This food truck is ‘absolute fire.’ Now it’s opening a Meridian restaurant
Stop the tortilla presses!
A food truck praised for authentic Mexican cuisine is opening its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Meridian. For a city with no shortage of national chains, this feels like potential front-page news.
Tacos Loteria plans to debut Saturday. It’s taking over the recently closed Vons Chicken space at 950 E. Fairview Ave.
The new family-run restaurant will be a husband-and-wife venture from Leo Santos, who will cook, and Maria Callejas, who will handle day-to-day operations and other duties.
Previously parked at 3710 W. Chinden Blvd. in Garden City, the Tacos Loteria food truck is taking a break while the restaurant gets up and running, Callejas said by phone. Launched in 2023, Tacos Loteria has earned 4.5 out of 5 stars on Google and 4.7 out of 5.0 on Yelp.
“Tasty yes, quality yes, absolute fire yes,” raved one reviewer.
“You don’t come here for the atmosphere,” another declared. “You come here for only one reason and that’s to get the best damn tacos anywhere in Boise!”
In addition to tacos — with proteins ranging from asada, carnitas, adobada and pollo to al pastor, chorizo, lengua and tripa — the food-truck menu offered burritos, quesadillas, nachos, sopes, huaraches and more.
The restaurant menu will build on the concept, Callejas said.
Giovanni Santos, her son, explained it like this: “My mom is from Mexico City,” he said in a message, “and my dad is from Oaxaca, and half of the food is from Mexico City and half of it is from Oaxaca.”
The plan is for Tacos Loteria’s hours to be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, he said.
