Blend Continues the Taco Truck Trend With Latin Flavors

Aside from Palenque, which limits its menu to Colombian arepas, we don’t have a whole lot of Latin food coming out of food trucks in Midtown. I had an amazing ropa vieja and cuban sandwich at Bongo Brothers, but they have yet to make their way to Midtown proper. Thanks to an email from Luncher Michelle, we discovered a brand spanking new truck called Blend Latin Fusion. And they’re serving, well, latin fusion food.

I found them yesterday at 47th and Park amongst a sea of other food trucks. They’ve been parking at this location for the last few days and expect to be there again today. I talked to the guys briefly and they have a full restaurant in Long Island City and plan to expand the menu on the truck soon. At the moment, a little blackboard lists just four options: tacos, burritos, bowls, and a Cuban sandwich. Apart from the sandwich, the menu sounds suspiciously like Korilla and all the other taco fusion trucks on the streets. Granted, it is a pretty easy model and you can put any flavors you want inside some tortillas.

The menu lists 3 tacos for $5 (a real bargain), but I wanted the Cuban sandwich so asked if I could order just one taco. I chose the beef and along with the Cuban sandwich, my large plate of food cost me $6. I don’t know if that will be the standard price for a single taco ($1 for one taco doesn’t seem right when it’s 3 for $5), but I’m a cheap bastard so I didn’t ask any questions.

The double wrapped taco featured a vibrant array of colors. I’ve never seen anything quite this colorful from a truck before. The steak reminded me of ropa vieja – it was shredded, braised meat and it was absolutely delicious. Topping off the taco was bright purple cabbage, freshly cut scallions, some sweet pickles, and a snowfall of salty cheese. It must have been cotija, but it bore a striking resemblance (and flavor) to parmesan. Either way, it was a pretty tasty specimen.

My main course was the Cuban Sandwich, which was pretty good, but not quite as mindblowing as that beef taco. It was served on a seasoned foccacia-like bread. It was quite delicious, but I was slightly disappointed it wasn’t grilled and toasty. My only other complaint was that there was very little mustard (if any) on the sandwich. Other than that, it had quite a lot of flavor – perfectly tender pork, salty Swiss cheese, meaty ham, tangy crisp pickles, and a light schmear of mayo.

Considering we don’t have many Latin food truck options nearby and the prices are unbeatable at this truck, I’d say that Blend is a very welcome addition to Midtown. They also offer some interesting looking homemade drinks, like Lychee Lemonade and Passionfruit Iced Tea. And I’m excited to see how their menu expands. They should still be on 47th and Park today. They do have a Twitter feed, but it does not seem to have been updated in a while so you may have to just try your luck today.

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