Los Angeles’ food truck craze has motored on down to the kosher side of town. Kosher tacos where you walkest by the way, and even where you drivest by, are now on the menu and ready to order.
Since the end of August, Takosher, the blue-and-white glatt kosher taco truck, has been making test stops at locations in the midcity and Pico-Robertson neighborhoods.
When it officially opens for business on Sept. 12, the kosher taco truck will join L.A.’s growing ethnic fleet of Korean, Mexican, Italian and Vietnamese food trucks.
“I have wanted a taco truck since I was a teenager,” said Lowell Bernstein, a co-owner, along with Moises Baqueiro and Chris Martin, of this most peripatetic addition to the city’s kosher food scene.
Bernstein, a former director of culinary arts at a local charter school, is excited about the truck’s cross-cultural implications.
The kosher taco truck, the first of its kind in Los Angeles, and perhaps even the United States, serves up a kosher menu of five different types of “chosen tacos,” including a “brisketaco,” a “chosen chicken,” and what must be a first for culinary fusion, the “Original Latketaco.”
For a religion that celebrates three pilgrimage festivals, you might think that mobile kosher food would be a natural. Yet, the road to kosher food on wheels has been a slow one.
“It’s taken 1 1/2 years,” Bernstein said. “We needed to find someone to help us develop a kosher certification program,” he explained one afternoon as he cooked a skillet of well-seasoned brisket in the truck’s 3-foot-wide galley-style kitchen.
After making inquiries to several kosher certification groups, Bernstein began working with Three Line K under the direction of Rabbi Yisroel Kelemer, the current kosher supervisor for the Skirball Cultural Center, to develop a glatt kosher program for the truck.
The program includes unannounced spot checks by a mashgiach (kosher supervisor) and keeping all purchase records on board the truck for inspection. The program also allows the rabbi of authority at any site where the truck is parked to come on board for his own inspection.
“We wanted a completely transparent program … one that would stand up to scrutiny,” said Bernstein, who had moved on to preparing a tray of tiny potato puffs for the Latketaco.
“We call in every morning with our locations,” he said as he cooked up some sweet-smelling onions and peppers.
“We buy all our meat from Doheny Kosher Meats. We even found an authentic-tasting line of corn tortillas,” added Bernstein, who has lived in Mexico City.
According to co-owner and chef Baqueiro, who grew up in Mexico City, the menu has been created from authentic recipes. “We make all our own sauces,” he said as he seared filling for the chicken tacos.
Adding to the fusion feel of the kosher taco truck, they also serve Dr. Brown’s cream, black cherry and Cel-Ray sodas.
As part of the plan, Kelemer even requires Takosher to inspect its greens. To prevent any insects from getting into the food, Bernstein first is required to wash cilantro in hydrogen peroxide and then examine it on a light box.
“Haven’t found anything yet,” he said.
Kashering the truck also presented several challenges.
“We worked out a plan,” said the fedora-wearing Rabbi Kelemer, who stood by the truck one afternoon while it was parked in front of the Kosher Club on Pico Boulevard.
Kelemer’s assistant, Rabbi Eitan Ratzabi, made the truck kosher-ready. “He came on the truck and torched the metal countertops,” Kelemer said. The kashering was completed by heating the oven and taking the cooking utensils to a local mikveh for immersion.
A finishing touch came with the addition of a side-panel hand-washing station complete with blessings.
With so many gourmet food trucks lining up for customers, how will the kosher taco truck concept roll financially?
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According to the third partner in the venture, marketer and business investor Martin, “I fell in love with the concept. I could see there was no competition,” he said. “Being a non-Jew helped me to see that this transcends religious boundaries,” he added.
A couple of paying customers seemed to agree.
“It tasted like an authentic Mexican grill,” said customer Heather Warren of Pico-Robertson, who keeps kosher and tried the chicken. “It’s tangy and sweet.”
“The brisket is very tender and has a nice barbecue flavor,” said another customer, Chris Grisham of Los Angeles.
In terms of cost, the fact that most truck tacos ring up at between $1 and $1.50 and his kosher brisket taco costs more than $3 didn’t faze Grisham. “It’s a small investment,” he said.
“I only have a vague idea about what kosher is,” Grisham admitted, “Something about hygiene?”
“It couldn’t hurt,” he added, digging in.
Find the Takosher truck’s daily location (doesn’t roll on Shabbat) at Takosher.com, or on Twitter @Takosher.
Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles. He can be reached at {encode=”edmojace@gmail.com” title=”edmojace@gmail.com”}.
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