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The People of the Book (finally) become the People of the Truck now that Takosher, the US's first kosher taco truck, is out there serving tacos with brisket, latkes, and more traditional fillings.
"I know for a fact that 90% of the kosher community has never had an authentic taco," says Takosher co-founder Lowell Bernstein.
The Takosher Truck is certified Glatt kosher, considered the most stringent level of kashrut in the US.
Takosher's founders spent a year-and-a-half doggedly working to develop a "kosher program." Everything on the truck, from the aluminum foil to the chipotle peppers, is Glatt kosher. All of Takosher's food, including the brisket, which is slow-cooked for six to eight hours, has to be prepared on the truck rather than in a prep kitchen.
"I didn't want to look for loopholes. I didn't want to cut corners. I wanted something that was legitimate," Bernstein says.
The meat comes from Doheny Kosher Meats, one of Los Angeles' most respected kosher meat purveyors. Even the cleaning products had to be kosher.
No mashgiach was prepared to ride on the truck. Instead, Takosher worked with Rabbi I. Yisroel Kelemer and his minions to develop stringent kosher accountability - including surprise inspections.
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"We had a real problem with lettuce," says Takosher co-founder Moises Baqueiro. To ensure that no tiny, un-kosher bugs are accidentally consumed, all leafy greens aren't merely washed; they're inspected on a lightbox, similar to what you'd find in a darkroom.
Bernstein, Baqueiro and the truck's third partner, Chris Martin, developed a five-taco menu that includes traditional offerings like carne asada and chicken as well as Mexi-Jew fusion tacos.
The brisket recipe, which Bernstein says he married into, involves chilli sauce, sauerkraut, raisins and secret spices. The latke tacos are filled with fried, panko-breaded mashed potato balls topped with a cinnamon-laced jalapeno/apple chutney. The vegetarian "fujitas" (to"fu" + fa"jita") are made with seasoned tofu sautéed with bell peppers and onions.
Price-point is a major challenge. Anyone who's ever eaten at the Kosher Subway on Pico Blvd. knows that the $5 sub you can get at any of the chain's other franchises costs $8-9 here.
Kosher ingredients cost more, so Takosher's tacos cost more too: $2.50 - 3.50 apiece.
"Actually, we were worried that if our prices weren't high enough, kosher customers might not believe our food really is kosher," Martin says.
The Takosher Truck caters to the Shuls and Jewish day schools of Jewish enclaves like Pico/Robertson, Hancock Park and Encino. But Bernstein hopes to broaden the truck's customer base by appealing to non-kosher eaters.
"Our chicken and brisket tacos will stand up to anybody else's," Bernstein says, "but nobody else has a latke taco, a brisket taco or a fujita."
