My duties as this year’s Vancouver Foodster taco judge brought me all the way to Squamish to try Luz Tacos. This stationary food truck has found a permanent spot parked outside of local Squamish micro-brewery: A-Frame. The truck serves the food, the brewery supplies the beer, and they share the patio guests can enjoy both on.
We started off with their #TacoChallengeYVR contender. This is the Surf & turf taco withhickory smoked beef steak, a 3 Mexican chilli adobo prawn and shrimp mix, garlic cilantro mayo, pickled red onions, and cilantro with lime. Served in a double corn taco shell with a layer of crispy cheese. The uniqueness was in the three layers of shells in total. Two different types of tortilla and the crispy cheese shell, that made all the difference. Altogether it gave this taco maximum chew and crunch. Offering a great base to highlight the meaty char and the saltiness of the dried shrimp; which I have never seen in Mexican dish, let alone a taco like this. I won’t go into too much more detail of how we liked it, as to not spell out how I scored. But I can say that we liked it enough that we wanted to try how their regular tacos fared.
We went for a plate of 3 tacos where we got to mix and match for our ideal combo.
The Papas and chorizo was a potato and pork taco. It made for a great breakfast taco with the potatoes offering a nice heavy chew to fill. It just needed more salt, as I didn’t get any that I expected from the chorizo. I could have also used a fresh agent, like a slice of avocado or some tangy tomato salsa on the side, to brighten things up.
I did get the level of salt I wanted from the Chupacabras steak and bacon taco. The crispy blackened bacon was plenty salty, and the steak chucks offered a more substantial chew. For my tastes, I was once again searching for a fresh element to help cut into things. Here, maybe some sweet corn niblets or a nice chimichurri drizzle.
The Pastor pork and anchiote was our favourite. The pork was not as flavourful as the other proteins, and I was left wanting more heated spice from the anchiote seasoning. But the pineapple offered freshness and sweetness to bring it all together.
And for dessert we could not walk away without trying their churros, fried crispy to order with a generous seasoning of cinnamon and sugar. And like other churros I have had recently, theses were not saturated in grease. A really great option to end on a sweet note.
In closing, I highly recommend try Luz for their limited time only surf and turf taco, then voting for them or your favourite of all the contestants at https://vancouverfoodster.com/taco-challenge/
And if not for the competition, they are still a great stop in Squamish for quick tacos, burritos, and bowls with local brewed beer.
Luz Tacos
38921 Queens Way, Squamish, BC V8B 0K9
(604) 849-2188
luztacos.com