it doesn’t belong.” I don’t know if there’s any connection to the meat salsa, but it’s bye-bye.

mortal888 said...

I've seen three of these trucks around, I've wondered about them but never stopped because I've never seen many people eating there. I'll definitely try it now!