KEEP ON TACO TRUCKIN' -Taqueria El Jalapeno

You know the Taco Bell in Lancaster where Route 30 & 462 meet?
On the edge of the Walmart parking lot?
Okay, drive right past that craphole and go west.
Just up the street you will find a better parking lot at Riviera Pizza.
And in this parking lot, you will also find heaven in a hot fresh tortilla.

Taqueria El Jalapeno is a taco truck serving simple, inexpensive fresh mexican street food.
Tasty tacos are $1.50 each and topped with traditional cilantro and onion along with the options of mild or hot salsa.

We love the carne asada ( steak for those gringos who don't speak taco as a second language).
The carnitas (pork) are cool and the lengua (beef tongue) is lovely,
and we cherish the chorizo (spicy sausage) and perfectly good pollo ( chicken).

There are also tacos al pastor-
Al Pastor means "shepherd's style" and is traditionally marinated over one or two days in a combination of dried chilies and then slowly cooked by flame on a vertical rotisserie very similar to how middle eastern shawarma is cooked.  Taqueria El Jalapeno skips cooking on the spit, but sweetens the deal with pineapple and onion on top as tradition dictates.

Typically open 11am-11pm daily,  Taqueria El Jalapeno satisfies our cravings for south of the border cuisine in amish country.

There's something to eat: Tsunami on Columbia Ave, Lancaster PA

It was late on a Friday night.

As usual our choices in Lancaster County were:
The Drive Thru,
Crap,
or
Crap that was expensive.

We'd gone for pseudo-Sushi at lunch the other day and our waiter gave us a clue:
"Go to TSUNAMI!!"
he said,
"Columbia Avenue"

He went on to say the chef has been doing sushi for over twenty years.

Hey-
When I lived here twenty years ago, there was no sushi-
The only hint of Asian food I remember, other than my tiny town's Chinese restaurant,
whose proprietors also ran the local miniature golf course on the same plot of land
in New Holland, was sparse.

I was happy upon my recent return to life in Lancaster County to find
the Asian Invasion had expanded beyond the bad egg foo -not -so -young.

We stumbled into Tsunami late on a Friday-, near closing time-
As a former server, I know entering a restaurant near closing time
can create a grudge amongst staff looking to clock out.
But not at Tsumani.
We were welcomed warmly.

Greeted by a lovely woman who sat us at a four top, she handed us our menus.
We were thrilled to see Uni ( sea urchin ) listed as well numerous other tasty treats that seem missing from other local Japanese menus and venues.

Although we did not see it on the menu, we asked the waitress
if they had Yellowtail Collarbone.
Her quizical facial expression changed to a knowing smile when we replaced our words with a more familiar "Hamachi Kama".

She said "Ahh.." and dashed off to the kitchen to see if they still had any.

A few faces glanced thru the kitchen window to see who on Earth ( or in Lancaster)
would actually know to order such a simple treasure.

We also ordered some sashimi, sweet raw shrimp
(they met our request for the deep fried heads-yes!!!)
and some wonderful rolls, like the tempting
uni and spicy scallop, amongst others and a lovely house specialty aptly named "Sea World".

Everything was fresh and succulent and the eel was super crispy.

After all the other patrons were gone, we had the place to ourselves and were able open an easy dialogue with the chef/owner behind the nearby sushi bar, who was happy to stay past closing and serve up more recommended specialties.

Like it's tidal wave namesake, Tsunami has washed over our hearts and stomachs.

We're going again tomorrow.
Yum.