El Norteno Pollos Asados

El Norteno hits a sweet spot for me not only as food but as an idea. There’s something captured here that says something about food in our city, gentrification and what consumers want.
I stopped in and saw intestine taco or some intestine based dish on the menu. I could only think, where else would you find that in Austin at a hipster taco place? The issue is that this is not a hipster taco place. This is most likely a taco truck run by a small dedicated staff who’s busy reproducing the tacos they grew up with in Mexico. I had 3 al pastor tacos and grabbed a water from inside the gas station. They came with a green sauce and a light simple salsa that also came in a cup.
The pork was awesome not overly spiced, the tortillas were soft and pliable and this folks is what’s great about a taco. Why is this place not in it’s own stand alone restaurant with a line out of the door? Well, it’s probably more to do with marketing and image than food quality. Some in Austin want a taco served by a guy with more facial piercings while I’d actually prefer to work on my spanish, order tres al pastor por favor and wonder to myself how the intestine dish is.
The meats on the stove in the back smelled like Mexican heaven. One of my goals as someone in Austin is to eat one of everything on their menu. Folks please, give these guys the respect they deserve. Promote quality food from wonderful people. Venture just a little out of your comfort zone.
I’ll see you at El Norteno soon!

LEGIT taco truck. Inexpensive, cooked to perfection, and generous portions. The carnitas taco is my favorite, but the pollo and carne asada are great, too. If they were downtown, people would be lining up to pay $ 6/​taco, but since they’re on the east side, everything is $ 1.75
Everybody at work loves when it is my turn to bring in the breakfast tacos, especially the chorizo or cactus and eggs.

Not ur average taco stand. The Carnitas were perfect. Chicharron and fajitas were good. The green salsa was fresh and spicy. All n all I highly recommend it

Awesome prices, gotta give props to the tacos. all of them are great. Only once was i somewhat disappointed by the chewyness of the meat but i gave them another chance and its been the bomb everytime. quesdillas are great… awesome service, badass workers out there everyday in this Austin heat. expect to a wait a lil there are always people there.
CASH ONLY by the way

The whole chicken deal (comes with rice and beans, tortillas, limes, and salsas) is hard to beat – it’s enough for 3 – 4 people for $ 15 – but the carnitas are especially delicious.