El Idolo
“There are a bunch of awesome meat options, from chorizo and carnitas to tripe, beef tongue, and goat.”
“Located conveniently on 6th ave near Washington Square and the West Village.”
“I recommend getting the Lengua (Tongue) Gordita.”
El Idolo
Take-out: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
3 reviews
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Hailing from Corona, Queens, El Idolo brings the taco truck experience of the boroughs into the heart of the city. Where other taquerias are stuck in their distant, gritty hoods, the mobile El Idolo has made Mexican food on the go, a very convenient option.
While most taco trucks will feature handful of additional items like nachos, quesadillas, or tortas, El Idolo provides a myriad of edibles that go beyond that and tacos. Cemitas, huaraches, flautas, sopes, gorditas and even tamales are on the table. They even have enchiladas ($9), which is really more of a platter with rice and beans than anything else. There is even a vegetarian taco option for $3 a pop. From an overall selection standpoint, El Idolo is already winner.
The food however, leaves something to be desired at times. Tacos are definitely passable at $2.50 for Manhattan intoxicated standards, but it'd be hard for me to crave their carne asada, carnitas, cecina, or al pastor tacos on a normal day. One of my favorite street side items, tamales, are more often than not, dry and clumpy. A lot of sauce is needed for tastebud rescue.
Even the gorditas and sopes are just run of the mill in comparison to the rest – but the tortas have been their saving grace. Cemitas while similar, don't carry quite the same bite. I have yet to try enchiladas from the truck, but it seems the mini handheld items are more desirable and easier to eat.
In the end, it's a taco cart at prices any Manhattanite would appreciate. The guys are friendly and the cart happens to be in an area that gets plenty of late night foot traffic. El Idolo doesn't try hard to be cutting edge like many other Manhattan based trucks, they offer just enough merit an occasional late night encounter.
Just passed by this truck today on the LES heading over to Max Fish.
On the way home they were still there parked on Houston & Ludlow so I grabbed a taco.
In the meat selection list, there is no VEGGIE option, which I guess I wasn't surprised at. What I *WAS* surprised at was how good the veggie taco I got turned out to be.
Avacado, some radishes, cheese, lettuce, rice + beans. Yum. Grabbed a menu, and seems they normally park at W3rd and Sixth, so will keep an eye out for them.
So far so good on my first visit to El Idolo. The truck is totally nondescript, without a snazzy name or quirky Food Truck 2.0 sign.
If there were such thing as an old school, no nonsense food truck, this would be it. They have everything you want–tacos, burritos, flautas, tamales, and my favorite–cemitas and tortas…so good! There are a bunch of awesome meat options, from chorizo and carnitas to tripe, beef tongue, and goat.
I will be eating here often and well.