Staff Writer Eric Surber ate at a taco truck in the Town of Carrboro and discovered the deliciousness of street food.
The Carolina Car Wash’s parking lot is an unlikely place to enjoy authentic Mexican food, but taco trucks can transform such unlikely places into culinary meccas.
I pilgrimaged to City Bus Tacos and Burritos, which is a modified school bus that sells tacos and burritos on Greensboro Street.
After a late Friday night on the Town of Carrboro, it was the perfect stop on my journey back to Chapel Hill.
I walked up to the window — really a hole cut into the side of a school bus — with pictures of giant burritos, tacos, chalupas, papusas, enchiladas and Mexican street foods in an endless combination of rice, salsa, beans and tortilla. I went simple and ordered two shredded chicken tacos.
The "cash only" sign will deter some card-carrying night owls from the taco truck, so it's worth planning ahead. Get cash back at Weaver Street Market or borrow from your inebriated friend if you're desperate. And the prices are pretty cheap, as I only spent about $3.
These tacos are distant relatives to the Tex-Mex species commonly served at chain and sit-down Mexican restaurants. These are "taqueria" style: a lightly fried tortilla, meat, salsa, Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce and a lime wedge to squeeze over the top.
There are two hot sauces to choose from: a green and a red.
A frequent patron advised me to get a small container of the sauce because apparently its spiciness varies between batches. It's a "squeeze at your own risk", but was definitely a risk worth taking.
The shredded chicken tacos were incomparably delicious, but in the words of Reading Rainbow's great LeVar Burton, "please, don't take my word for it."
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