Tacos La Carreta

"A north Long Beach taco truck known for its carne asada, now with a brick-and-mortar location in Whittier and another truck in Santa Ana. The carne asada, grilled gently over a wood and gas fire, is served with minced cabbage, salsa, and avocado in tacos, larded chorreadas, quesadillas, and toritos." - Eater Staff

"Tacos La Carreta, one of the city’s top carne asada specialists, has expanded to a second taco truck, this time in Santa Ana. Located at 2202 South Main Street, the truck is open from 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily, bringing excellent mesquite-grilled carne asada served as tacos, quesadillas, tortas, vampiras, and chorreadas. Owned and operated by José Morales, the original truck in Long Beach grew to a strip mall storefront in Whittier in January 2024." - Matthew Kang

"José Morales and his son, also named José Morales, opened a taco cart (La Carreta) in a Compton tire shop seven years ago. The Morales’s upgraded to a truck last year where they turn out some of Southern California’s best Mazatlán-style tacos. The truck is typically parked on the northernmost border of Long Beach and serves chorreadas, vampiros, and tacos de carne asada. Check Instagram for hours and availability." - Mona Holmes, Brian Addison

"Regional carne asada has disseminated in recent years with provincial styles representing Mexicali, Tijuana, Sonora, and now Mazatlán, where mesquite-grilled steaks for chorreadas and vampiros fill the tangy beach resort air with the balm of roasted meats. Now serving out of a taco truck, Jose Morales Jr. grills quality steak, greases a thick tortilla with asiento (unrefined pork lard) and melted cheese, then piles on the meat, creamy avocado salsa, pico de gallo, and slices of cucumber to snack on the side. The truck now has a brick-and-mortar store in Whittier that draws lines every day." - Bill Esparza

"This street-cart-turned-food-truck—which relocated from Compton to an industrial stretch of North Long Beach a couple of years ago—specializes in Sinaloa-style chorreadas, a toasted corn tortilla that’s slicked with pork fat, then topped with a mound of chopped grilled steak and a rough salsa thickened with chopped cabbage. It might look a little like a standard asada taco, but your first one will provide a near-religious reckoning. You can add melted cheese to the whole setup to make it a vampiro, or swap in a baked potato for the tortilla to make it a papa loca. All of them are fantastic with agua de cebada, a creamy-sweet drink that’s like horchata but made with roasted barley. Make sure to check La Carreta’s Instagram for hours of operation." - sylvio martins, garrett snyder, brant cox, nikko duren