Sonia Ahmed photo
Caesar Mendez preparing arepa al pastor at the newly opened "Puebla Es Mexico" Mexican Food Cart.
On Prospect Street, Portabello Latin Food Carts’ Francisco Mendez wrapped $5 baby burritos for a line of loyal customers, like he has been doing since 2012.
Nearby, on Sachem, his brother Sixto Mendez flipped sizzling arepas on the grill, at Portabello’s second food truck location.
And on Cedar Street, two more family-owned mobile Latin food establishments were busy, with Caesar Mendez at work at the family’s fourth and newest, “Puebla Es Mexico Mexican Food Cart.”
Caesar got to work at Puebla Es Mexico Mexican Food Cart at 6 as he does each morning to dice tomatoes and mash fresh avocados to make fresh pico de gallo and guacamole, which are included in nearly every dish on his cart’s menu. Each food cart is owned and managed by one of the Mendez brothers.
Caesar said the new Puebla Es Mexico Mexican Food has a different name from the other three because the family is from the city of Puebla in Mexico, and wanted to showcase that with the new truck.
Portabello already had a food truck on Cedar Street. When the family was informed by the city of a vacant spot on the same street, the brothers decided to take it. The new truck sees a lot of foot traffic, which was clear by the press of customers Tuesday. The “people are very friendly,” Caesar said.
He attributed the cart’s success to prices: no item on the menu is more than $10. Dishes include the popular enchiladas and pineapple pork “al pastor.” Caesar said the next goal is to open up a storefront.
Puebla Es Mexico Mexican Food is currently open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Caesar said he hopes to soon expand their hours to include dinner times like at the other trucks, as opposed to just the lunch rush.
Over on Prospect Street, Francisco Mendez served a line of people, snaking up nearby stairs. This truck was the original food truck, opened in 2012.
Many customers were ordering the $5 baby burritos, which are 10-inch tortillas that come with the customer’s choice of meat, rice, black beans, cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, chipotle sauce, sour cream, and lettuce.
Michelle, who works as a custodian at Yale (and declined to give her last name), visits the truck regularly to get the Cajun-seasoned grilled tilapia over rice. Michelle said the customer service is a big reason she comes to the food truck nearly every day. “They’re very nice to everybody,” she said.
Francisco, who moved to Connecticut in 2008, said he started working in food as a cook for the food truck Tijuana Taco Company, which no longer exists. The truck owner, Arturo Franco Camacho, urged him to start his own business, which he did four years later. Francisco, who works with his wife Zenaida Muñoz Lima, said he opened the other locations to help out his brothers. The original truck’s location was on York Street, but it moved to Prospect Street in 2016.
Nearby on Sachem Street, Sixto Mendez was wrapping burritos and flipping arepas, their dough sizzling on the grill.
One customer said that she visits the truck every Tuesday. She added that she’s not particularly a fan of guacamole, but she feels that Portabello has the best one. The food is “fresh, not too heavy, and healthy,” she remarked as she took a bite of her mango salad.
Two Portabello locations can be found on Prospect Street, while the other two can be found on Cedar Street, outside the Yale School of Medicine. They can be contacted at 203 – 606-8850.
Arepa al pastor.
Outside the new Puebla Es Mexico food cart.
Portabello original food truck and location.
Portabello menu.
Francisco Mendez preparing a burrito while wife Zenaida Muñoz Lima grills an arepa.
Queso being added to a dish as a finishing touch.
Sixto Mendez preparing arepas at Portabello's second location, also on Prospect Street.