Wednesday, May 12

TaKorea & Chi'lantro

Trailers, Trailers everywhere! Looking for Stuffed Doughnuts? There's a trailer for that. Pork Belly Sliders? Yup, there's a trailer for that. BBQ Pork Banh Mi? Check. Falling-off-the-bone Ribs and the fattiest brisket this side of Lady Bird Lake? Word. Tacos with Korean flavors, small fillings and not so fresh tortillas? We've got 2!

1. TaKorea: Located in the new trailer park on MLK and Rio Grande on the southern boundary of west campus lies TaKorea...and about 6 other trailers slinging everything from Chicken and Waffles to Root Beer Floats.


The tacos at TaKorea are aight. The ingredients are very fresh and the meats, ranging from pork belly to diced beef, are all really tasty and grilled nicely. The toppings depend on the taco and are a perfect compliment to the grilled meats they accompany...but there are some problems. The tortillas are god awful. TaKorea could do themselves a kindness and get some better, thicker tortillas stat. The thin grilled piece of cardboard that was served with both of my tacos took away anything good the taco had going for it. At $2.50-$3.50 a pop, these fellas need some work.

2 Stars - jarod

TaKorea
eastmeetsmex.com
1901 Rio Grande


2. Chi'lantro: The day we visited they were located at 2nd & Congress on what is left of the Las Manitas (may it rest in peace) foundation with a few other trailers that include an uber-clean coffee trailer with delicious espresso and pastries, kebabalicious and an interesting looking poboy trailer.


The Chi'lantro's tacos are pretty damn delicious and if they were a little bigger or less expensive I could see myself chowing on these regularly. They use fresh, soft white corn tortillas and quality ingredients with flavorful toppings...but they are just a tad light on fillings for $2.50 each.

3.5 Stars - jarod

Chi'lantro
www.chilantrobbq.com
Multiple Locations (Find them on Twitter)


Both of these tacos could be great if they added more meat or improved the tortillas (YES!! It matters that much), but tasting these fusion tacos makes me realize what all the hype is about. Koreans have tasty fucking sides that go well with grilled meats. Put that shit in a tortilla and it's going to also be tasty.


The Commish here: It's interesting that Jarod and I came to opposite conclusions on the two Korean taco trucks. I was much more fond of TaKorea than Chi'lantro. TaKorea killed its competitor in all of the areas that count: name (TaKorea is a way better pun), taste (the meat was more flavorful), and selection (Chi'lantro had a very limited menu.) I would go back to either, but given the choice, I would definitely go to TaKorea, first.

TaKorea - 3 stars - The Commish
Chi'lantro - 2 stars - The Commish

4 comments:

DLVINCENTinATX said...

Disappointing they didn't live up to the hype. And if I'm correct ChilantroBBQ is part of an L.A. chain of trucks. Which would explain the consistency and better flavors.

Optimista said...

Actually, we have three! There is now a Calbi truck in Austin, too:
http://calbi.com/

hlk said...

I'm with The Commish. TaKorea has better tacos with a more disctinctly Korean flavor. The corn tortillas have been good there, when I've had them. The pork belly tacos with fresh pickles are fantastic.

EgOiStE said...

MLK is the Southern edge of West campus, not North.