Roving Food Truck Tacos LA Serves Birria Tacos and Cheesy Quesadillas in St Kilda, Mordialloc and Bayswater

At Tacos LA, chef Angel Farias isn’t creating Mexican food with an Australian spin, nor an exclusively Mexican one. His style is quintessentially Cali, inspired by diasporic dishes he grew up with on the west coast of the United States.

“The proximity to Mexico has a lot to do with the ingredients that are available in California,” Farias tells Broadsheet. “And you have kids of immigrants making the food.”

Farias has Mexican heritage and was raised outside of Los Angeles in an area heavily influenced by Latin American culture. Mexican food is rife there, characterised by Californian sensibilities like a penchant for local produce and lighter flavour profiles than you might find south of the border.

He’s applied those principles at his roving food truck, Tacos LA, coupling seasonal market produce and proteins with techniques he’s finessed throughout his career. (He worked at Burnham Beeches when it was owned by celebrity chef Shannon Bennett and hosted a lockdown cooking series with hospo stars, including Farmer’s Daughters chef Alejandro Saravia.) His business is part of a new wave of Mexican food trucks, including Collingwood’s Dingo Ate My Taco and Glenroy’s Mis Gueros.

Birria tacos, a grilled variety named after the spiced beef stew they’re stuffed with, are among Tacos LA’s most popular dishes, but you’ll also find a selection of quesadillas, other tacos and off-menu specials.

There’s a chicken-skin taco that Farias has playfully nicknamed the “Chickano”, a portmanteau of chicken and Chicano, a racial slur Mexican Americans have proudly reclaimed in the United States. It’s served in a cheese-lined tortilla, dripping with rendered chicken fat.

Tostadas are served on a base of fried El Cielo tortillas, then topped with proteins like pulled beef brisket, or chorizo and diced potatoes.

The truck parks at various sites – including Urban Ground in Mordialloc and Killer Sprocket in Bayswater – but Trinity St Kilda is its most regular haunt.

From time to time, Tacos LA also hosts guest chefs like Tim Tubbs, junior sous at Gimlet.

Keep up with Farias and Tacos LA on Instagram for updates.

instagram.com/tacos.la
trinitystkilda.com