Burrito Trail
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a food truck is popular or just slow. With lots of people milling around outside on the sidewalk, we figured Las Cabaña on San Pablo Avenue was worth a try. After all, we’d already experienced the magic of Las Cabañas on 23rd Street, where we discovered the “authentic flavors of Chiapas” in a shiny black trailer that delivered one of our most memorable burrito experiences to date.
Richmond Burrito Trail: Discovering Chiapas cuisine at Las Cabañas Food Truck on 23rd Street
We went searching for the authentic flavors of Chiapas, Mexico and found it in a gas station parking lot on 23rd Street in the form of a delicious shrimp burrito at Las Cabañas Food Truck.
Soren Hemmila
But if our adventures with Jalisco have taught us anything, it’s that different trucks can offer vastly different experiences, even when they share a name.
Armed with optimism and empty stomachs, we approached the San Pablo Avenue outpost ready for another culinary adventure. Las Cabaña is the food truck stationed under the Bart tracks next to Tub Town laundromat, so you can enjoy a burrito while leaving your clothes in the washers for way too long.
What we found, however, was a lesson in the inconsistency that can plague food truck franchises.
We ordered the Super Fish Burrito, weighing in at a hefty 783 grams, along with some shrimp tacos that we immediately regretted. The shrimp tacos were disappointingly rubbery. Definitely skip those if you find yourself in line.
The Super Fish Burrito came piping hot, which was promising. Inside, we found white, flaky grilled fish that was unobtrusively unfishy. We are going to peg it tilapia until we learn otherwise. Unlike the complex layers of interesting flavors we remembered from the 23rd Street location, this burrito was overwhelmingly rice-heavy, with the grain comprising more than 50 percent of the filling. While we appreciated the generous helping of guacamole and the presence of refried beans (always a welcome addition), the overall composition felt unbalanced.
The burrito included Pico De Gallo and what we suspected might be sour cream masquerading as a “special sauce,” though we couldn’t be certain. The fish was grilled rather than breaded and fried as we’d expected, which was actually a pleasant surprise in terms of preparation method.
Perhaps the second most disappointing was the stale chips that accompanied our meal. This was a stark contrast to the warm, fresh chips that elevated our 23rd Street experience.
While the Tub Town location delivers on portion size and heat, it lacks the elevated cylinder of complex flavors that made the 23rd Street Las Cabañas such a standout on our Richmond Burrito Trail. Where the 23rd Street location offered a sophisticated interplay of ingredients that had us wishing the burrito wouldn’t end, the El Cerrito version feels more like a standard rice-and-protein combination that happens to be wrapped in a tortilla.
The Richmond Burrito Trail continues to teach us that even when a food truck shares a name and presumably a concept, execution can vary dramatically from location to location. While Las Cabañas on 23rd Street remains one of our top recommendations, we’d suggest sticking with the original if you’re craving authentic Chiapas cuisine.
Let us know where to eat next, and check back for another stop on the Richmond Burrito Trail.
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