New Vegas taco shop includes some wild fillings
International Taco Co. didn’t start out as a food truck, but it’s fueled by the same gung-ho, let’s-try-it approach that fuels many trucks. The shop, which opened in June in the south valley, features tacos with about a dozen global fillings: Mexican, Japanese, Italian American, Indian and more.
Now, international tacos certainly aren’t something new — we are more than 15 years in, for one, from the launch of Kogi, the L.A. food truck that popularized the Korean short rib taco. But what sets International Taco apart is a dozen or so cross-border styles in one restaurant.
“I’ve had this idea for more than a decade. I like making tacos at home with different cuisines,” said Ash Mirchandani, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Supriya. Finding the right space, chef and team, he continued, “brought it all together, as if it was meant to happen.”
Tortillas, shells, leaves
In the lead-up to the opening, Mirchandani, chef-general manager Nichole Drummond and the team brainstormed and tasted potential tacos. How far could they push the filling frontier?
“We had a list of over 20 tacos we were trying to decide on,” Drummond said. “We thought, ‘What are the ones that are going to be easier to understand because we’re already playing with the idea of what a taco should be?’ It takes awhile for people to think of chicken Parm on a taco.”
People should start thinking. Chicken thigh, Parmesan and mozzarella swaddled in vodka sauce, with a spatter of Parmesan breadcrumbs, taste just like a rich gooey bite (or three) of chicken Parm; the flour tortilla nicely subs for the garlic bread.
Besides flour tortillas, tacos may be built using double-stacked corn tortillas, a crisp corn shell (like American ground beef tacos), a crisp corn platform (like tostadas) or butter lettuce leaves.
For a taco inspired by American barbecue, pork belly, barbecue sauce and bacon jam join chunks of baked potato, traditional fixings and American cheese. Instead of white bread, the classic barbecue partner, there’s a flour tortilla to soak up the sauce.
‘Be more adventurous’
A flour tortilla makes a soft landing for an Indian taco — butter chicken, mint chutney, mint yogurt, serranos, red onion — but corn tortillas work well, too, the corn supplying texture and earthiness that complement the butter chicken and dressing.
Mexican street tacos, of course, rely on corn tortillas, with choice of protein (chicken, pork belly, carnitas, pastor, barbacoa, short rib). Tomato salsa and spurts of lime juice finish the tacos, which are the bestsellers at the restaurant, not surprising given that people are familiar with this style.
“We ran out of Mexican flags to put in the tacos because they’re so popular,” Drummond said. “We have to talk people out of the Mexican street tacos and be more adventurous.”
As in a filling of tofu flavored by Chinese marinade. Or crisp shrimp tempura graced with teriyaki sauce. Or Jamaican curried cauliflower and grilled corn bound by smoked chipotle mayonnaise. Spicy tuna or surimi (imitation crab) take a taco turn with yum yum sauce, the spicy condiment made from mayonnaise, sriracha and rice vinegar.
No purple, please
The current menu at International Taco, 7686 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Suite 140, will remain in place until the end of the year or early next year, Drummond said. Before the menu turn, “we’ll see what flavors were lacking and what was loved the most and what we can bring in to surprise our customers. We’re always experimenting. That’s what makes it fun.”
A Nashville hot chicken taco is up for discussion, Drummond said. So is a Thanksgiving version: turkey, gravy, cranberry. “I think we can make anything work as long as we do a texture element to it.”
The goal is to open at least four more International Taco locations in 2025 and 2026. The expansion means creating more international tacos. But at least one ingredient isn’t likely to make the list, Drummond said.
“No ube.”
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.