Now it's a full-on food truck operation. About a year and a half ago, Moya's Tacos upgraded to a small white trailer, and this month it launched its new, bigger custom-built trailer.
"It got busy, man. And we wanted to do bigger events like catering, weddings, all that type of stuff," Moya says. "We needed more space for food and everything, so that led us to upgrade. ... It's been three months in the making. It got started in May, and we just got it."
More space on the new trailer means Moya's Taco has been able to expand its menu. "We started with tacos — al pastor, fajitas and elote tacos. Now we're doing tacos, quesadillas and salads," Moya notes. "So it's still kind of a pretty short little menu, but everything's perfected, everything's great. It's straight to the point and easy to order." After all, simplicity is key when serving a late-night crowd at breweries and bars. "We deal with a lot of drunk people working at bars and breweries, so we have to keep things short and sweet, easy to understand."
From a humble pop-up with a griddle, cooler and tent to a custom-built trailer, Jesse Moya is making waves in the RiNo neighborhood.
Chris Byard
The tacos from Moya's are still the star and are distinguished by one special touch. "What people really like about our tacos is the housemade marinade that we fry our tortilla shells in," Moya shares. "It's a chile-based marinade. We dip the tortillas in it and then fry them on the griddle, and I think that's what stands us apart. It's kind of like a birria-type thing, but a little bit thicker. The marinade is used on the quesadillas, as well.
"I hate to toot my own horn, but I've heard it so many fucking times: 'These are the best tacos I've ever had.' Quote for quote," Moya says.
As Moya's Tacos starts its next chapter, "I really want to focus on trying to get bigger events and expand catering," he adds. But during the slower winter season, he plans to stick with a rotation of bars and breweries. "We're definitely going to do River North on Wednesdays. We're going to do Thursdays at the new Renegade starting in October. We're doing Embassy Tavern, and that's going to be Fridays and Saturdays late-night for the bar crowd."
As for his future plans, "I'm not really trying to do a restaurant or anything, just multiple food trailers," he notes. "The main goal is to have people work in the trailers and me sitting in an office going over the numbers and writing checks for people. That's the dream."
For more information about Moya's Tacos, including its schedule, follow it on Instagram @moyastacos.
