Delylah's Tacos Truck Takes You on a Trip Through Mexico

Born and raised in Santa Fe, Ariel Bach developed a passion for Mexican-influenced culture and cuisine that was encouraged by her father. "Growing up, my dad was a chef in New Mexico. I thought, you know, that's all I wanted to be when I was little," she recalls. "As soon as I could see over a countertop, I had him teaching me how to sauté and how to use a knife, and at fourteen years old, he got me my first job in New Mexico at a catering company called Adobo."

When she turned eighteen, she began to consider her next move. "I was at the college age and was like, 'I could go to culinary school.' But my chefs and teachers at work were like, 'You're going to learn so much more working in kitchens than spending eighty grand and going to culinary school.' So I didn't. I just moved to Denver because I had family here... bigger city and more opportunity for being a chef."

In Denver, Bach quickly landed her first job at Ocean Prime in Larimer Square. As she worked her way through the ranks, she became the youngest sauté lead and trainer, leading to a gig helping open and train cooks at Ocean Prime Boston. "I went out to Boston for about a month and worked sixteen hours every day training kitchen staff," she says. "It was a really cool experience." Back in the Mile High City, she felt she had outgrown Ocean Prime and did stints at TAG, Linger and Epicurean Catering before settling down in 2018 at Hickory and Ash in Broomfield. "And that was my favorite. I was there for about five years. They were family," she notes.

But throughout her time in catering and kitchens, Bach always wanted something to call her own, "Since I was fourteen, I've always wanted to eventually get my own place," she says, "but starting a brick-and-mortar is just a lot. Bigger loans, more on the line, and just hard. ... And so I just thought that if I start with a food truck, it would be smaller and easier. I also love catering and the change of scenery that comes with it. I mean, I grew up with it. ... I did a lot of private off-site events at Hickory and Ash, and I just thought it would be fun to do a truck and go to different locations."

It seemed like fate that even as she considered starting her own business, a friend in the food truck business decided to sell his truck. "I should just quit my job and dive headfirst," she recalls thinking. And in January 2023, she did.

Even as she was working on business plans, Bach was completing her bachelor's degree in wildlife conservation. She graduated that May and spent the next two months developing a name, concept and menu for the truck. The name was easy; she thought of her thirteen-year-old pitbull, Delylah, who had been with her throughout her culinary journey. "It's a tough industry, especially being a woman. But at the end of the day, I'd come home to this loving dog, and that was the highlight of my day," she says. "So it was just fitting" to name the venture Delylah's Tacos.
That went with the menu, which reflected her family trips. "We've traveled a lot to Mexico, at least once a year, and we would go to different spots each trip," she says. "I just got familiar with cuisines from the different regions I liked. ... I thought it'd be cool to do, like, around Mexico, so each taco is named after a different region in Mexico. Nyeri — that's on the coast — that's my fish taco. The Jalisco taco, well, Jalisco is famous for its birria, and I thought I'm going to be the only truck that does lamb birria. ... I just did a bunch of research and decided to highlight the flavor profiles and sauces based around the different regions."

Although Bach loves all her tacos, she's a sucker for pork, and if she had to pick a favorite, it would be the pork carnitas, also known as Michoacán. While she loves pork, though, it's the guacachile salsa on top that truly does it for her. "It's kind of green and creamy, but doesn't have any avocado. Some people throw avocados in it, but it's traditionally a serrano-based salsa. I take serranos and garlic and then blend it with oil to get that creaminess," explains Bach.

She makes that sauce in-house, just as she makes everything but the tortillas. She tried doing those, too, but it became too taxing for a one-person operation. Someday, though, she could open a tortilla factory, she thinks.

But for now, she's anticipating the one-year anniversary of Delylah's Tacos, and encouraging everyone to check her website, delylahstacos.com, for a posted schedule through August. "It's worth it to try different tastes of Mexico," Bach concludes.