CRUjente Tacos and Moodie Blacks are highlighted, along with the since-shuttered Barrio Cafe, in the revised and expanded edition of “American Tacos: A History and Guide,” released on Wednesday from James Beard Award-winning author Jose Ralat.
Included in the book's the first edition, the Arcadia taqueria CRUjiente appears in a chapter titled “El Taco Moderno,” which highlights “contemporary, ‘chef-driven’ and nuevo immigrant tacos.” The author highlights CRUjiente’s crunchy beef and birria-style lamb tacos, as well as globe-trotting versions, such as a Korean fried chicken taco, that reflect executive chef Richard Hinojosa's fine dining background.
“I was thinking, I’ve got twenty years of cooking and all these different styles of food and all these techniques from working at all these four- and five-star-type places. To incorporate that into tacos could be really cool,” Hinojosa tells Ralat in the book.
MB Foodhouse was among the Valley spots highlighted in the book's recent update. Owner Kristen Martinez launched the pop-up and food trailer in Phoenix in 2023 before moving to the kitchen at Yucca Tap Room.
Sara Crocker
“It’s awesome to be a part of it,” Martinez says of the inclusion. “It’s kind of mind-blowing in a way.”
MB Foodhouse is featured in a chapter titled “Pandemic Tacos,” which explores how the global pandemic impacted and shaped taco joints around the country.
“Martinez turned her love of cooking — she had grown up cooking with her parents and grandmother, and had minimal experience working as a line cook and a cook in a taco truck — into a professional endeavor,” Ralat writes.
Martinez’s MB Foodhouse was born as a pop-up in Minneapolis that gained steam when the pandemic ended her opportunities to tour as a musician. She came to Phoenix and relaunched the “new era TexMex” eatery in 2023 from a food trailer that parked outside local breweries and via kitchen takeovers at places such as Gracie’s Tax Bar.
MB Foodhouse's taquitos are inspired by the ones that Martinez ate growing up in El Paso.
Sara Crocker
“It is a grimier spot,” Martinez quips, acknowledging the venue’s recent designation as one of the grimiest bars in the Valley, “so I’m just leaning into that.”
Her menu now includes smash burgers with Hatch chile mustard, hot chicken tortas and mac-and-cheese bites, as well as weekend brunch with mini pancakes, breakfast tacos and a morning burger with a fried egg.
Martinez hopes to continue that residency at Yucca and add a brick-and-mortar location in the future.
“We do want to have our own footprint," she says.
For now, she's making her mark in the updated guide to "American Tacos."
For now, she's making her mark in the updated guide to "American Tacos."
