Alebrijes grill taco truck — Restaurant in Santa Ana

Let's face it, it seems everyone and their hermano has a taco truck serving a great "Taco Al Pastor" these days. So when Albert Hernández decided to start his taco truck in Santa Ana, he deliberately chose to paint the truck "Cadillac pink" so that "Alebrije's Grill" would stand out from all of the other taco trucks. To further differentiate Alebrije's Grill, Hernández served something that no other truck was serving at the time: Cuernavaca's legendary "Taco Acorazado."

Taco Acorazado translates to "Battleship Taco" and is named such because so much food is stacked into the taco that the whole thing visually resembles a battleship. The thick corn tortilla has more of the appearance of a flatbread than what you would traditionally expect a corn tortilla to look like. Directly on top of it sits a mound of fluffy short-grain rice simmered in caldo de tomate and spiked with corn kernels, chopped carrots, and peas scattered throughout. Accompanying the rice are sautéed onions and nopales (chopped cactus pads), sliced tomatoes, avocado chunks, cotija cheese, and a grilled jalapeño. And then there's a full meal's worth of "milanesa de res," a kind of Mexican "chicken fried steak" where a cut of beef is pounded until it is flat and thin, then dunked in egg batter, rolled in breadcrumbs, and fried. The result is tender, yet crispy; beefy, yet bread-y; salty yet subtle.

As one may guess from its name, milanesa is not indigenous in Mexico, but rather has come up through Central America after being brought to Argentina and Uruguay by Italian immigrants. The Italians invented it as "cotoletta alla milanese" in the 12th century, though the Austrians were the first to popularize this style of food using a boneless cut of meat, which we all know today as "schnitzel," and is closest in spirit to the buttery, boneless milanesa that has become part of Mexican cuisine. When it is done right, I can't think of much else I would rather eat. Here, the individual pieces are very thin and lean, but still packed with beef flavor.

A squeeze of lime and liberal use of the smoldering, smoky salsa roja are the right condiments for this. You must use a fork to eat away about 80% of the mountain of food in this taco before you can pick up the real buried treasure underneath: the aforementioned beautiful tortilla, sweet and chewy, drenched in grease and sauce and charred bits of meat and vegetables. It's something that will ruin all other tortillas for you for a while.

And, yes, I also had Alebrije's Grill's "Al Pastor Taco," a fine rendition of al pastor pork: sweet, saucy, pleasantly fatty, and mixed with a few pineapple chunks. It also benefits greatly from a squirt or two of the salsa roja. Alebrije's Grill's Al Pastor taco is good enough to probably have made this truck successful all by itself, but it is made unnecessary by the Taco Acorazado being more than...

I come here almost every week. The food and the salsas are so good. The lady that takes the orders, almost recognized me one day asking if it's the second time I came to the truck that day(it wasn't). Lol

I always get 4-5 tacos of carne asada. They make it very well. The al pastor is good. The chorizo is great, not greasy like how some restaurants make it. I'll order a burrito with half chorizo and half al pastor, and I have them add cheese. I don't get chicken cuz I always make that at home, but if you do let us know in the review how it is!

When you order your food, they'll ask if you want it with everything. I normally say yes to my tacos. The tacos will have 2 tortillas topped with your choice of meat, diced onion, and cilantro. You'll have to pour your own salsa(which they provide for you). I always get the green salsa on the right, because it's super spicy(my brother in law tried the red salsa and he was crying, it's not even that spicy compared to the green one). On the side they will give you grilled caramelized onion and grilled cactus(nopal). Really really delicious.

They offer cold drinks such as Jarritos, Mexican Coke,...

I called ahead of time through the phone to order a burrito with specific instructions of extra sour cream extra rice and lettuce called ahead of time so I wouldn’t be late for work. I picked up my burrito. I opened up my burrito cause somebody told me to check it, there is nothing that I paid extra for my burrito came out to almost $12 and I had called and told him that I open my burrito. Another stuff was in there that I had asked for they told me to come back. I came back the show me the gonna do a brand new I open the burrito up when they gave it to me. It was the same burrito they just added the stuff into it. I told him if I could just have my money back because I was so upset. And the guy was persistent on me getting another burrito. It took me three times to ask a different guy and he gave me my money back. Don’t recommend this place at home. I was a regular customer and this is the third time that this...