Tacopocalypse

Who knew the biggest issue facing East L.A. taco trucks wasn't identifying the mystery meats in their kitchen?

With local restaurants complaining about the mobile vendors are hurting business, county supervisors are considering new restrictions. "If they weren't there," said Jesus Huerta of La Tia Tamale, referring to the taqueria "El Pecas" truck parked two blocks down the street, "I'd be selling right now." Restaurant owners have long complained to county officials that taco trucks have an unfair advantage: If customers don't come to them, they can drive to the customers. And because they are small and mobile, their overhead costs are comparatively low.

That may change tomorrow, if Los Angeles County supervisors place new restrictions on the mobile grills that patrons praise as icons of East L.A. life but competitors disparage as a nuisance.

Some taco trucks park in the same place all day, despite an existing law that requires they move every 30 minutes. But because the fine is only $60, many truck owners view it as a cost of doing business. New restrictions would increase the penalty for violating the law to a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and/or a six month jail sentence. To soften the blow, however, they would extend the time a catering truck can be parked in one place to an hour.

Catering trucks must pass a number of health inspections before they are allowed to operate. And there are other requirements. For example, trucks must be parked within 200 feet of a bathroom, be equipped with soap, towels and hot water, and owners must prove they have access to a facility where they can wash and store their vehicles. Still, and frighteningly so, inspectors sometimes have trouble keeping up with the nearly 14,000 taco trucks registered with the county -- and there may be as many as 28,000 more that operate illegally.

"I'm for people succeeding, but it's so hard for us who are established to be able to survive," said Huerta, who has been a business owner in East L.A. for nearly 25 years. But taco vendors see it differently: They say they provide good and affordable food to communities that sometimes lack places to eat.

Some say that newly emerging businesses in a community with more restaurants and cafes than ever are rendering mobile restaurants obsolete -- and unwanted. So for the last couple of years, business owners have been pressuring political leaders to pass tougher punishments on motorized restaurants.

Taco truck owners, however, say that what is being proposed is a costly and draconian solution to an inflated problem. Ironically, they've hired a lawyer to argue their case - for $400 an hour.

Are roach coaches a bad thing? Not in the business park where I work, where my peoples get a taste of home, and I can avoid the cabezadilla - that's a quesadilla made with what we assume is head-scraped meat (the cabeza). I don't know who would eat off a street parked truck when there's so many 24 hour places open these days, especially when you can get some nice norovirus flavored food and end up shitting your guts out, while they've moved on to another corner.