Remember that murder that happened at an East Oakland taco truck in January 2008?

Abel Martinez Mejia was buying lunch at a taco truck on the corner of 85th St. and San Leandro Ave. in East Oakland, when he was killed in an attempted robbery. Out of solidarity with a fellow taco lover, I donated $10 to his family.

Fortunately the murderers Darryl Hill, 22, and Deandre Hill, 19, who perpetrated this heinous crime were convicted in October on charges of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of committing murder during the course of a robbery.

Last week, according to a report in Bay City News:

Alameda County Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay sentenced Darryl Hill, who shot Martinez Mejia five times, to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus another 25 years to life and sentenced Deandre Hill to life in prison plus 11 years.

I think that these scum should also be sentenced to life without tacos, from trucks or otherwise. Good riddance.

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This just in from The Daily Breeze:

This week, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that requires the trucks to park within 200 feet of a restroom that employees and customers have written permission to use.

The rules are a tightening of those created in 2006 that require catering vehicles to move at least 500 feet every 10 minutes – a requirement that for a time discouraged truck owners from operating in Rancho Palos Verdes, much to the satisfaction of residents who had complained about the lunch scene.

My guess is that none of the city council members in this uppity, ritzy neighborhood of Los Angeles County have ever eaten at a taco truck, otherwise they’d probably know what every taco truck patron and owner knows: 10 minutes is absurdly short.

Further, this new legislation is likely bordering on violating state law, says taco truck legal crusader, Phil Greenwald, in an interview with The Daily Breeze:“It is so outrageous, it tests credulity,” Greenwald said. “This (Rancho Palos Verdes) ordinance is apparently a thinly veiled attempt to restrain trade. It would effectively prohibit mobile vendors from exercising their right to participate in a lawful occupation.”

adding: “How many restrictions do you need before you realize that the purpose of the law is not for the public safety but it is to drive street vendors out of the city?”

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The small town of Red Bluff, Calif., between Redding and Chico along I-5, is considering letting taco trucks back within the city limits.

According to the Red Bluff Daily News:

A 2000 city ordinance banned mobile food vendors within the city, but a pair of taco trucks had continued to operate until the summer because the FBI had asked city officials to allow them to continue their operations because of a federal investigation into a methamphetamine and money laundering ring.

A third taco truck has operated legally within the city since before 2000 and has been grandfathered in. The city received a number of requests from entrepreneurs hoping to move their mobile businesses after the drug busts, which prompted the council to review the 2000 ordinance.

The new proposed ordinance would allow taco trucks back into the city limits, provided that they comply with several conditions.

The two that give me pause are the ones that say “Vendors must provide at least three off street parking spaces.” and that “Mobile units must be no closer than 800 feet from each other.”

I’m not sure if those provisions could potentially be in violation of California Vehicle Code 22455, which stipulates that cities only may regulate in the interest of “public safety.” I’ll check in with Phil Greenwald to see what he says.

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So the East Bay Express‘ John Birdsall recently went on a month-long odyssey of Fruitvale taco trucks and came back with this nearly 4,000-word piece: “La Vida Taco.”

I put five questions to him in this email interview.

1) What prompted you to write a month-long odyssey on taco trucks?

I love Fruitvale; it’s the yeastiest, sexiest part of Oakland, maybe the whole Bay. I’ve written about it for SF mag, and I used to hang out there a lot when I did weekly restaurant reviews for the Express. I’d written about the trucks before, but never taken a systematic approach.

2) Do you eat at taco trucks regularly? Are there any (in Oakland or elsewhere), that you really enjoy? I got the impression that you weren’t too impressed with Oakland’s offerings.

3) As a chef, what do you think are the advantages/disadvantages of cooking in a mobile, cramped, kitchen?

2, 3) I don’t eat at the trucks regularly, partly because I live a bit far (in Temescal, North Oakland), partly because I watch what I eat (unless I’m working). Trucks have severe cooking limitations, which gives them rather hobbled success in the taco realm. I mean, those amazing tacos al carbon in Mexico (part charcoal, meat, and onion smell in the street), or cazuela-style scrambled egg tacos in Mexico City …. that doesn’t happen in the trucks. Plus, the taco entrepreneurs here tend to be, well, entrepreneurs first, and cooks second. But that’s not to say that the trucks are failures: They’re about so much more than just what’s on the plate—kind of witnesses to the community. If Fruitvale’s tacos aren’t like Mexico’s, well, Fruitvale isn’t Mexico, either. But it’s delightful in its own way.

The best tacos I’ve had here (again, while doing a story for SF mag) were on the hood of my car in Redwood City: a pile of super-delicious takeout Michoacan-style carnitas (best I’ve had), with warm tortillas I’d bought somewhere else.

4) I love El Ojo de Agua, but usually I get burritos (pastor or chorizo). When living in Oakland, my fiancée, friends and I usually hit it once every week or two. It’s a frequent Friday night cheap dinner. I’ve yet to find a superior taco truck burrito in the Bay Area. I find that they’re well-balanced with their ingredients and don’t find them at all too “wet” as you described. I have had their tacos too, and while I don’t know that they’re the most amazing, they seem perfectly respectable. What makes a good taco for you? A good torta? Burrito?

4. I’ll revisit O de A; maybe I could join you when you return? A good taco is about texture and perfume: an honest, flavorful tortilla; meaty plushness; and a salsa that lets you taste the comal (tomatoes, onions, tomatillos, or chiles seared on the griddle). Best taco I ever had in Fruitvale was at a place that no longer exists: a granny who made goat-meat birria tacos on handmade tortillas: earthy, handmade, and snarly. My fave nontruck place in Fruitvale is the same: A mom who makes essentially three things she learned to make in Jalisco, and doesn’t take shortcuts (plus she gives you a free botana of fried pork skins with warm bean dip… awesome).

5) What advice would you give to taco truck novices?

5. Novices? Go to a truck where you see lots of neighborhood types lined up. Observe first to see if there’s a pattern to what the locals are ordering ( a whole family getting buche sopes, for instance), even if it’s something you wouldn’t normally choose. Chicken and carne asada are, in my opinion, likely to be the least successful meats a taco truck can manage.

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