Tacos & Tortas Lures Customers Back With High-Quality Ingredients

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Josue Hernandez watches over a pot of homemade mexican rice cooking on the stove as his wife, Reyna, kneads a large ball of dough before flattening it into handmade tortillas. 

It’s noon on Saturday and the husband and wife’s lime green taco truck, Tacos & Tortas has just opened at its location at the bend where Harrison Avenue turns into West Main Street.

The two opened their taco truck three years ago after Josue moved here from New York City to marry Reyna. The two first met in the Oaxaca region of Mexico over 20 years ago, but life took Josue to New York City to become a chef at an Italian restaurant, while Reyna headed to Lewis County. They didn’t keep in contact for years until they met again on Facebook when Josue sent her a friend request one day. The two began rekindling their friendship, which led to dating and Josue flying out to Washington to visit her for a week at a time.

“One day, finally, I said, ‘I’m wasting a lot of time flying back and forth so let’s just get married,’” Josue said. “Sometimes Facebook works.”

Reyna’s brother, Ruben Morales, owner of Alpha Y La Omega Landscaping, is the one who inspired Josue to open his own taco truck. With 20 years of cooking experience, it was a no-brainer.

“I learned a lot from him,” Josue said. “He’s been teaching me how to deal with people and how to make my business better. He helps me a lot. He’s one of my biggest sponsors.”

 It didn’t take long for Josue’s business to take off. He specializes in top-notch, homemade ingredients. Everything is made fresh daily, from the tortillas, to the rice, to all the seasonings. Eighty percent of his menu is organic and the carne asada, which Josue seasons himself, is made from 100-percent grass-fed beef. Even the applewood-smoked bacon is rubbed in custom jalapeno seasoning. 

“I always think, if I’m going to put something on the plate, I want to make sure I want to eat it,” Josue said. “If I don’t like it how can I expect other people to like it?”

Though he does offer al pastor, lengua (tongue), pollo and shrimp in addition to the carne asada, the most enticing protein at Tacos & Tortas is the Saturday-only special of Australian Wagyu beef tacos for $3 each. The unbelievably juicy beef is fried on a flattop, comes in either ribeye cut and New York strip and rivals any taco meat out there.

It’s not just the high-quality meats and handmade tortillas that make Hernandez’ tacos irresistible, either. It’s an amalgam of ingredients that marry his dishes together.

“People think it’s just a taco with onions and cilantro,” Josue said. “No, there’s a lot of things behind it. Fifty percent of a good taco is the salsa. The other 50 percent is the tortilla and the meat.

It took Hernandez two years to perfect his spice blends and his special salsa verde. Josue waits until the peppers are super ripe, which turns the normally green salsa into an orange hue.

“For some reason it turns orange,” Josue said. “It looks like habanero salsa. It’s really good, really tasty but it’s not as spicy as habanero.”

Most of their items are locally-sourced, as well, as Josue buys the bulk of his ingredients at the Country Corner Market in Rochester.

“People support us and we support local businesses,” Josue said.

Reyna, who has lived in Lewis County for almost 20 years, works at her brother’s landscaping business and only comes to the taco truck on Saturdays to prepare the homemade tortillas. She’s been making them since she was a little girl in Oaxaca when her mother taught her to flatten them by slapping her hands together. Now she uses a machine to press them.

“We like to offer people good quality,” Reyna said. “(Josue) loves being here. He loves being with customers and he loves cooking.”

Josue and Reyna put the slogan, “God is With Us” printed below “Tacos & Tortas” in white lettering on the food truck. It’s a slogan the two live by and what has carried them through being new business owners.

“We put ‘God is With Us’ because when you open a business, it’s hard,” Josue said. “Even if there’s no sales, no business, we still believe that God is with us. So far, he’s the one to provide everything.”

Josue and Reyna partnered with the Harrison Square Presbyterian Church in Fords Prairie last November to feed the hungry during Thanksgiving. Josue would feed homeless people when he first opened up, as well.

Josue believes the good karma has paid off as business has been booming recently, even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also credits his success to always being willing to try something new. His menu is always evolving and changes every couple months, other than the staples. Currently, Josue offers fish tacos on Fridays only, either halibut or salmon. He expects to add other new items soon, too, which may include an al pastor rotating rotisserie.

“I love cooking,” Josue said. “I’m not the type of person to just learn the menu. I like to do different things. I like my salsa to be better salsa. I like my meat to be juicy. I have to make sure it’s better quality. It takes time. We try to be a little different than the other food trucks.”

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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.