Cartel Taco

Eating tacos made with Korean cooking techniques and ingredients, I’m starting to enjoy fusion food again. I’m one of those who like traditional authentic recipes, but these tacos were just simply delicious!
The folks at Cartel Taco only use local grass-​fed free range meats for their tacos. You can either choose beef ribeye or pork butt. All of their meats are marinated in soy, chili, sesame oil, brown sugar & spices. After, they’re pan grilled and served with even more spicy goodness with crunchy kimchi. The beef and pork tacos were spicy, and they’re perfect with a cold drink to cool you down.
They use only locally hand made white corn tortillas from Burnaby with only corn, water, and lime. With all of the fresh and local ingredients, they’re easily my favourite tacos for snack time. Yum. Tacos with Seoul!

Hmmm… Mexico + Korean. What a surprise! I didn’t think I would like it, but I love to be proven wrong. –when it comes to food.
I found the prices a little high, the sizes a little small, but it was a great snack. I think 3 tacos would have filled me up perfectly for lunch. The meat was juicy and flavorful while the kim chi added tang /​kick to the taco. I’d eat here again.

Excellent tacos! Great concept of a fushion Taco. I’m just noy sure about how sanitory they are without a sink at their cart though. Maybe if the cook wore gloves or had a way to wash his hands before cooking would have made me feel better. I just feel this way because he was just hanging out on the planter when I ordered 3 delicious tacos.

Really enjoyed both the beef and the pork tacos from Cartel.
Because of the BC Day holiday, they weren’t in their usual spot downtown, so we drove over to Kits Beach to find Cartel. Their location was a bit awkward — no sidewalk and you had to climb over a chainlink fence to get to the cart.
But once the plate of tacos is in hand, who cares about a little inconvenience? We grabbed a seat on a bench with a view of Stanley Park, and dug into the delicious tacos. Great flavours. We finished the first four between the two of us, looked at each other, and headed back to the cart for another four.
I might give a slight edge to the beef taco, but seriously, both were amazing.

This place is true innovation, and the owner is definitely worth chatting with while you wait for your fabulous «burrito» to be prepared. You would just never think about mixing mexican with korean, its like skiing with a sombrero, you just would never do it.
The street food scene in Vancouver is definitely young, but I do like what I am seeing. You just need to go out there and try these spots. You need to have a big appetite for this particular joint, I love how generous they are with their portions. You can definitely finish it, and you will be satisfied through and through at the end. Check this place out, and I am pretty sure you will visit them again before summer ends, which is any day now :)

Luckily for me, Cartel Taco was sitting pretty on Granville Street during Canada Day, otherwise I’d never be able to check out their regular digs! The food is good, and at a great price, but unfortunately for me everything was overly spiced — my mouth was on fire by the end of it. The pork was juicier than the beef (which was completely dried and chewy), but overall it was good stuff. I might give it another try if we ever cross paths again :)

Now we are talking! What a unique combination of Korean and Mexican fusion. Fantastic, friendly staff and terrific tacos spells five stars in my book! Don’t miss it! Being a big supporter of La Taqueria, these guys certainly give them a run for their money. Tried the pork and the beef done Bulgogi style with corn tacos, cilantro, diced onion and kimchi… Mmmmmm good! Perfectly spiced and designed. What a concept; wish I would have came up with it!!!

Yum. $ 5.75 for two tacos — I had one each of Beef and Pork. I thought they were both Bulgogi, but I liked the flavouring of the Beef better.
Both kinds get an onion/​cilantro mix and chopped kimchi as topping.
The kimchi was flavourful without overwhelming a chili wimp like me (hot sauce condiments are available for those that prefer more).
They’re not the crunchy tacos but the Carnitas kind: the small soft circles plied high with filling. Personally, I prefer this!
There is a teppan-​yaki type skillet surface built in to the cart, which they put meat and tacos onto as needed. Cool.
+ taste
+ orange wedges!
+ a second plate as a lid (not sure if this is only because it was raining)
The negatives are pretty trivial:
— The lime was a wedge cut in half, so I couldn’t squeeze it as normal. I had to squish the pulp part with my fingers.
— They didn’t hand me a napkin. I didn’t think to look, so I’m glad I had one in my office, because I definitely needed it.
Apparently the tortillas are Corn (Gluten-​Free) and they’re working on a Tofu vegetarian item.
QUICK! Dec 1, 2010 is their last day for this winter!

I’m giving these guys 5 stars because the taco’s are freaking awesome. Beef bulgogi and pork taco’s? Hell yeah.
Not just that, but the guys that work there are super friendly. I passed by every single day for the past 2 months and finally today I decided to try. I’m glad I did. The tortillas are absolutely perfect (more people should use corn tortillas, seriously.)
Great flavour too, my taco’s were spiced perfectly without being too spicy.
I’ll be back.

I have 4 of these tacos inside of me right now and I have no complaints.

One of the better new food carts in town. The pork tacos are very good, but the beef ones are kinda bland. They’re smallish tacos, so four is the right number for me, while my wife is happy with two or three.

Another addition to the food cart scene.
Cartel Taco sells two kinds of Korean inspired pinchos tacos. You can go for a pork or a beef option and buy 4 tacos for around $ 10 or 2 for $ 5.75. I could do with a bit more spice in my tacos but aside from that the beef especially had some great bright flavours. The tortillas are supposedly fresh although mine was a little tough but they may have been due to overcooking on the grill. These little tacos are quite moorish though and I may have gone back for seconds. An excellent addition to the food cart scene and hopefully we will see great things from these guys.
We could also be in for a Korean taco war with the Roaming Dragon cart on the same stretch also selling this fusion fare.
This cart is run by the same operators as Abigail’s Party and with that experience behind them I think we can expect some great quality and consistency.