MONA MAHADEVAN photos
A small but mighty herb garden sits right outside the Tortilleria Tacaná food truck, parked at 16 Bright St.
Floridalma Morales applied her experience as a gardener to the herb garden sitting outside of her food truck.
In the middle of a Fair Haven parking lot, cilantro, red chiles, oregano, and bright blooms sprout from a movable wooden platform. Just behind it, the bright red Tortilleria Tacaná food truck turns those herbs into flavorful salsas, marinades, and garnishes.
The truck belongs to Floridalma Morales — a Guatemalan immigrant, long-time New Havener, and former Clinton Avenue gardener — who launched the business in August 2024. Parked at 16 Bright St., Tortilleria Tacaná serves tacos and quesadillas filled with cheese, chicken, carnitas (braised pork), and barbacoa (slow-cooked beef).
Its signature: corn tortillas made from scratch, using a method Morales has spent decades perfecting.
“It’s not the same to have tacos with tortillas that aren’t fresh,” she said in Spanish during an interview on Wednesday.
Opening a restaurant had always been Morales’ dream. Shortly after the birth of her second child, Morales settled in New Haven in 2002. She spent eight years working as a chef in a downtown Mexican restaurant, eventually saving enough money to start her own restaurant.
She quickly ran into practical and legal hurdles.
“My first dream was opening a bar,” she said, “but it was too complicated.” She shifted her focus to a brick-and-mortar tortilleria — a shop specializing in fresh tortillas — but could not find a space in Fair Haven that was available and fit her needs.
“The problem was that there was no good location around here,” she said. “The motive behind not having a storefront is that there was no space.” Even though opening a truck was expensive and legally complex, she felt it was the best way forward.
Her husband and three sons supported her along the way, building the wooden platform that now holds her small garden.
Inside the truck, food is made to order. To prepare a chicken taco, employee Estela first pours oil onto a heated stove, then sears the chicken with adobo, sazón, and other spices. She places the meat onto a freshly pressed, heated tortilla and then adds crema and cilantro. The taco is served with a radish, a slice of lime, and a small cup of salsa.
Before joining Tortilleria Tacaná, Estela worked as a chef for several years in her hometown of Chiapas, Mexico. Her favorite dish is tacos with carne asada — a marinated skirt steak — though she is also fond of carnitas, the truck’s most popular dish.
The lot was quiet at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, save the Mexican ballads drifting from the truck’s speakers. The truck is busiest after 4:00 p.m, said Morales, so the early afternoon is mostly for prep.
“It’s my dream to have a storefront,” said Morales. For now, she is serving from her truck and waiting for a suitable space to open nearby.
Tortilleria Tacaná is open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekends. In August, it will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a special event, to be announced on the truck’s Facebook page.
Everangelys Viruet contributed to this report.
The chicken sizzles in oil and spices.
Estela waits for the chicken to brown and tortillas to heat before assembling.
A chicken taco, served with radish, lime, and salsa.
A stack of the truck's corn tortillas, made from scratch.
A red pepper, sticking out between candy-colored flowers!
