Taquería Lopez
Occupying an empty stretch of parking lot near the Blockbuster on Hillsborough Road is the unremarkable-looking Taqueria Riendo Lopez. The flavor of its tacos, however, belies its run-down appearance—this taco truck offers some of the best late-night fare around.
The campechanos taco is Lopez’s most notable item, offering a rare and delicious melange of steak and sausage. The two meat varieties mingle enticingly, producing a deep, savory flavor. The sausage-—which, at its price, could be cause for alarm—instead adds an appealing salty tang to the drier steak. The meat itself is flavorful enough to warrant foregoing salsa, needing only the grounding flavor of the simple corn tortilla.
The asada taco was similarly compelling—a highly successful version of a ubiquitous classic. The steak consisted of small yet quality chunks, a nice change from the irregular, fattier bits sometimes found in other asada tacos. Like the campechanos, the asada was a stand-alone meat, and I found myself searching for lost morsels of steak long after I had finished the actual taco. Both taco varieties came served in unremarkable but tasty corn tortillas, the meat just barely accented by a sprinkle of cilantro and onions.
Taqueria Lopez’s one shortcoming was its salsa, which was only mildly flavorful and failed to live up to the high standard set by its meat. Pairing Lopez’s food with a superior salsa from one of the nearby trucks, however, makes for a Mexican food powerhouse.
Taquería Rubio
Across Hillsborough Road from Taqueria Riendo Lopez is Taqueria Rubio, housed in a brightly colored converted schoolbus.
Unlike its neighbor, Taqueria Rubio’s various meats failed to impress--, making for a good but less than stellar noshing experience. My main complaint with the truck’s fare is that the meat was a bit too greasy, bypassing guilty pleasure and falling into the realm of cheap thrill.
The al pastor taco, a nicely varied mix of pork and pineapple, was the best offering. The sweet pineapple enticingly played off the tender pork chunks, cutting the otherwise strong, fatty flavor. The asada taco was not as appealing, its somewhat bland meat requiring hefty dashes of salsa. The chorizo was a slight improvement, but fell short of the ground meat’s typical spice. As a fellow diner said, “This actually tastes like cheap meat.”
In a rare turn of events, I found myself unable to finish all three tacos, overwhelmed by the increasingly heavy meat flavors.
What still makes Taqueria Rubio worth the trip is its fixings. Unlike other eateries, Rubio’s tacos come with cucumber slices, adding a welcome crunch. The bus’ salsa verde is excellent, balancing spicier notes with a full-bodied and unexpected freshness. Its chipotle salsa, however, was one of the worst on Hillsborough, pairing a flavorless heat with a smotheringly smoky aftertaste.
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