"Baller" Tacos

Friday nights when you want to get away from the crowd a bit, head over to Rebel Taqueria, the food truck that delivers “baller tacos with a Rebel attitude,” which is actually part of the owners’ business plan.

The food truck moves around, as they all do, but on Fridays, the truck lands in the parking lot of Cooper River Brewery from 4 pm – 9 pm. Those in the know place an order at the truck, then head into the brewery bar for a libation to wash down the tacos.

Unlike some tacos that fall apart in your hands, the Cali-style shells from Rebel are seasoned corn shells that have been prepped on the grill to stand up to the fillings, according to owner Paul Nettles.

 On a recent visit, I had the Carne Asada, juicy beef drizzled with Sofrito sour cream, and the Crispy Carnitas, succulent pork shoulder beneath a barbecue ranch dressing. Both tacos are crisped with red cabbage.

“We’re pretty much farm to table,” Nettles says. “It’s all organic, house-made, fresh. We cook our own meats and get them locally and we have house recipes. Even the salsa is made with vine-ripe fresh tomatoes every other day. We’re making the guacamole ten minutes before we go through a shift and then we make more all through the shift.”

The guac is pretty “baller” too, and the chips stand up to vigorous dipping into the green gold.

“Yeah,” Nettles says with a laugh. “They aren’t like crappy little bag chips. We actually take the corn tortillas we’ve seasoned and we flash-fry them in the truck. All of that is fresh.”

The truck, which Nettles co-owns with Lewis Kesaris, Matthew Quillen, and Katie DeHart, will be changing the menu soon to feature a seasonal veggie salad with seasoned meat toppers.