Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Community hub: Las Vegas taco truck draws multiracial crowd

Taqueria El Buen Pastor

Christopher DeVargas

The Taqueria El Buen Pastor on Las Vegas Blvd and Bonanza Rd., Monday, June 6, 2016.

Taqueria El Buen Pastor

Chef Francisco Cruz at the Taqueria El Buen Pastor taco truck prepares a burrito on the grill, Monday, June 6, 2016. Launch slideshow »

Taqueria El Buen Pastor, which translates to “The Good Shepherd’s Taco Shop,” isn’t a reference to a deity. It’s an ode to a popular type of Mexican pork, deeply spiced and slowly cooked on a vertical rotisserie known as a trompo. The green taco truck at Las Vegas Boulevard and Bonanza Road is one of six Mexico City-style eateries with the same name owned by 41-year-old Hector Nuñez, a native of Cuernavaca in the Mexican state of Morelos. And it’s one of those spots that is both a hidden gem and a vibrant hub of community.

“I wanted to bring a little piece of our culture here,” said Nuñez, who moved to Las Vegas in 2010. “I’m ambitious; I’ve always been a dreamer and I had a vision.”

On a recent Thursday, cashier Maricela Contreras, 33, took orders and handed plates to nearly 20 customers in 30 minutes. She scooped lots of horchata, a milk, rice and cinnamon-infused drink, from a small plastic barrel.

Contreras has been taking orders at the truck since its launch in early 2011. She said the line — which on this day stretched toward the back of the gas station-turned-tire store where the 24-hour taco truck is stationed — can reach up to 60 people on weekends, just after dark and especially during Las Vegas 51s games.

And El Buen Pastor’s customers are from everywhere, Contreras said. While “about half” are of Mexican or other Latin American ancestry — El Salvador, Colombia, Cuba — just as many customers are black, white, Filipino and Hawaiian. “It’s everybody,” said the native of the Mexican state of Puebla. “People from Las Vegas and tourists, also.”

As Contreras watched chef Francisco Cruz expertly assemble a burrito “al pastor,” filled with the signature diced meat, beans, cheese, sour cream, pineapple and guacamole, she said El Buen Pastor’s food had helped keep her palate sharp on the flavors of home.

Anthony Rodriguez, 35, a customer originally from Puebla City 85 miles east of Mexico City, can relate. The

15-year Las Vegas resident stood with his wife, Maria, 32, and daughters Maribel, 12, and Tania, 10, ordering a combination of chicken quesadillas, tortas and, of course, tacos “al pastor.”

The family picked up the meal just hours before Mexico’s match against Jamaica in the Copa America soccer tournament. Without anywhere to sit at the taco truck, Rodriguez said, they were bringing the food to their North Las Vegas home to eat while watching the game. “It’s about as authentic Mexican food as it gets in our city,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “Better than we could make at home.”

Rodriguez said the food reminded him of being back in Puebla, where he and his father cheered on Puebla FC at its home stadium, Estadio Cuauhtémoc.

“Eating food and watching soccer, it’s a good combination,” he said. “We’re 100 percent, all for Mexico tonight.”

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