Wrapped in banana leaves, tamales at La Vecindad food truck get a veggie-like flavor
Good to Go: Top-notch takeout
One of a legion of food trucks in Milwaukee, Taqueria La Vecindad — la vecindad meaning the neighborhood in Spanish — parks in two neighborhoods, actually.
From 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday, it’s on W. National Ave. near the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Then it heads to W. Oklahoma Ave., to park just east of S. 60th St. outside the Aldi grocery store, where it stands from 2:30 until 9 p.m.
On Saturdays, a busy grocery-shopping day, it’s on Oklahoma from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Sundays, though, the owners — who have a portion of Psalms 23 in Spanish painted on the truck — go to church, and the truck is closed.
Francisco and Griselda Ortiz started La Vecindad two years ago, after he worked in Milwaukee restaurants for 16 years. He’s originally from Oaxaca in Mexico, she’s from Mexico City. “We have a little combination,” he says of the menu.
Many of the items on the menu are what you’d find at any taco truck — tacos, of course, tortas and tostadas, for starters. But it also sells tamales, and they’re the clue that one of the owners is from Oaxaca: The tamales are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks before they’re steamed.
The dough, the masa, stays soft and tender in the banana leaves. The leaves, which tint the dough lightly, give it a slightly vegetal flavor that can seem a bit smoky.
The masa is seasoned with a couple of herbs — epazote, a little like oregano, and acuyo, which also goes by hierba santa or hoja santa, sacred herb or sacred leaf. It tastes ever so slightly minty.
“It has good flavor,” Francisco Ortiz said.
The masa is stuffed either with pork or chicken that’s coated in red salsa, though Oaxacan tamales often are made with mole negro; I’m partial to the pork. Each one is $3. I find one to be filling for lunch or for dinner. Not enough for you? Get two. You’ll be out only 6 bucks.
Wrapped in foil, the tamales are good and hot whether you gobble them on the spot or take them home or to work first. Orders can be called in: (414) 249-9135.
