443002 Wed Sep 19 21:31:50 -0700 2007 1 3 California 0 2958162 I knew I would be passing through Salinas today on the way back to San Francisco, so I studied this post by Melanie Wong to figure out where to stop for tacos. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/85168 I hadn't had tacos in Salinas before, only in Greenfield and King City, but I had very high hopes. We drove into Salinas at about 11:30 AM and headed toward the area of E. Market St. mentioned in the post....sadly, we found no taco trucks at all. I didn't really know why, and I was worried that they had disappeared completely from the town. We drove down E. Alisal street and eventually decided to try Delicias Taqueria....it looked pretty decent. DC had two carne asada tacos which he liked, I had one taco al pastor and one carnitas. Both were very good, but nothing too extraordinary either - probably on par w/ what I've had in the Mission in SF. The carnitas didn't have very much flavor at all, but it was pretty moist. The pork al pastor was in very small bits and had an unusually prevalent Mediterranean/middle eastern flavor - pretty tasty, but different than what I am used to. I also had a tamarind agua fresca that was a bit too sweet. They also had horchata and jamaica, which I didn't try. I think tacos were either $1.50 or $1.75 each, but I'm not sure - came w/ onions and cilantro, one type of red salsa and sliced limes were available at the counter. The salsa was good, not great, and not very spicy. After our lunch, we headed back toward the freeway (headed west on Alisal, took a right on Kern St. to get back to 101 North). To our surprise, we encountered two food trucks on Kern St (between Alisal and Market). The first seemed to be just a mariscos truck, but I didn't get a good luck at the menu or name. The second was called Grullense taco truck, and since we had stopped in Salinas specifically to find taco trucks, we decided we could both eat one more taco. DC had another carne asada taco, which he said was good - at least as good as Delicias. I asked which the man in the truck recommended between carnitas and al pastor, and he said that lots of people order 'al pastor' so I chose that. This was very very good - in my opinion, better than any al pastor I've had in SF - bigger pieces of pork in a nice BBQ coating - he offered to serve this w/ roasted chili and/or roasted onions - i chose just onions, which were a great taco topping. They had small bins of raw onion, cilantro, limes and two hot sauces (green and red) - the green sauce was great, good flavor and great kick. For tacos al pastor, this was more what I was looking for, and really hit the spot. The tacos were $1.25 each. I asked the man in the truck about the taco trucks on E. Market St, and he said that those trucks are only there from 3 PM onward (which is why we didn't see them). Good to know! So if you're passing through Salinas prior to 3 o'clock, I'd definitely recommend Grullense. I just finished writing the above, and found Melanie's post about El Grullense (note to Melanie: you've eaten everywhere!!! :) ) http://www.chowhound.com/topics/379614 Dave MP Wed Sep 19 21:31:50 -0700 2007 21930 Dave MP 1 3037958 Dave, missed your post the first time around and just found it after doing a search for Lori SF. I'm glad you found the Grullense truck, one of the best in town, and by my reckoning, seems to be the most popular one. I was just there myself last week. Let's see, we had tripas, carnitas, and cabeza tacos. My mom always goes for the cabeza, but this time I gave her carnitas, and she took note of the quality. I also had a tostada de camarones, which was wonderful with plump tender shrimp, but soggy after getting it to go and bringing it home. Next time I'll remember to ask for it to be packed in components. Here's the photo, http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2278/1583897592_852dc1a5bd.jpg?v=0 I haven't eaten everywhere. But if anything ever happens to Hwy 101, it will crimp my chowhounding! Mon Oct 15 20:12:58 -0700 2007 2958162 10039 Melanie Wong