Mariscos y Tacos Los Compas ~ San Jose, California

Mobile location - food truck

Mr. Music (that's me!) has accompanied Lady Music to San Jose, CA to attend her mom's 80th birthday party! Lady Music's brother-in-law is from Jalisco and a foodie specializing in regional specialties. Now, I have eaten plenty of birria (meat cooked slowly over hot rocks and shredded) in my day and a huge fan of some fresh birria de borego (lamb) with a cup of consommé (broth made from the meat drippings), but when Senor Food asked me to go with him for some quesabirria tacos, I was excited to try something new! Mariscos Los Compas is a food truck, or should I say a pair of food trucks (ed: love the logo!). Mariscos, or seafood, is what they specialize in on their main food truck at a local farmers market. And from what I've seen, it looks excellent! I want to try it. The other truck specializes in quesabirria tacos! As you can draw from the name, quesabirria is birria with cheese. But it's not quite that simple (or plain). The birria is portioned on to corn tortillas and laid on the grill. They are topped with delicious, stretchy, white Mexican cheese! The cheese melts and oozes on to the outside of the tacos. The tacos are grilled on both sides until the tortillas and queso is brown and crispy. Served with grilled onion, lime, a whole grilled serrano, a squirt bottle of very spicy red sauce and of course a cup of yummy consommé. The broth is seasoned with Mexican oregano and topped off with a sprinkle of fresh diced onion and cilantro. It was love at first crunch! The meat is tender, juicy and super flavorful. The crispy cheese coated tortilla is crunchy, chewy and delish. Together they make a taste sensation that must be tried! All the extra goodies contribute to the experience and intense flavor! I could and would eat these often! 

As luck would have it, one of the ladies working at the food truck is from Guatemala and makes papusas. I decided I should try one. This papusa was very different than others I've had. A large scoop of a mixture made from pork, beans, loroco, potato, and cheese was covered by a much thinner blanket of corn masa. The ball was flattened and grilled on both sides until very crispy. A heap of Salvadoran cabbage marinade was plopped on top of the crispy thin papusa. Then smothered with a serious ladle of the saucy tomato salsa. It was delicious in all its variation glory! Lady Music was not sure she wanted such a rich meal, but I brought her one of each. She was completely taken by both the quesabirria taco and papusa and said although she loved them both, the crunchy papusa really won her over. Both the people at the food truck were friendly and upbeat and excited to treat a newbie! One of the best food truck experiences ever.

- Mr. Music review