El Gallo Giro: Taste Some of San Francisco’s Best Tacos at This Mission District Truck | Eater SF

"At the corner of 23rd Street and Treat Avenue a standard-issue white taco truck sits in a small lot in front of a park — no music, neon, or Instagram spectacle — yet for 22 years it has become one of the Mission’s most beloved institutions, inspiring kids’ Halloween costumes and even prompting customers to invite the owners to their weddings. The truck’s reputation rests on Elena Caballero’s Guanajuato-rooted cooking: plancha-crisped, salty, juicy carnitas tacos are a longtime favorite, and the regional chicharron taco — cooked in Elena’s special sauce so it ends up soft and spicy and often topped with beans and grilled serranos — is a style the family says you won’t find in any other state. Family-run to the core, Elena makes the salsas, beans, and rice while her husband Jose shops for produce and handles the meat, and daughters Stephanie and Nicky serve as the front of house, maintaining close ties with neighbors; the truck’s origin story (Elena arriving from Guanajuato at 18, rising through Bay Area kitchens, then partnering with her brother Cuco) and the community loyalty that has kept them going through gentrification and even tragic fires are as central to its appeal as the food itself." - Lena Park