Those who live in or frequent Clarendon have probably noticed an interesting blue food truck parked in multiple areas of the county. This new food truck is Guat-a-Taco, owned by Army veteran Henry Campos, whose main goal is to bring new flavor to Clarendon County, one meal at a time.
Campos just recently moved to Clarendon County. He was originally from Guatemala, but was raised in Minnesota. Then, he joined the Army and lived in several places all over the world, including South Korea, Germany, and Hawaii. But it was when Campos moved to the Orange County area of California that he started his culinary career. “When I first started in the business, it was Vietnamese and French fusion food and then I more gradually got into Latin food, because you know, that’s my descent, that’s where I’m from, and I think I’m better at Spanish food, but combining flavors is really what I enjoyed doing.”
Guat-a-Taco’s menu includes some unique items to this county, including chicken and beef birria tacos as well as birria quesadillas. When asked which menu item was the most popular at the moment, Campos responded, “The beef birria tacos and the beef birria quesadilla.” Some of Guat-a-Taco’s menu items can be viewed on their Facebook page, but it’s worth a visit to the food truck to see the full menu and get the full experience.
Campos was inspired to try opening a culinary business after he served food at his wife’s birthday party and the guests all loved the food and encouraged him to share it with more people. He chose a food truck because he was interested to see if the residents and visitors of Clarendon County would like the flavors of his food. “To be honest with you,” he said, “the reason I decided to open a food truck is because I didn’t know how birria would be received in this area.”
It must be well received so far, as Campos has plenty of bright plans for the future, including a brick and mortar authentic Latin restaurant and additional food trucks. “I would like to open a full service restaurant. My goal is to do it within the next two years. If I can do it sooner, the better, but we are also still building towards adding another two or three food trucks,” Campos said. The next food truck Campos is planning to add to the mix will be a gourmet pizza truck. “I’m expecting to have that up and running towards the end of this year,” he said.
Campos shared the types of authentic dishes he’d like to have in his full-service restaurant some day. “I want to take genuine flavors from the different regions of Mexico, like Oaxaca, like oxtail soups, enchiladas inshallah, I want to do a mole, a red pozole and a green pozole.”
Campos’s passion for food and cooking was summed up in one quote: “The thing I enjoy most is the reaction of people when they first take a bite of the food.”
Guat-a-Taco is always on the move, but hungry patrons can find out where they will be next by checking their Facebook page or their website, guatataco.com. Campos posts the weekly schedule at the beginning of each week, and posts reminders throughout the week. He also makes sure customers know when the food truck is all set up and ready for service. “The reason I do that is because before, people would pull up and they were waiting for 45 minutes to an hour while we were getting set up, and I didn’t want them to have to wait, so I decided I’m going to get to the destination and I’m going to post when we’re ready to serve so that they’re not outside waiting,” he said.
