One of my routines is to hit a food truck at the Sony centre on my way back to the train station. This often means I forfeit the meal on the Via when heading back to London but one can only enjoy so much panko encrusted tilapia. There are different trucks on different days, some of which are difficult to consume, especially if I’m in a rush or don’t want the to burden myself (or the guy beside me) with a pound of pulled pork poutine before a two hour train ride home. La Loteria is a newer food truck which promises real Mexican tacos, a bold statement in a city which had been so tacophilic for the last few years. The truck pays homage to he Mexican game of chance with the same name. Like bingo, it used pictograms with clever riddles instead of numbers. One wins when they have a combination of four pictures in a row, square or each corner.
The menu is simple. You get three tacos for 10 bucks. As for choices, on this day there was no pig tail,cauliflower or beef cheek choices. Instead, it was simply carnita, al pastor and chicken. I ordered one of each. They were served on soft yellow corn tortillas and simply garnished with cilantro and fresh onions. Condiments include green and red salsas. The al pastor tacos were delicious, seasoned with fragrant spices and the right amount of heat. The carnitas were moist and meaty. The chicken tacos were tasty as well but my least favorite of the three. Personally, I like a stringy, dark meat chicken taco and find those made with cubed chicken breast a little bland. I loved the fresh onions and modest use of the cilantro. The limber yet crunchy shells were some of the best I’ve had in Toronto.
My Take
Tacos remain one of the staples on many menus and the preferred snack foods of across the GTA. In many cases, they are filled with unorthadox ingredients, coated with cereal or given names like the Gobernador. Most of the time these modifications come with an increase in pesos. If you’re looking for a simple, cheap and delicious taco, this is your place. The carnita and al pastor tacos are delicious. Despite the fact that the rooster. heron, shrimp, deer and watermelon are all depicted on loteria cards (let’s not get any weird menu ideas here), marking a pig card would make me wanna scream “Loteria” everytime.
Fare..Eat..Ales 