Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Taco Tour 2012 - El Emperador at the Food Garden

Food Garden
Lovely spot to eat your tacos

Food Garden beckoned me for months before I managed to grab a bite there. The combination of vintage 1950s sign, taco truck, and outdoor garden seating set off from busy Foothill Boulevard felt irresistible. When my little sister Natalie came to volunteer at my work for a day we decided to have lunch at the Food Garden.
Natalie buys the last three items in the truck. 
El Emperador Mexican Food

El Emperador Mexican Food was the only truck in the Food Garden when we visited. I asked what the most popular item is and our server told me, "pupusas," without hesitation. Next, she added "chuchitos" to the list. I'll never know if that is because the only hot food they had to sell that day were two lonely little chuchitos that day or if they are truly popular. They were also completely out of aguas frescas. It was lunch time and she said she'd been out of everything since the morning. We wondered why she was still open.

Aside from the extremely limited offerings, I have no complaints. I was introduced to a new food, chuchitos, which are fat little tamales. She claimed they were small, but they were the only thing we could purchase, so we bought the last two. The only other thing she had in that big old truck was one fruit salad, which we split. The fruit salad was fresh and amazingly diverse, with kiwi, orange, watermelon, jicama, grape, mango, and melon. The chicken chuchitos were tasty, saucy, and moist and really not that small at all.

Natalie enjoys her chuchito
Chuchito and fruit salad
We sat in the middle of a patio surrounded by plants and the server brought us our own glass container of delicious smokey homemade salsa to the table. The relatively tiny and healthy lunch satisfied us, although it definitely would not satisfy a man's appetite. The atmosphere was great. I would recommend visiting the Food Garden. Just keep your fingers crossed that they have food that day!

El Emperador Mexican Food is located on Foothill Boulevard at 42nd Avenue. Their phone is (510) 282-5612.


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