Food Truck Hunt: No. 16

CUCINA ZAPATA
Ludlow and 31st on Drexel campus

There's a whole block of food trucks on Ludlow between 31st and 32nd on Drexel's campus. Only one has a line that had 22 people waiting for lunch one of the times we stopped by. You might think, with all the available options, that it isn't worth the wait. But it is.

Cucina Zapata, run by husband and wife Robert and Ruk Zapata, uses fun, fresh ingredients and creates wonderful, original food. Their signature dish is the $6 Capn' Crunch Tilapia Burrito. And yes, it is exactly what its name implies – a generous piece of tilapia, dipped in egg and then rolled in bread crumbs and mashed Capn' Crunch Cereal. It's fried, and rolled into a slightly grilled burrito roll, along with avocado, red cabbage, lettuce and pico de gallo. Add a little sriraca and you've got a real winner.

"We go to the supermarket and buy up all the Capn' Crunch we can find," Zapata says of the cereal that can rip up the roof of your mouth. "That's how much we sell." Yes, it sounds weird. Trust me, it's tremendous.

There's an Asian-Mexican fusion thing going here – Zapata is Hispanic, his wife is Thai. So try the Thai short rib tacos. Or the rib eye breakfast burrito, with scrambled egg, roasted red pepper and cheese. Wash it down with Thai iced tea. We've tried something new each of the three times we visited and never were disappointed by the creativity or execution.

We're not quite halfway through the Food Truck Frenzy. But for now, Cucina Zapata is our favorite truck.

Score: 95/100