So I went looking through my reviews today and I was surprised that I had yet to write about several food trucks I have been to over the past few years in Phx. Emerson is one of them.
In their early days they were earthy and authentic, occasionally offering up mutton sandwiches when sitting out at Drumbeat Indian Arts on 16th street. Simply served and topped with chopped iceberg lettuce and tomato if you ordered on the savory side or honey/powdered sugar if you were feeding your sweet tooth.
Time has passed and they have evolved. Their truck is bright and colorful, and their menus offers some of their old favorites with a twist. Fresh mixed salad greens has replaced much of the iceberg lettuce and a drizzle of a creamy chipotle sauce dresses many of their dishes or a mango salsa on a few others.
For me I preferred their earlier simplicity. Yeah some of their flavors were simple and some of the ingredients inconsistent (the beans mostly one time they would be completely bland and lacking of salt and other times they were on the verge of being salty even for my salty palate.) But usually it was nothing that a little extra (traditional) salsa couldn't fix
On one of my last stops here (which have become less frequent), I was looking for something smaller than their usual fry bread banquet.Ordering one of their burritos with carne asada, it was my first times trying their new 'gourmet' menu. I remember it had a mango salsa and the mixed greens but it wasn't that ol' fry bread truck I would enjoy occasionally. I finished it and left slightly disappointed, it just didn't do it for me.
Yes, they are trying to add a gourmet twist to a very old traditional favorite and I applaud them for that effort and attempt to reinvent. But for me I liked their earlier days. When they were authentic. They just needed to improve and not be so inconsistent with their food quality. Now it just still as inconsistent but with a 'gourmet' twist.