Nov. 13, 2024

A Mexican food truck on West 12th Street has found a home that will allow it to operate year-round.

Taqueria la Jarochita is leasing a former video lottery casino site at 5005 W. 12th St., just a few blocks west of the parking lot where it had been based since 2021.

Customers order inside, where there is seating for about 30 diners, and the tacos, burritos and more are prepared in the food truck parked outside.

Owners Emilio and Magnolia Gonzalez added a window to the front of the building that allows meals from the food truck to be passed to a server inside.

“We’re getting more customers in,” said Emilio Gonzalez Jr., the couple’s son, who works in the business with his parents and sister Magaly. “It’s working good.”

Taqueria la Jarochita translates as “the girl from Veracruz taco stand,” and the menu features Magnolia’s recipes from their original home in Veracruz, Mexico.

The menu hasn’t changed yet since the move, but the family is planning to add soups like menudo and will start serving horchata and jamaica drinks, Gonzalez said.

Some of the most popular items are steak burritos, steak tacos and pork tacos, he said.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday; and noon to 8 p.m. Saturday.