First Look: Find Jalapeno Smash Burgers Parked Up Next to a Rozelle Servo

Pacho’s Burger Truck is named after Asel Dehsabzi, who runs the patty-smashing joint with his sister Tabby.

“Pacho is my nickname,” he says. “I got it from my favourite TV show, Narcos.” Pacho Herrera, who fronts the Cali cartel on the Netflix series, might have inspired his namesake, but Asel’s presence is way less notorious than the drug trafficker. In fact, Asel’s smiley, mustachioed likeness is the cheery logo emblazoned on the bright red food truck.

The burger joint is parked up near a Rozelle petrol station, the sound of sizzling patties competing with the hum of Victoria Road traffic. The modest outdoor dining area has a scenic view of the Rozelle Tunnel Exhaust Pipe – which is oddly categorised as a “tourist attraction” on Google Maps (the pipe’s vertical gardens have, surprisingly, garnered a 4.3 average on the site). The higher rating for Pacho’s Burger Truck (currently a perfect five-star average on Google Maps) makes way more sense, as the eatery has been booming with orders since its launch in late February.

“One minute we’re just standing around talking to each other and wondering where everyone is,” says Tabby. The next minute, they’re slammed with requests from 30 burger-craving people. The siblings don’t sweat it, as they’ve dealt with high volumes of customers from their dad’s Domino’s Pizza franchises – where a rush of 100 pizzas at a time wouldn’t faze them. “It’s definitely something that we’re used to,” she says.

Onions are smashed into most burger patties the siblings serve, “so you get that nice onion pull when you bite into it,” says Asel. In fact, it’s a key attraction of their Oklahoma: the rich, caramelised onion flavour is so compelling, they choose not to add sauce, lettuce or tomato. “It’s literally just a meat lover’s dreams: just the meat, the cheese, the bun,” says Tabby.

This directness also works for their best-selling Jalapeno Smash option: the green chillies are grilled right into the sizzling beef. “It’s been our most popular burger. People literally come up to the front and they don’t even look at the menu. They’re, like, ‘I’m here for the Jalapeno Smash’,” says Tabby. If you’re wary of any impending Hot Ones-style agony, don’t worry. “It’s not extremely spicy … you’re not going to die of heat,” says Tabby. “But if you do like chilli, it gives you a good kick.”

Pacho’s Burger Truck might be humming nicely now, but that’s thanks to a lot of fine-tuning. The house sauce, for instance, was initially a disaster. “You could barely swallow it,” Tabby says. Now diners ask for it constantly.

Then there was feedback from the most brutal critics: their family. “On the day of the launch, I hand-cut all the tomatoes. They came out absolutely shonky,” Tabby says. “[My cousin] was not afraid to tell me that she didn’t enjoy biting into a humongous, ginormous tomato.” The next day, the team purchased an industrial slicer to guarantee uniformly thin tomato slices between buns.

Pacho’s Burger Truck aims to do a monthly special: for April, it’s a kofta smash, inspired by a visit to their Lebanese butcher. His shop was overwhelmingly fragrant with fresh herbs, which he was chopping for his beef and lamb kofta mince. It hits a bun with a lemony tahini spread and diced pickled turnips.

“We’re Afghan; every Middle Eastern country has their own variation of kofta,” says Tabby. “It’s something we’re very familiar with.”

Patties and buns have been a big part of their lives, too – even before opening the truck. “The week before the launch, I probably had about 20 burgers trying to figure out the recipe and the sauce,” says Asel. Then there were all the food trucks they researched. “It was a good sacrifice,” says Tabby. “We never get sick of burgers.”

Pacho’s Burger Truck
127 Victoria Road, Rozelle

Hours:
Thu & Fri 6pm–10pm
Sat & Sun 5pm–11pm

@pachosburgertruck