Tacos El Soñador, Merced
Tacos El Soñador
Truck Info:
Blaker Brewing Tarmac
209-285-4773
Hours: Wednesday and Thursday: 11:30am-7:30pm, Friday and Saturday: 4:30pm-11:30pm
Insta: @tacos_el_sonador
Twitter: @TacosElSonador
Metrics:
Tortilla Type: Flour, cooked off in flavorful fat until crispy
Garnishes: Lime, onion, cilantro, grilled onions, roasted jalapeño, sliced cucumber
Salsa: Red: Chipotle forward, very smoky and sweet with a good amount of spice
Green: Very fresh and cooling, a good complement to the meat
Meats: Depends on the day, last time I went they had asada, pastor, and birria available
Spice Level: 3/5, a good kick
Payment types: Cash, Card, Mobile Payment
If there was any blessing in disguise in the past few difficult years, it has been the explosion of awesome new food trucks in Merced. Tacos El Soñador is one that I have been a consistent customer at since before they were a truck and had an awesome weekend popup setup. It has been an absolute joy to see this little operation gain more and more customers week after week and grow into a full fledged culinary enterprise.
But enough about me trying to gain credit by “liking them before they were cool”, there’s a reason that this enterprise has experienced such consistent growth: the food is just good and unlike other options in the area. While many other trucks focus on clean, simple flavors, Tacos El Soñador is an experience of indulgence in ALL the best ways. The tortillas are fried off in the leftover braising fat for the birria, tinging them a beautiful orange and crisping them up with all the flavor that was still suspended in that grease. Each taco is piled high with flavorful meat and then smothered in salsa. They are garnished with a lot of onion and cilantro, an amount that would be too much on other tacos, but is absolutely necessary to cut through the richness of these tacos. These are tacos that will make you feel guilty for your diet, but that you’ll keep coming back to over and over and over again.
But that’s just covering the regular street tacos. If we’re talking over the top indulgence, no taco is a better representation of that than the quesabirria con consomme. Their special is 3 quesatacos with consomme, and I highly recommend that for any first time patrons. It is my go to order for any friends who I’m bringing here for the first time. And don’t forget the cucumber lemonade.
The best part? Once you’ve tried those options, you’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg of this menu. tortas, mulitas, nachos, heck, grilled cheese! But my personal recommendation is the hot cheeto asada taco. Not an every day order, but a cheat meal for sure.
Thankfully you don’t have to wait until just one day a week anymore as Tacos El Soñador is open on the Tarmac Wednesday-Saturday, so head on out and tell em calitacos209 sent ya.
Date visited: 10/19/22