Run for your Lives!

2005-07-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

If you arrived here from Denver Taco Trucks, you know that I am a big fan of the mobile mexican munchmobiles, and the reviews of taco trucks that you will find there are a reflection of my enthusiasm. Occasionally, however, you run into a bad one and giving it the review treatment might prevent someone from having a very unpleasant experience. I found one that was so bad I almost lost my faith in taco trucks and would hate for that to happen to you. Seriously, lunch from La Cascada put me off taco trucks so thoroughly it was almost 2 weeks before I could face another one. I posted this review on Denver Taco Trucks but then realized it would be the first thing you see after the introduction, and I don't want to spoil your visit.

If you've encountered a bad taco truck please let me know, and I'll list it here.

La Cascada

2005-07-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Conveniently located near the Mt. Nebo Cemetary, on the southeast corner of East Colfax and Moline, "La Cascada" is evidently Spanish for "dogfood." I agonized over posting a negative review here but, honestly, I feel that I must-- in the interests of Public Health and Safety. I was thinking of instituting a "stars" system for rating the trucks, but until today they would all deserve five stars. Now that I've found a no-star truck I may reconsider.

Elisabeth and Edgar are friendly enough, but they speak no English and I speak about enough Spanish to order a taco truck meal. They were very curious about what I was doing with the camera, so they called another lady who promptly arrived and pronounced the two words of English that she knows-- "No photos!" OK, I can understand why non-English-speaking Mexicans in a taco truck might be a little concerned, but I took the pictures from the sidewalk and the driveway of the garage next-door, so legally I'm on safe ground and I was expecting this little bit of free publicity to be a pleasant surprise for them. Oops.

It was a stinking hot Denver afternoon, temperature hovering a bit over 100, and "The Waterfall" or Cascada is right next to a bus stop on busy Colfax, where road construction seems to be more or less constant lately. Anyhow, every time a car went by or god help us a bus, a cloud of dust would float over to the taco truck. I ordered 6 tacos-- 2 each carne asada (steak), barbacoa (shredded beef) and two carnitas (shredded pork)-- along with a bottle of Mexican soda, which wasn't cold despite its being well down in the "ice chest."

I ate two tacos plus two bites, and the dog got the rest. The two that I ate were either asada or barbacoa, but I have no idea which was intended to be which. They tasted different but looked the same, and if I were naming them I would call them "edible, barely" and "inedible." The pork was nasty, there's no other word for it.

There was a steady stream of pedestrian traffic, most of which was interested in a cold drink, not food. That should have told me something!

Heretofore all of my experiences with taco trucks (probably 20 or 30 of them) have been outstanding, so this was kind of a shock to the system. Maybe I will introduce a rating system, with both stars and biohazard signs.

BAD Denver Taco Trucks

Run for your Lives!

La Cascada