At First Bite: T.A.S.T.E.

MOILIILI—After the Twittersphere was set ablaze by the Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go truck in Los Angeles, a slew of Korean-Mexican fusion taco trucks sprang up across the country. And when the New York Times finally catches on to a trend, you know it’s gone big and mainstream.

So where are Honolulu’s fusion tacos?

Leroy Guo’s got ’em right here with his T.A.S.T.E. truck—short for “Tasty Asian Style Taco Eatery,” if you must know. Yes, this is for real. In fact, while the chowhounds in the know pronounce the three-week-old food truck acronym as “taste,” Guo wants to change the diacritical mark on the “e” in T.A.S.T.E. in order “to make it a long ‘e’” so customers would refer to the truck as “tasty.” Interesting concept.

After a pivotal visit to said Kogi truck, Guo got inspired. “Nobody else here was doing it. So I decided to do it,” says the Oahu-raised 29-year-old. Staying true to Hawaii’s mix of ethnic heritages, though, Guo says his food “isn’t strictly Korean. There are Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiian influences, too. I feel like I’m different in that sense, more Hawaii-style.”

The young entrepreneur has had restaurant experience in the front of the house as a server and a manager, but not as a chef. Still, that didn’t stop his ambitions of opening his food truck. He openly admits the sources of his recipes. “Barnes & Noble and Borders,” Guo says matter-of-factly. “And a lot of trial and error. I switched things up to my taste.”

The labors of flavor thus far have resulted in customers raving about his sauces, like the honey mayonnaise and wafu dressing that top the shrimp taco. As for the char siu, Guo says, “When I say homemade, I really bake it at home. The first time I made it, I was like, ‘Wow, I can make char siu. It turned out pretty good.’” Indeed, one might think the source of the meat comes from a Chinatown butcher, albeit with a few fatty pieces here and there.

Aside from the shrimp tacos, other staples of the current menu are ribeye in kalbi marinade with a wasabi dressing, chicken breast with ssamjang sauce and sesame dressing, char siu with shoyu aioli and ginger dressing, and mahi mahi with green onion sauce and miso dressing. Each filling goes in a single, soft, warm corn tortilla from the local Sinaloa company. Guo tops every taco with a green cabbage slaw flecked with bits of purple cabbage, shredded carrots and, green onion to add a crunchy contrast to the plump meat and soft tortilla. With no option (yet?) for a taco plate with beans and rice, one might want to order three or four tacos for a filling lunch.

Guo isn’t resting on the laurels of novelty for his Asian-style tacos alone. He’s going to expand the hours of his mobile eatery starting tomorrow, and hopes to open another mobile location. More immediately, expect a dessert to be added on to the menu. Guo’s thinking an almond-flavored crème brulée. And Monday was the first day he offered a taco special of the day: a char siu avocado teri taco.

The tacos may not be something something one would stand in line for two hours to eat (but really, few things warrant a two-hour wait)—but a few minutes? Sure, for a few bites of freshly assembled fusion and a short

T.A.S.T.E.
2012 S. Beretania St. at McCully, in the parking lot of Ocean Sports Bar
(808) 429-0818
Hours: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday
Prices: $2.75–$3.25 per taco