Los Taquitos Mexican Food (LT) is a food truck and food tent in Fort Myers that has been around about four years. They are located on the northeast corner of Palm Beach Blvd. and Marsh Ave. in the parking lot of a gas station.
During the week, they operate out of their food truck. On Saturday and Sunday they extend their food truck and set up a tent, an outdoor cooking area and dining tables. As this is Mexican street food, the model at LT is fast food, and it works very well. There are a number of food trucks and open air griddles serving food in the area. This one appealed to me as it’s covered and also draws a large crowd, the latter being a very good sign.
There is also a separate vendor associated with LT on Saturday and Sunday, but more on that later.
I had stopped by LT previously and got this wonderful thirty two oz. cup of shrimp ceviche to go with a couple of tostada shells for eight dollars. Extremely impressed with the quality of the food and the value, I convinced my dining companion to take a road trip on a Sunday afternoon to try more wares from the LT food tent.
Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, they were sold out of ceviche. My heart sank, but somehow, with my dining companion’s urging, we moved onto other offerings.
Al pastor torta
LT serves primarily tacos, tortas and quesadillas. As such, we ordered a couple of the taco dishes each and split a torta and quesadilla. The tacos come upon request with onion and cilantro, but they also have a condiment station should you need more.
Sliced radish and lime are available for your food, in addition to wonderful red and green salsas. The salsas were fresh, made in house and exceptional. As they were so good, they deserve a bit of a description. The red (Roja) salsa is made from tomatoes, onion, cilantro and a number of peppers. The flavor of the chipotle (smoked jalapenos) used here really shined through. This is a perfect condiment for beef and pork.
The green (Verde) salsa combines tomatillos, chilies, garlic and cilantro. I realize this is something some of us do in the privacy of our own kitchens (if at all) but I was tempted to fill some sort of vessel with these salsas and eat them by the spoonful. They were that good!
Chorizo tacos
We ordered chicken and chorizo tacos. Tacos at LT are two dollars each. Chorizo is an extremely flavorful sausage. The Spanish version of this sausage is generally sold cured, while the Mexican version found at LT is ground and raw, needing to be cooked before serving. Chorizo has so much chutzpah, it can be used in small quantities as a seasoning agent. For those with “gusto”, it can also be the main focus of a dish. That being said, our chorizo tacos were excellent, especially in the company of salsa roja. The chicken tacos, although good, were our least favorite dish of the evening.
We split a torta, which was described by my dining companion as a “Mexican hamburger”. This may be somewhat true depending on the bread used, but any resemblance stops dead in it’s tracks from there. Our torta was excellent. We ordered the al pastor, or marinated pork flavor. A very generous amount of pork al pastor was served with cilantro, onion, avocado and cheese. A bargain for eight dollars.
Steak quesadilla
The final thing item we tried was the steak quesadilla. It was, also, excellent. Steak, cheese, cilantro and onions were the filling; highly recommended. Another bargain at four dollars.
There are a couple ladies who also join the fun on Saturday and Sunday. They serve a number of foods, like beef soup, menudo and that delicious shrimp ceviche I had a couple weeks earlier.
Aguas frescas
They also serve a number of aguas frescas and have a variety of flavors, such as horchata (rice), lemonade, pineapple, mango, melon, tamarind and fruit punch. We tried the tamarind which was delicious. The drink offerings, for a thirty two oz. glass, run from two to three dollars.
The food at LT is excellent and very inexpensive. We ordered two tacos each, split a torta and quesadilla and a tamarind agua fresca. The total came to $23 which was very reasonable for this amount of food and drink.
If your Spanish is “mas horrible” as mine is, do not worry, there is always someone there who can help translate. This is a must do if in the area, especially on the weekend. Most highly recommended.
In the spirit of Mexican street food, it’s a “wrap” for another post on Forks.
