El Camioncito Returns With More Latin Food

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El Camioncito, the truck that popped up on the radar this spring when it added tacos and later tamales to it’s otherwise typical food cart menu, has returned to Midtown South. After weeks of disappointing many a taco hunter, the truck is back at its just out of bounds location on 31st Street and 7th Avenue. I stopped by yesterday to take a look at what’s new.

The menu’s Latin section has continued to expand, adding a number of tasty-looking options. See what’s on it and one of the new snacks after the jump.


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In addition to the tacos and tamales, El Camioncito now offers rice and beans with grilled steak or chicken, flautas and empanadas. Most interesting to me, if a little odd, were the salchipapas (french fries topped with sausage.) I don’t know if they top that with a mountain of cheese, but if they do I’ll be coming back for more of that as long as my heart will hold out.

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So, yeah, there’s plenty I want to try out from the new menu, but I decided to start small and try an empanada. Interestingly, the small wedge of a pocket seemed to be made of potato, not dough. I might be totally wrong, but it seemed very much like a crispy fried knish, hollowed out and stuffed with diced shredded, stewed beef and potatoes in a curry-like spice sauce.

It’s not like any other empanada I’ve had before, but I definitely liked it.

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I followed that with an overstuffed chorizo taco with everything on it, including the controversial thin guacamole sauce. I’m pretty pleased to have El Camioncito back in the neighborhood and look forward to exploring more of their new options.

El Camioncito, NE Corner of 31st Street and 7th Ave.

16 Comments

  • you shoulda tried the chicken tamale.

    huge, tasty, great!

  • They really are generous with their taco meats!

  • Yay, the El Camioncito little truck!

  • This is the worst lunch from a truck/cart I have ever had. I ordered the chicken taco and cheese empanada. Not only did they take forever to make my food, but my taco was disgustingly soggy and filled with the darkest of dark meat. Also, my cheese empanada was so greasy I’m pretty sure I’m having a heart attack right now. I didn’t even finish my meal and yet I still feel overstuffed and sick to my stomach. Will never go back there. No thank you Midtown Lunch!

  • There should have been a disclaimer. How can you go wrong with chicken?

    • I have actually heard this truck is pretty bad, but haven’t tried it myself.

      But if you complain about dark meat chicken showing up in Central/South American food your opinion is probably worth about as much as the meat that goes into the chorizo. If you want boneless skinless chicken breast there are Chipotle close by.

      • Ouch Steveroller! I can deal with a little dark meat here and there, but this chicken was disgusting beyond belief! And that wasn’t even the worst part. The sogginess of the taco is what killed me. I’m not sure, but the cook may have dropped my taco in the sink or something before wrapping it up.

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    saw this post. went today. really really bad! got the chicken cutlet sandwich- dont ask why- and it was just terrible. there so much cartilage and bone in my chicken cutlet that i wouldnt be surprised if it was a straight up chicken leg disguised as a cutlet. fries were definitely frozen and i suspect they just let them thaw out, don’t even bother to fry. cheese empanada tasted like crap. and so did the chicken taco. i agree with the author that they have plenty of “tasty-looking options” however, im afraid they are just that, tasty-LOOKING. not actually tasty. that said, i’d recommend never going here. for anything. ever.

    • So you really really dont like Little Morrocco….
      and now you really really really dont like this place….

      Pray tell, is there any MTL-type eatery you _do_ actually like?

    • ….and both these comments after registering here a mere hour ago….

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    fred= quite the observant one. i work in a building nearby little morocco. today, after i was on the receptive end of a colossal playing at el camioncito, i remembered seeing little morocco being praised on midtownlunch, so i thought i’d better warn people of that too. anything else detective fred?

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    oh and btw, i love plenty of MTL-style eateries. truck on 40th and broadway, next to duane reade, amazing. i’m easy to please. trust me. the thing is, when the food is good, i hardly feel the need to comment. it’s only after getting played the way i did today do i feel the need to warn the masses.

  • This sounds like the same lunch I had yesterday, but I had a chicken tamal too.
    Loved the chorizo taco and liked the chicken tamal, but was meh on the beef empanada. Didn’t really like the dough, and the beef filling was pretty bland.
    Wanted to try the flautas but they weren’t available. Seemed to be trouble with the deep fryer, which could account for the french fry debacle described above.
    http://tinyurl.com/2cmdzmr

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