Taco Bus: Good Vibes, Good Food
By y
JOHN C. COTEY
john@ntneighborhoodnews.com
When Jillian and Chris Bruckner
were looking for a small restaurant to
add to their Tailgate Mart on the north
side of S.R. 56, they wanted something
new for the area, something unique and
maybe something a little funky and cool.
Taco Bus fit the bill.
Three years later, the Bruckners are
still happy with their choice. They say the
Taco Bus, located just west of the Tampa
Premium Outlets in the Shell gas station
between Wawa and Walgreens, has been a
hit as it has established itself in the Wesley
Chapel-area community, going as far as to
offer discounts to certain communities and
neighborhoods on random days.
Like most Taco Buses, you can’t
miss it — it looks like someone backed
a school bus right through the wall and
into the Tailgate Mart (photo), a signature
look for the franchise’s locations.
“There’s always a risk when you’re
opening a new business,” Jillian says.
“We kept our fingers crossed and so far,
it has worked out.”
Jillian says the secret is the freshness
and quality of the authentic Mexican
food served by Taco Bus, which far exceeds
what you might expect when you
stop in at a gas station to pick up some
tacos and
empanadas.
At the time
the location
opened in
2018, there
were few options
touting
themselves
as authentic
Mexican in
the Wesley
Chapel area.
The
Taco Bus
does typically
offer limited indoor seating, which is obviously
not available at this time although
Jillian says the location’s takeout business
has still been brisk, with its full menu and
everything made in house right down to
marinating the meat and cooking up the
tortilla shells.
“Everything is made fresh,” Jillian
says. “There is nothing we bring in that
is already made. We cut up our vegetables
daily, the pico de gallo and guacamole
are all made daily and the meat is
grilled fresh each day. Everything is done
in house to give you a better product.”
Jillian says the recipes used for the
tacos, burritos, quesadillas and other
Mexican delights are the same ones
brought from Monterey, Mexico, by
Chef Rene Valenzuela 25 years ago when
he opened the original and most famous
Taco Bus on E. Hillsborough Ave. in
Tampa, in an actual converted school
bus. The mini-chain now has 15 locations
in Tampa Bay, including the Bruckner’s
Clearwater location, and last month
opened its first location in Sarasota.
Taco Bus’ street vendor taco vibe
was featured on a special edition of the
Food Channel’s “Man v. Food” in 2011,
and also appeared that same year on Guy
Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
Fieri had a chilorio torta (Mexican sandwich)
and a butternut squash tortilla.
It’s the same thing Chris ate when
he met about buying a franchise. A
telera roll, cut in half and warmed before
getting slathered with refried beans,
shredded pork (or whatever your choice
of protein is), cabbage, pico de gallo,
jalapeno strips, mayonnaise and cheese.
“He ate that, and decided he was
signing on,” Jillian says.
The Food
What sold my brood were the empanadas
(far right photo on next page),
which my 14-year-old empanada aficionado
said were the best he’s had (ending
a bad run of empanada taste-testing at
a variety of places). He preferred the
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