Fayetteville Taco Madness: And the winner is ...
The Fayetteville area has crowned a taco king.
The Taco Arepa food truck bested La Familia, Mobile Kitchen in the finals of our Fayetteville Taco Madness tournament which pitted 16 of our readers' favorite taco spots against each other to find the best in town.
After a round of nominations and three rounds of voting, Taco Arepa, a food truck typically found just outside the Yadkin Road gate to Fort Bragg, was the clear winner.
The man behind Fayetteville's favorite taco is chef and owner Josef Lemus. Born in Mexico City 45 years ago, Lemus said he worked in the industry for two decades before opening the food truck in 2020.
His introduction to the food-service industry began in 2000 at a Florida Cracker Barrel. At the time, he was a dishwasher and only spoke Spanish. Over the years, his English improved as he climbed the restaurant ranks.
After working in kitchens in Georgia and Kentucky, a management position with casual dining restaurant Smokey Bones brought him to Fayetteville in 2010, he said. For years, Lemus said, he worked mornings at the barbecue joint and evenings at On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina as he planned to open a restaurant of his own.
Throughout his career, he said, he has been motivated by a passion for serving others.
“When you feed people, you have to have something special inside to do it,” Lemus said.
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Becoming Fayetteville's favorite taco truck
Like thousands of other food service employees, Lemus was out of work when COVID-19 shut down restaurants nationwide. With the help of the Southern Pines La Mexicana Market and Taqueria La Mexicana food truck owner, Lemus said, he quickly worked to open Taco Arepa food truck, he said.
“I lost my job; I had to,” he said with a laugh.
Now, his food truck is a hot lunch spot for soldiers, a regular at Dirtbag Ales events in Hope Mills and a consistent festival favorite, said Zully Sherpinskas, cashier and social media manager for Taco Arepa.
By far, the most popular menu item is the birria tacos, which account for about half of the sales, she said. Made with stewed beef sirloin, mozzarella, cilantro and onions, griddled to crisp perfection in a corn tortilla, Sherpinskas said that the tacos are served with a small side of the consomme in which the meat is stewed, red and green salsas, and rice and beans.
At first, the birria tacos were only offered two days a week, but they were quickly made permanent as it became clear that Fayetteville has an appetite for the flavorful dish, she said.
A combo meal of three traditional Mexican tacos of pork al pastor, chicken, carne asada, chorizo, carnitas or portobello mushrooms, served with rice and beans, is another popular order, Lemus said. He sells up to 600 tacos daily, he said, and other Mexican Americans frequently tell him that his food is authentic.
“It makes me feel like I’m doing something right,” Lemus said.
The truck’s namesake, however, is the dish arepa: a thick housemade corn tortilla sliced horizontally and stuffed with a choice of meat or vegetables, mozzarella, cilantro and onion and served with chimichurri.
Lemus said he recommends a carnitas arepa, but no matter what customers order, their food is made with care.
“Everything we do here, we do with love, with patience,” he said.
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Looking ahead
Next up for Taco Arepa is a second truck, which he expects to launch in two months Lemus said. He still hopes to open a Fayetteville restaurant one day, he said.
For now, he said, he’s grateful for his customers, friends and family and is content to keep cooking Fayetteville’s favorite tacos.
"I'm happy," he said Friday. "Very happy."
Reporter Taylor Shook writes about food, dining and business. She can be reached at tshook@gannett.com, Twitter, or Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Taco Arepa food truck named best taco spot in Fayetteville area
