If you're new to this site's food and drinks coverage, you should know there’s a bit of a history in the Bites blog comments of several of us searching for the white whale of Nashville taco trucks — an amarillo/naranja-colored mobile Mexican food nirvana called Taqueria El Indio. Known for delicious tacos, tortas and mulitas offered at ridiculously reasonable prices, El Indio used to be pretty easy to find, first at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and Wedgewood, and later at the corner of Wedgewood and 12th behind the discount ciggy store.
Unfortunately, that tobacco emporium has since turned into a Smoothie King, and I guess the new landlords weren’t as enthusiastic about letting another restaurantette share the parking lot. There was discussion in the comments of a post that perhaps El Indio had just moved across the street into the lot of another convenience store, but alas, that particular food trailer is much smaller and more yellowish in color and serves a different (inferior) menu.
Commenter A Yam What A Yam thought he’d found another hot lead when he checked the Metro health inspection scores website and discovered a listing for El Indio with an address of 1120 Murfreesboro Pike. I used to work in that neighborhood, so I was enthusiastic for a visit until I did a little web research and discovered that no less than five other Latin-themed restaurant concepts shared that same address.
But still, I had to check it out. Unfortunately, the resident of that particular lot is a small commissary kitchen and a food truck that both go by the name of Taqueria El Dolar. So close! Despite my disappointment upon this discovery, I still went ahead and ordered a meal at the El Dolar truck window and enjoyed a fantastic meal of dollar tacos accompanied by crunchy pickled vegetables. The tacos are small, so you’ll probably want three or four, but it’s tough to spend much more than $5 at that place.
I was also pleased to discover that I was ordering some of the same things that the obviously regular customers were stepping up to get. My Spanish is strong enough that I didn’t have too much trouble communicating with the nice woman working the window (thanks, Duolingo!), and my order was delivered quickly and correctly. I can’t guarantee that would be the case for English-only speakers, but there’s a large posted menu to point at.
When I finished my meal, I went back up to the window and thought to ask about Taqueria El Indio since it shared the address. At first, she seemed confused by my inquiry, but then we managed to comprehend both my question and her answer. “¡Es en Madison!” Ah-ha!
Now, I actually know more about Spanish than I do about Madison, but I do know that some of you intrepid Bitesters out there could probably be helpful now that we’re getting warmer on this case. So here’s the deal: Anyone who wants to join in this investigation (especially Madison SMEs) should get on the hunt. The first person who comments with a definitive location or link to a photo of the truck in situ somewhere will be the winner of a taco lunch on me. I’ll happily meet you at the truck so we can confirm the find. Plus, I figure, how much can it cost me at a buck apiece?
