Family business serving authentic Mexican elotes, churros and more
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ST. ANTHONY – A local family serves authentic Mexican snacks and desserts for everyone with a sweet tooth.
Tacos La Perla Tapatia is a food truck known in the St. Anthony community for serving some of the best authentic Mexican food, and they’ve expanded.
Clara Hernandez, daughter of the owners of Tacos La Perla Tapatia, started her own off-branch of the food truck – with classic Mexican snacks and desserts. It’s called La Perle Tapatia Churros and Corn.
Almost nine years ago, the Hernandez family moved back to St. Anthony from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to serve up the delicious food.
“It’s been about nine years since we started doing this,” Hernandez says. “(My parents) started a food truck back in 2008, so they’re at 15 years in business. They have a food wagon full of tacos, chimichangas, burritos, and all sorts of Mexican treats.”
EastIdahoNews.com was lucky enough to try some of the classic offerings at the Madison County Fair, starting with the elote.
Elote is a popular Mexican snack of corn on the cob, covered in a mayo cream sauce and garnished with chili powder, cheese and lime.
Elote is a perfect snack for walking around at an event or sitting with family and friends for a picnic. It’s refreshing and tangy, and this reporter immediately wanted five more.
“We put our mayo mixture on there, we put our cheese mixture, and it’s topped off with chili powder,” Hernandez says.
Next, EastIdahoNews.com reporters tried the homemade churros, which are soft and warm on the inside and crunchy and sweet on the outside, exactly how you want them to be.
The churros were warm and crispy to the touch and stayed that way the entire time we ate them, proving it was a top-tier churro.
According to Clara, the churros are their most popular item, and it’s easy to see why.
Lastly, we tried the esquites, similar to the elote, but this time in a cup with a loose corn base, covered in Mexican crema and topped with chili powder and lime.
“This is one that people have requested for the past year, and we were like, you know what, we need to start it off this year and make it easier for everybody,” Hernandez says.
The esquites are sweet and salty, with the chili powder and lime giving a perfect balance of spicy and tangy to round out the entire taste-bud pyramid.
Make sure to look for La Perle Tapatia Churros and Corn from St. Anthony at events all over eastern Idaho, and visit Tacos La Perla Tapatia at 505 S Bridge Street in St. Anthony, where you can also taste some of Clara’s homemade desserts.
They are open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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