A taco fan shows off his order at the 2022 Taco Truck Throwdown. Photo by Frank Lopez

Fresnans take their food seriously.

To its residents, as well as to the rest of the nation, the Central Valley is known as a food capital. Now, the Fresno area’s foodie scene is attracting hungry eyes from outside the area.

Fresno has been a test market for fast-food chains for decades — the Taco Bell Doritos Locos Taco and the breakfast waffle taco were first floated in the area, with people lining up to try the new treats.

Local food events such as the FresYes Fest, the Taco truck Throwdown, GreekFest, the new Garlic Festival, the revived food expo—MADE Central California, and the various farmers markets and weekly gatherings of food trucks at multiple locations get crowded and striped with lines of people waiting to order.

Though the Central Valley’s food scene is overshadowed by ones in bigger cities, such as in San Diego or Los Angeles, the local Mexican food scene is a contender for hungry travelers.    

 

Marketing push

Earlier this year, the team at the Fresno/Clovis Convention and Visitors Bureau began touting the area’s food attractions to draw visitors from surrounding Central Valley cities — and from outside the Valley as well.

“We realize that we had a unique position because of all the food that is grown here, and some of the compelling stories of people that have opened restaurants or have a food truck. We wanted to make sure we were highlighting them, and we have seen great results from it,” said Vanessa Puopolo, vice president of the bureau.

Last week the visitor’s bureau published “Around the World Eats in Fresno County,” a list on its website celebrating the diverse foods from around the world that are available in Fresno County, including Mediterranean, Mexican, Indian, Italian, Chinese and Japanese.

When compiling the list, Puopolo said the team wanted to make sure to have a wide variety of foods that would have something for everyone and that it would drive both residents as well as visitors to try something they’ve never eaten before.

Puopolo said that the Fresno area is in a unique position to market itself as a food destination because most of the food that is grown here is also used in local restaurants.

“There is a connection between what we grow and what we eat that really can’t be found in many other places, and that leads itself to a really wide of cuisine that is available,” Puopolo said.

To find such diverse eating options, one would have to travel to a city like New York City, Puopolo said.

When it comes to Mexican food, Puopolo said she would rank the Central Valley’s Mexican food with any other region’s — if only because the ingredients are grown here.

 

Throwing it down

On Oct. 1, Fresno Street Eats and the Fresno Grizzlies hosted the seventh annual Taco Truck Throwdown at Chukchansi Park, where local taco trucks gather on the field to vie for the Judges’ Award and the People’s Choice Award for the best taco. 

This year’s event featured live entertainment from professional wrestlers, Mexican Norteño group Los Rojos, and headlining rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

Mike “Oz” Osegueda, founder and president of Fresno Street Eats, said this year’s event drew about 10,000 visitors, an increase from last year.

This year’s People’s Choice Award for the best taco went to Tacos La Vaporera, which won the same title last year. The Judge’s Choice Award went to Cocula’s Taqueria.

Oz said there were more applicants to participate in the event this year than in previous years because Fresno Street Eats has a wider network of trucks than ever before, which means they had to be more selective.

With the growing popularity of these food events, Fresno is starting to become a food destination.

“I don’t think there are any cities that could match Fresno when it comes to the diversity of food. Everything that goes into making a foodie town — we are definitely it,” Oz said.

While areas such as Los Angeles and San Diego constantly top blogger and reviewer lists for places with the best tacos or Mexican food, Oz said the Central Valley’s Mexican food offers more diverse options from different parts of Mexico.

Oz said that a lot of other cities with good Mexican food only offer food from a certain region, but in Fresno, you can find styles from several states including Michoacán, Sinaloa, Oaxaca and Jalisco.

Oz notes that there is a growing number of restaurants, food trucks, and pop-up stands selling from other Latin countries such as Cuban Food Truck Havana Café, Venezuela Food pop-up stand and several Salvadorian restaurants.

“To a lot of people, Fresno is a big city,” Oz said. “If we can draw the people from Selma, Sanger, Madera, but even beyond that — Merced, Bakersfield — if we can make this a destination for those people, it’s a win not only for the events, but all the businesses that are supported by it.”

 

Stand with Family

Tacos Jacinto is a family-owned food truck in Fresno that participated as a contender in the Taco Truck Throwdown for the first time this year.

Melissa Martinez, 26, is a cook for Tacos Jacinto, which she runs with her mother Maria Jacinto, who started the business 26 years ago, and her sister Marisol Martinez.

Melissa has been in kitchens her whole life, and her mother taught her everything she knows about food.

Tacos Jacinto started out as a taco stand in Fowler in 1995, with the business developing into a taco truck a few years later, and then a restaurant in Caruthers for about five years. They are a regular at Gazebo Garden’s Food Truck Nights on Thursdays and are usually posted at the Rite Aid Parking lot on Cedar and Gettysburg avenues.

After the restaurant, the family decided to go back to a taco truck and has been operating in Fresno ever since.

Martinez said they didn’t exactly know what they were getting into when they entered the event, but they sold out of their birria tacos, which felt very rewarding.

“We got a lot of new followers, and exposure, which is more what we were doing it for — to get a little more publicity,” Martinez said.

Tacos Jacinto is a regular at Gazebo Garden’s Food Truck Nights on Thursdays and are usually posted at the Rite-Aid Parking lot on Cedar avenue and Gettysburg avenue.
Taco’s Jacinto offers Michoacán style food, but Martinez said that she also likes to eat at other taco trucks to taste the flavors of different Mexican cultures.

“You won’t have the same taco twice going to a different stand,” Martinez said.

Even outside of popular food events in the area, Martinez said the taco truck gets visitors from outside the area including from Bakersfield, Salinas, and even from Los Angeles coming to Fresno just to eat their tacos.

Martinez admits that cities such as Los Angeles and San Diego might be more well known for their Mexican food, but she believes Fresno could one day match their popularity with its rising food truck scene.