La Cocina de Yaneth (Food Truck), Silver Spring, Maryland

I happened across La Cocina de Yaneth when taking Ella to Silver Stars Gymnastics for her weekly class. A truck bearing the seductive words, “Pupusas, Tacos, Tortas” was parked a couple of blocks down Brookville Road. I wasn’t able to stop then — I always watch Ella during her class: first things first — but I noted the location and determined to seize the first opportune moment to try.

The moment arose after Nancy and I had spent a morning with Ella and Lily at Brookwood Gardens and Wheaton Regional Park, and went straight to Silver Stars. Nancy watched Ella’s class, and I sat in the car while Lily slept. As soon as I was sure Lily was sound asleep, I drove over to the food truck. I hopped out, looked at the abbreviated menu on the side of the truck, and hurriedly ordered one pupusa with pork and cheese, one shrimp taco, and one chicken tamal, all while keeping an eye on Lily. The food came quickly, and I returned to the Silver Stars parking lot to eat in the much-abused front seat of our car.

The chicken tamal was on the top of the sack. I like Mexican-style tamales, the hot tamales with which everyone is familiar, and I dearly love the smaller, lighter versions you can find along the Mississippi. See here for more on those. This tamal was the sort that I associate with southern Central America. They’re cooked wrapped in banana leaves, and the spicing is much milder. Here it is, unwrapped —

The LA Cocina tamals (actually, tamal is the singular in Spanish, and tamales the plural, but I’m ignoring that to distinguish the two styles) come wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks, and the outer masa harina “shell” is less dense than that of hot tamales. My tamal came stuffed with chicken, potatoes, and green beans. There were no bones with the chicken, as often occurs, and there was a mix of white and dark meat — mostly white, but there was no dryness to the meat. The tamal clearly had been hand-crafted and had a good bit of flavor, but without the assertiveness of a hot tamale. I liked it, but, not wanting to eat all of that food at once, I moved on to the next layer, the shrimp taco.

The taco came with a nice helping of shrimp and pico de gallo wrapped in a pair of bought (that’s my guess) corn tortillas.

I liked the shrimp taco. It came with two sauces, a mildish green sauce and a red sauce with a solid but not vicious kick. Both sauces were home-made with fresh ingredients, and each was flavorful. I didn’t hold back on the taco.

And then I got to the pupusa.

This definitely was hand-crafted, definitely delicious, and larger than it looks — that’s the focus on the slaw. The dough enclosed a thin layer of pork and cheese, and it had been nicely grilled with that little bit of char. The pupusa came with a loosely knotted bag of curtido, a delightful lightly fermented slaw. It was crisp and the slightly sour taste had the counterpart of a few thin slices of raw serrano or jalapeño. It went beautifully with the pupusa.

The pupusa also came with a bag of red sauce, again in a plastic bag, but this time tightly double-knotted. It was a lot of sauce for one pupusa — I’m sure people normally order more than one. I didn’t dare try to open the bag in the car lest I get it all over the place. I took it home and the next day added it to the remains of the tamal. The sauce was fresh and mildly spicy, and delicious on the tamal.

I was delighted with everything, and was pleased to get a detailed menu with my order. Here’s the front of the menu –

and here’s side 2 –

I would have ordered differently had I known the entire menu — probably a lingua or a carne asada taco, a tamal, and another pupa. But tomorrow is another day.

As I mentioned, La Cocina de Yaneth is set up on Brookville Road, out in the 9000 block, in front of some Army depot. This is not the Chevy Chase Brookville Road. It’s the part in the warehouse area over behind Rosemary Hills. It’s a bit off the beaten track, but it’s easy to find. Start by turning north onto Grubb Road off East-West Highway rather than your usual right to get to the Parkway Deli, and then follow your GPS. Two turns and you’re there. I would link to it, but its web presence has eluded me.

You really should give La Cocina de Yaneth a try if you’re in the area. It’s a very good lunch for not much money.

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