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| - As food trucks go, Maki, in concept, is everything one can aspire to be- mixing and crossing international cuisine borders to produce inventive new food that pushes gastronomic boundaries and challenges conventional thinking. This is, afterall, one of the pluses of a food truck, smaller overhead and freedom to try new things without worry that some will be a hit while others will be lacking.
Maki certianly swings for the fences by incorporating Pan Asian dishes into the convenience of street-friendly taco shells. For example, bulgogi (or Korean bbq) is delicious all by itself, but it is normally a sit down meal. When wrapped in a soft corn tortilla, however, you now have the distinctive taste of spicy sesame oil, soy, and garlic in a package fit for going mobile. The sauce alone is unique and wonderful. Maki's beef strips are rightly thin-sliced and the bell pepper and onion is not overly cooked into mush.
The same goes for their crab and avacoado tacos. This is basically a deconstructed sushi roll placed into crispy taco shell, complete with sesame seeds and cream cheese. I wonder, however, if real crab is used given then uniformity of the shreads of meat that seem to be the hallmark of faux-crab stricks most commonly used in sushi restaurants. Minor point, but the final product is most enjoyable and different due to the crunch of the shell.
I just think Maki could go even further, however. Rather than just wrap it all in a traditional Mexican exterior, why not include a few Mexican inspirations into your offerings? For example, a verde "salsa" to go with your habachi dishes made from either cilantro or basil. Lettuce shells instead of corn tortillas. Rice paper taco shells to deconstruct a summer roll. "Refried" lentils in place of the ubiquitous beans dropped onto the plate of most every Mexican restaurant. Curried rice in place of mexican rice. I'm just spit-balling, but my point is there is much more than can be explored here, and I think the chef has the skills to pull it off.
For the price paid, a side or two would go a long way to quelling the many Yelper comments I echo here: $10+ for 2 or 3 tacos leaves me feeling a bit wanting on the value scale. I understand food trucks prefer a la carte pricing, but either price needs to shift down or something more is needed to add value for the customer.
I will certainly continue to patronize Maki and will encourage others to try the same, but there are sparks of inspriation here ready to ignite and take off- I hope for and want Maki to light that fire.
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