Taco therapy: Tabernash food stand ‘spreadin’ the love’ — one taco at a time
December 4, 2018
At the far edge of the Fraser Valley, in one of the coldest places in the Lower 48, there is a little food truck serving up high country variations of traditional Mexican street tacos.
QuickE's is located on the far eastern edge of Tabernash, just off the side of Highway 40. It is the brainchild of California native and long time Grand County resident Erasmo Espinoza, who sought to emulate the traditional Mexican taco stands he loved as a child. QuickE's caters to the breakfast and lunch crowd and serves up over a dozen different tacos, as well as burritos and quesadillas, which mix classic breakfast staples with myriad Mexican influences.
The selections a QuickE's are made to order and come out steaming hot, especially during the bitter cold winter months. They rely upon a mix of flavors from fresh produce, to high quality eggs to house made salsas and marinades, taken from family recipes. The slightly tangy crumbly Mexican favorite queso fresco is a common addition orders along with the coarsely chopped salsa called Pico de gallo.
QuickE's motto is "Spreadin' the love, one taco at a time", and if you grab one of their delicious selections you will understand why.
"One of our regulars, who has been coming since the first week, calls it taco therapy," Espinoza said.
The truck, technically a food trailer, offers up fairly traditional flavors, such as the fried egg taco or the sausage egg n' cheese taco; both of which feature fresh spinach, sharp cheddar, a fried egg, maple syrup and either thick cut bacon or QuickE's special house seasoned sausage.
Customers can also find more adventurous and unique choices from the corned beef breakfast taco, with spinach, melted Swiss cheese, a fried egg, corned beef and pico de gallo, to the salmon bacon taco, featuring spinach, pan seared salmon, queso fresco, cucumber, hard boiled egg and peppered bacon.
For a more Mexican flavor customers can select several different options including the avo taco, with avocado and bacon, to the steak n' egg taco, with carne asada with a scrambled egg, to the pollo asado avocado taco, which includes yellow corn and homemade salsa roja. QuickE's even offers vegetarian options.
Espinoza's love of tacos came from a stint he spent living in Mexico as a child.
"When I was growing up in Mexico as a kid, in Zacatecas, the street taco vibe was amazing," Espinoza said. "It always seemed like the street tacos would liven up the street at night. It was kind of magical. There was something about that energy, the atmosphere."
QuickE's came into existence thanks to a bit of serendipity, and some hunger.
One day Espinoza was helping his friend, local man Eddie White, fix up an RV. White had fresh eggs and bacon. Espinoza had tortillas, something he said he always keeps close at hand. In their hunger that morning Espinoza decided to whip up the same sort of breakfast tacos his mother made for him as a child in Mexico.
"There was a moment in that trailer, as I was passing the taco over to Eddie, that a light bulb went off in his head," Espinoza said. "He said this could be something."
It was that sudden realization that Espinoza calls the catalyst that led to his creating QuickE's and while White is not a partner in the business Espinoza calls him his "mentor and supporter".
QuickEs' hearty delicious rib sticking tacos make for perfect fuel for early morning powder runs or hours spent out on the Nordic trails or skin tracks. Its location right off Highway 40 makes it an ideal stop for anyone heading from northern Grand County to Winter Park Resort or the Fraser Valley. If you come off the hill early, or are wrapping up a long day trudging through the snow, grab a few tacos to unwind with for après.
The tacos at QuickE's, so named for the E's in Espinoza's name, always come in corn tortillas, as they do in Mexico, and are served up from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. e
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