Off the Wagon Tacos (Food Truck/Cart)

Restaurant: Off the Wagon
Cuisine: Tacos/Mexican/Food Truck
Last visited: July 11, 2012
Location: Vancouver, BC
Address: Location varies – see here for schedule
Transit: n/a
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: FMF Must Try!

Food: 3.5 (Based on what I tried)
Service: n/a
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Specializes in tacos
• Sustainable ingredients
• Local ingredients
• Gluten free
• Homemade roasted tomato salsa
• Budget friendly/Cheap eats
• Breakfast tacos available
• Daily specials
• Vegetarian friendly
• Vegan friendly
• Catering available
• Cash only
• Mon – Fri: 11:30am – 2:30pm

**Recommendations: Roasted Yam & Black Bean Taco

I finally caught it! Well actually I didn’t catch it, but it was conveniently located next to Blue Smoke BBQ at the Main Street Station Vancouver Farmers Market. I was invited on a media tour of the market and the food trucks were naturally of interest to me.

I had heard of Off the Wagon Tacos before and after hearing so many good things I was looking forward to trying them. Mexican, South American, or any Latin food in Metro Vancouver isn’t anything to brag about (for the most part), especially compared to our Southern American neighbours. Vancouver is a diverse city, but it just doesn’t have that Latin population and there’s still lots of room for that cuisine to grow. Mind you, I haven’t tried every single Mexican or Latin restaurant yet, so maybe I just haven’t discovered the one.

Off the Wagon Tacos isn’t about traditional or authentic Mexican food though, so if you’re looking for that then maybe Doña Cata Mexican Food might be a better fit. There is also La Taqueria which is similar in concept to Off the Wagon with local and sustainable ingredients, but their tacos are more modern Mexican in style. Off the Wagon are West Coast style tacos with a healthy initiative, which is basically their own take on tacos. They use good quality, local and fresh ingredients, house made sauces, and little oil so it is not greasy, and they are made upon order too.

In the context of  non-traditional tacos my favourite in the city so far are at TacoFino Cantina food truck. Those are more Californian Mexican tacos, which again are different than these ones, but if I had to choose I still like TacoFino. On the other hand I only tried 2 tacos at Off the Wagon, so perhaps I didn’t try enough. I was also still in awe with how good the food and value was at Blue Smoke BBQ, so trying this after was a slight disadvantage. It’s apples and oranges but they both fall under “food truck”. Although this wasn’t one of my favourite food trucks in the city, they have a great philosophy that they follow throughout and I wouldn’t mind trying the rest of their menu.

On the table:

Pulled Pork with Citrus Slaw Taco – 3.5/6 (Good-Very good)

• Slow roasted chipotle pulled pork on a bed of purple cabbage slaw, guacamole, onion, cilantro & served on soft corn tortillas. 2 tacos $7.25/3 tacos $10.25
• It came with a generous amount of fillings on two corn tortillas.
• I just had the Pulled Pork Sandwich from Blue Smoke BBQ and although they were very different, I couldn’t help but to compare.
• This one was moist and well seasoned, but the flavour and spices didn’t stand out as much and it came across as more regular.
• I liked the crunch of purple cabbage which was slightly tangy from lemons and/or limes, but I ended up adding more hot sauce for more of a kick.
• The guacamole sauce was good, but personally I prefer it chunkier with chunks of avocado.
• It was a pretty saucy taco with a house made roasted tomato sauce rather than a fresh tomato salsa.
• It wasn’t greasy so they did taste like healthier tacos.
• They have flavour but the hot sauce and squeeze of lime helps.
• It was a good taco, but I’m just not sure I would remember it and it was on the pricey side.

**Roasted Yam & Black Bean Taco – 4/6 (Very good)

• Topped with homemade roasted tomato salsa, guacamole, onion & cilantro & served on soft corn tortillas. 2 tacos $7.25/3 tacos $10.25
• Although I am a carnivore, I do like vegetarian food, I just rarely order it.
• I was convinced to order their vegetarian taco when they said “even carnivores really like our Roasted Yam & Black Bean Taco”. I’ll take one please!
• They were right! It was a sweeter taco with the roasted yams and it was quite hearty and generously filled again.
• The pieces of skin on yams were tender, sweet and melt in your mouth creamy. I liked having the skins on and that is where all the nutrients are.
• If anything I just wish the black beans were a bit firmer and they were slightly overcooked so it was adding to the mushiness of the taco.
• Nonetheless the taco was flavourful and had a meaty bite despite it being vegetarian.
• It would be great with something crunchy like roasted corn, toasted pecans or even pumpkin seeds like the vegetarian tacos at Bandidas Taqueria. The style here is more modern than authentic anyway.
• Again I prefer the chunky avocado guacamole, but this guacamole sauce was still good.
• It had room to be even better and it was good for a food truck, but still on the pricey side.
• I would remember this one more so than I would the pulled pork one and I would re-order it.