Al Pastor Tacos

By Anni Caporuscio

Al Pastor Taco, ala carte. This taco is extremely generous of small tender bites of heavily seasoned pork that lights you up with flavor. Squeeze the lime to enhance the spice mix. It’s topped with avocado sauce and some quick tosses of tomatoes and cilantro; a protein pack to send you on your way. Faun notes that residents seem to like the meat offerings, and visitors favor the seafood.

Let’s celebrate the taco, and the taco trucks that serve as the deliverer of good times and good eating. Let’s talk about Al Pastor Tacos food truck stationed north of Kapa‘a. But tacos first.

Tacos have become an icon of fun and devotion. Quite possibly the most popular hand-held food since the sandwich, the taco has inspired countless memes on themes from love to poor decisions, and they’re not just for Tuesday anymore. Tacos hail from Mexico and have fanned out, and are especially popular in surf culture because fish tacos pair with beach life seamlessly. Tacos are compact, protein-packed savory flavor nuggets you can eat on the go.

Al Pastor team Faun Lewis and Paulino Hernandez are serving tacos right. For seven years, they’ve made a labor of love of good, healthy food in a friendly setting. As Faun puts it, she is the heart of the service — she gives hugs to her customers and recommends dishes — and Paulino is the heart of the food — the amount of daily prep of fresh food for a five-hour frenzy is staggering. Their tacos are delicious and consistent; I usually show up famished with a particular nostalgia of my last plate, and am satisfied every single time.

Al Pastor gets its name from the contraption that cooks the pork. It’s a vertical rotisserie nestled in a heating element. They cut off bits of tender marinated meat and flash-finish it off on the grill to crisp it. The Al Pastor machine was brought to Mexico City in a migration from the Middle East. Think shawarma, and gyros. Same machine and same look, but in Mexico City, as well as at Al Pastor, they marinate with guajillo chilis, garlic and other spices overnight, and assemble it fresh every morning. In Mexico City, this preparation is on every street corner; but on Kaua‘i we got the first one in North Kapa‘a at Al Pastor. To prepare this fresh every day is a commitment to the process and to integrity. The end result is a delicate balance of crispy and tender with an insanely flavorful turnout.

Fish Taco Plate, served with rice and beans (vegan beans, rice with chicken stock). Juicy strips of lightly seasoned ahi seared medium (chef’s choice), topped with chipotle creme sauce and fresh lettuce. Fish tacos appear in many shapes and preparations. Always look for fresh-caught fish and fresh veggies. Because of Al Pastor’s mission to serve fresh, healthy and affordable food, regular working people can come for good tacos often.

This is just one of the dishes. Every few days, Faun will call up an uncle or a friend to see what’s the catch. Check their social media, Facebook and Instagram, for some impressive pictures of Paulino taking apart gigantic fresh-caught ahi. Also, lengua tacos take a bit of marinating as well. They get local tongue beef from the Sanchez Ranch in Wailua. As well as being the taste that tastes you back, lengua is served shredded — I was afraid it would be, you know, a tongue — incredibly tender, and richer than beef or pork.

The tacos at Al Pastor come standard with corn tortillas, made fresh on O‘ahu, but you can ask for flour tortillas if you prefer. The beans are vegan, prepared incredibly simply, all sauces made in house with real cream, not mayonese, and the avocado sauce is dairy-free. If you need salsa, let me warn you that it will burn your face off in the best way; be very careful.

Their truck is the big red one in North Kapa‘a on the makai side of the highway, 4-1604 Kuhio Hwy, open Tuesday – Sunday from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Faun’s and Paulino’s mission with Al Pastor is to serve fresh, healthy and affordable food.

• Anni Caporuscio is a food lover and can be found daily at her Kapa‘a business, Small Town Coffee.

Faun Lewis, with her husband Paulino Hernandez, has operated Al Pastor Tacos for seven years. Faun is from Kaua‘i and Paulino is from the mountains of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

Taco trucks have become the beacon of good-times handheld food. Al Pastor was the only food truck in Hawai‘i that has been featured in USA Today in a collection of 25 food trucks. They’ve also appeared in Kaua‘i Travel and Hana Hou magazines, and in several promotional videos on island.

Al Pastor Tacos food truck is conveniently located north of Kapa‘a.