Phoenix is known for its restaurant patios and outdoor dining. At many places, however, customers sit outside only half the year, understandably focusing on interior spaces from May until October. It takes a special kind of dedication to operate with outdoor dining as the only option all year along, but that’s not an uncommon setup at local taquerias where a trailer is permanently parked at a location with seating under a big tent. Taqueria Tepehuaje in South Phoenix is just that sort of place, a taco truck with tables and chairs under a colorful canopy.
Tepehuaje is found a quarter mile south of Broadway/Central station on the B Line. It occupies the corner of a strip mall at Central and Marguerite avenues, and a bright banner wrapping around the canopy advertises the taqueria’s signature items, everything from street food to seafood. As is typical at this type of operation, customers walk up to a window and place an order. Payment is either with cash or via payment services like Zelle or Venmo. Menus are boards on the trailer with some supplementation from handwritten signs.
The menu begins as expected with tacos, torta, burritos, quesadillas, and vampiros with a choice of five meats: carne asada, tripa, cabeza, al pastor, and birria. The last item is prepared with goat, rather than beef, which has become common as the birria trend has grown. The goat is tender with a distinctive flavor and accompanied by just a bit of cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato as toppings. Less is more is generally the philosophy here with squeeze bottles of medium green, hot red, and really hot orange salsas are available for additional heat as needed.
Tepehuaje’s carne asada comes across almost like salted brisket, similar to corned beef, and works particularly well in a quesadilla where it can be mellowed with melted cheese. It also shines inside a telera with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and avocado to form a classic torta. The pork cooked in an al pastor style has crisp bark encasing deep flavor. All tacos here are served on corn tortillas and come with onions two ways: diced and placed on top of the meat and pickled served on the side. Tacos mixtos, combining two different cuts of meat, are also possible here.
This place has extensive hours from early in the morning to late at night, and it’s not surprising that crowds tend to come towards the beginning or end of the day at the hottest times of year. With that in mind, Tepehuaje offers an extensive selection of breakfast burritos with fillings of potatoes, ham, chorizo, and nopales in combination with scrambled eggs. Tamales in a combo with rice and beans are an all-day favorite found not on the main menu, but instead on a handwritten sign nearby. Thick corn husks conceal a serious pork chili colorado on the inside.
Seafood might seem difficult to make work in an outdoor environment, but the taqueria benefits from its sibling Raspados y Neveria Tepehuaje behind it in the shopping center. Although the rapsado shop markets itself primarily as a shop for frozen desserts, it also serves a menu of mariscos, enabling it to prepare shrimp and fish for the truck outside. The fish takes the form of marlin, smoked and seasoned, and then served in a form of machaca that seems almost like a dried tuna salad mixed with rice inside a burrito. It goes well with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Beverages and desserts overlap here with most of the drinks being on the sweet side. There are cold bottles and cans of sodas and water, but more distinctive aquas fresca are also offered, again with support from the ice cream shop nearby. The sandia, or watermelon, drink in particular has a vivid red color that matches the bright hue of the tablecloths at the tables in front of the truck. Horchata is available, as is cebada, a similarly silky drink made with barley. For cold weather enjoyment, there is also champurrado, hot chocolate thickened with corn.
During construction of the South Central light rail extension, this spot has been popular with construction work crews, and it will no doubt continue to attract people of all professions who want reliable Mexican food in an informal outdoor format. For those with an aversion to lingering outside in summer, all the food here is suitable for takeout and usually requires only a short wait under the tent. Tepehuaje, the tree reflected in the taqueria’s name, is known for its feathered leaves that give shade. Here a canopy does the job instead, but the effect is the same.
4602 S. Central Ave., Phoenix AZ 85041
PHX Rail Food 