Crave Tacos trailer
Food Trucks

Crave Tacos

Address: 1610 Stittsville Main St, Stittsville, ON
Hours: 11am – 7pm (Sun – Tue, Sat); 11am – 9pm (Wed – Fri)
Website: Social media only (FB & IG)
Green factor: Compostable containers, plastic utensils

 

 

One snowy Ottawa day, while I already had a car-share booked to run some errands, I made the drive out to Stittsville. The reason was two-fold: to see a part of Ottawa I’ve never been to before, and to dip my toes into the rich food truck scene in this growing suburb. Probably more the latter than the former, if I’m being honest.

It being the winter, there wasn’t exactly a lot of food trucks open, but Crave Tacos was one of two taco trucks toughing it out.

Their menu is straightforward, with a handful of proteins that are available either as a taco, salad, or on top of fries. As you may have guessed, Crave is more of a Tex-Mex taco truck than authentic Mexican street food. Naturally, there’s also poutine on the menu because it’s Ottawa.

I kept things simple with one each of the pulled beef ($7) and mahi mahi ($8) tacos, knowing that I’d be helping my wife finish her mole pulled pork fries ($14). It’s a tough life being a husband, I know.

Tacos at Crave Tacos

After a short wait, we had our food in hand and were back in the car to chow down.

The tacos are a good size, with six-ish inch (wheat) tortillas. I generally prefer the simplicity of a proper Mexican street taco, but Crave is doing chef-y Tex-Mex tacos right. Loaded with moist, lightly spicy beef, taco numero uno came topped with roasted corn salsa, salsa verde, pickled red onions, radish, cilantro, and crumbled chevre. The plentiful flavours from the toppings added a bright counterpoint to the hearty chipotle-spiced beef.

The mahi mahi comes blackened, not battered, for a lighter, healthier fish taco. The fish itself was fine; as an east coaster, I have an almost impossibly high bar to surpass for a food truck that doesn’t specialize in fish. Crave’s taco toppings were once again on point here, with pineapple and mango salsa taking the place of the roasted corn and salsa verde that was on the beef.

Pulled pork fries

My wife’s mole pulled pork fries were a beautiful, hot mess of a sight to behold. Topped with all the aforementioned taco accoutrements, the golden-brown fries held up admirably well. I would have preferred a more prominent mole flavour on the pork, but it’s a minor quibble on an otherwise delicious fusion dish. As expected, I did get several bites at the end to finish off the generous portion.

It would be easy to take the path of a generic taco truck, but I’m glad that Crave Tacos is taking the time and effort to put out quality food all year round.

Post a Comment