FOOD TRUCK QUICK BITE: BEYOND THE BORDER

It's back to SOMA StrEat Food Park time, because you know this is one of my favorite funky places to hit in San Francisco. It works especially well for me and the SO as we can usually find something for each of our taste buds from their array of food trucks. On this particular day we both laid eyes on the same truck and tried it together. Which is always fun as you can order more things to try without looking like a glutton. Though, weirdly, that doesn't usually stop me. Anyway, this week's truck was Beyond The Border, serving up traditional, home made Mexican flavors.

It was a breezy, sort of cool day in town (must be summer starting!) and what better way to warm up the day than with a cup of tortilla soup and some yucca fries with a chipotle aioli. 

It's a spicy blend of vegetables and tomato soup topped with crunchy tortilla strips a little corn salsa. It was a nice warm cup with a subtle pepper kick to make you feel all warm inside. The strips give it some nice texture, like crackers in tomato soup. A grilled cheese to dip into it would not be totally out of place with it. The yucca fries were thick cut slices, deep fried and served hot, with a crispy outside and soft potato like interior. This is like a fibrous, hearty treat, though I think these could have cook a tad longer and they needed salt, which was easily remedied. The aioli dipping was tangy, spicy and paired well, I just wanted more of it. Hmmm...I wonder what they'd taste like with some butter, sour cream and bacon bits? Wait, that's another truck, or some one should do like a Mexican poutine with yucca fries. A good enough side in the meantime. 

I love a good papusa and have had several tasty ones in the city. Thus if I see it on a menu, I'm gonna try it. Here I got 2 pork and cheese and one just cheese. They come with a side of vinegary cole slaw and salsa for $8. That's a couple bucks more than you might pay at some tiny spot in the Mission, but they were larger than average and the filling was plentiful. Served and hot and made to order it does take a few extra minutes to get, but mostly worth it. The best way to eat these if to fold up like a taco with some of the slaw and dripping or two of the salsa. Something about the tangy cabbage mixes really well with the pork, cheese and grilled dough. Can't explain it, but it tastes really good together. The same slaw is served with it everywhere I've had it and it always works. Sometimes it's best not to question why but just to bite, chew, savor, swallow, enjoy, repeat. 

Of course the SO and I wanted to eat somewhat healthy thus the chimichurri steak salad. Marinated grilled skirt steak, fresh greens, seasonal vegetables (today it seems that means cucumbers, tomatoes and corn) chimichurri sauce and herb vinaigrette. At $11.50 it seem like a high price, but this serving was larger than expected and you get an ample amount of grilled steak on this making it comparable to a sit down place. The chimichurri was nicely spicy, something you don't normally get in this green sauce. The steak was tender and cooked a great medium rare. Everything tasted fresh and we felt healthy digging into it. This was a winner for both of us. 

Actually, I'm gonna say the truck as a whole was a winner--everything tasted fresh, home made and authentic (or as much as it can from a food truck). Prices aren't bad (also in food truck terms) and portion sizes are quite favorable to those of us who eat large occasionally (okay all the time!). While they are not always at the StrEat Food Park, they do get around The City quite a bit and you can check out their location through their twitter account. Whichever way you come across them, they are worth trying out.