I’ve talked about hidden gems here before.  You know, those places that are nearby that you never knew existed, but if you did, you’d eat there four times a week and gain 12 pounds.  Well, this weekend Ev and I stumbled upon a nondescript trailer down in a burgeoning trailer food ‘hood called Pueblo Viejo, and it’s certainly a hidden gem in my book.

Not much to behold and tucked away in the back of the crowd, Pueblo Viejo is a small operation serving up a big-flavor menu.  While looking for something to satisfy my hunger, we passed on several untested buses, trailers, and carts before setting our sights on Pueblo Viejo.  With breakfast on my mind and long list of breakfast tacos handwritten on a piece of cardboard, we were in business.  For those who don’t know, my go-to breakfast taco is egg and potato, cheese optional.  As I scanned down the menu, one taco to rule them all* caught my eye – the Taco Bueno**.  It’s lovingly filled with potato (check), egg (check), cheese (optionally check), and chorizo (bonus).  Win!

The first thing I noticed after ordering my $2.25 breakfast taco was that it took awhile, and this was a good thing.  It meant they didn’t have a big container of eggs, a big container of potatoes, and a big container of other generic fixin’s just sitting around waiting to be scooped.  Instead, they cook everything to order on the flat top, where the ingredients could ingreed themselves together.  No totem-pole stacking of fillings here.  What came out was a whole lot of freshly cooked food wrapped in a house-recommended flour tortilla.

So how’d it all turn out?  Let me just say, the Taco Bueno should be renamed the Taco Synergy.  Everything worked so well together, from the skin-on potatoes, to the slightly spicy chorizo, to the delicious scrambled eggs.  This was no lightweight either; it took both hands and all ten fingers to hang on to this buddy.  Subtle but certainly not overlooked is that they melt most of the cheese directly onto the tortilla before topping it, and then sprinkle a little more on for good measure.  With a side of salsa to give that hot-cold feeling, it met every one of my expectations.

Pueblo Viejo is not going to blow you away with a flashy truck, fancy website, or overwhelming social experience.  What they will do though is give you one hell of a breakfast taco packed full of flavor and fresh ingredients.  It’s hard to stand out away from the breakfast taco crowd here in Austin, land of breakfast tacos, but Pueblo Viejo is definitely hanging with the very best of them.  Thank goodness this hidden gem is on the other side of the city, or else things could get out of hand very quickly.

*Random, but never unnecessary, Lord of the Rings reference.

**Translates to Good Taco.  I guess they’re going for modesty.