ground beef, which had a flaky crust and
just the right amount of filling, but he
gave the portobello ranchero empanada a
thumbs-up as well.
The steak quesadilla (above) was a
hit with the 17-year-old. He likes it plain,
so there was no hiding the taste of the
meat with all kinds of toppings. Taco Bus
passed the test — the steak-loving kid
was the first one finished, praising the
meat for its tenderness.
The twin grande tacos were, well,
grande. In fact, we thought we had been
given burritos instead, but no sir. Extralarge
meant extra-large, and we filled one
with marinated pork, which was my favorite
protein of the ones we gorged on, and one
with chicken (photo on previous page).
We also tried a bean and cheese
burrito, which wasn’t our favorite but we
probably should have gone with black
beans instead of the refried ones. We ate
all of it anyway.
The quesadillas, tacos and burritos
(and every other menu item) can
be stuffed with a number of different
proteins. Taco Bus offers a wide variety
— four different kinds of chicken
(grilled, shredded, spicy and chipotle),
two different kinds of pork (marinated
and shredded), ground beef, steak, fish
and shrimp.
The fish tacos, in fact, are made with
beer-battered grouper and come highly
recommended. Jillian says they are “ridiculously
good” and one of the restaurant’s
most underrated items. My wife is still
mad at me for forgetting to order one.
Taco Tuesday (with Taco Bus’ $2 tacos),
here we come.
And, for the vegans, Jillian says Taco
Bus has a “humongous” following of
meatless Mexican food lovers. There are
plenty of options, like grilled portobello
mushrooms with poblano peppers,
onions and tomatoes in a spicy red salsa,
butternut squash grilled with sweet red
peppers and topped with queso cotija,
textured soy protein seasoned and grilled
and a Plant Fare, or grilled plant protein
marinated with smokey chipotle.
We also tried one of Taco Bus’
newer items, the Elote Mexican Street
Corn. To be fair, grilled corn on the cob
with just butter and salt already is pretty
much the perfect food, but Taco Bus
tops it with smoky chipotle sauce, Cotija
cheese and fresh cilantro. If you enjoy
smoky chipotle, you’ll like this.
Taco Bus has specials every day of
the week, and since we ordered on a
Monday, we were able to cop an order
of Papos — a plate of chips loaded with
Mexican rice, a protein of your choice
(we went with the marinated pork; it was
delicious), cabbage, tomatoes and queso
— for $2 off the regular price.
Does that sound like a lot of food? I
did mention the two teenage boys, right?
So, for dessert, we had to try the sopapillas
— puffed pillows of fried dough
topped with cinnamon sugar and a bit of
honey. It was a sweet beginning to our
daily quarantine food coma.
Though business is down due to the
coronavirus, Taco Bus is still doing takeout.
In fact, we ordered our food from the parking
lot after shopping at Costco, and when
general manager Pedro Ramos told us it
would be ready in five minutes, my wife and
I looked at each other and just smirked.
But sure enough, after driving directly
across S.R. 56 and parking, Ramos
had our order ready to go.
That kind of service extends beyond
the Taco Bus kitchen. Jillian and Chris
offer 20-percent-off orders from first responders
and active military, and last week
helped feed the Hillsborough County
Sheriff’s Office. The week before that, they
fed the emergency room at St. Joseph’s
Hospital-North in Lutz, as well as at Morton
Plant near their Clearwater location.
“We like to get out in the community,”
Jillian says. “They have been giving
us a lot of support, and we like to do the
same. We love the fact that we are able to
give back.”
For a list of the daily specials
at the Taco Bus located at 25195
S.R. 54, make sure you follow the
location’s Instagram page @tacobuslutz.
For takeout orders, call (813)
949-4012, order online at Taco-Bus.
com/stores/tacobus-lutz/ or call Uber
Eats or Door Dash for delivery. Also,
see the ad on pg. 28 of this issue for
some great Taco Bus specials.
Neighborhood News @NTWCNews For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 28, Issue 8 • April 10, 2020 • NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net 27
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