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The Midnight Diners

This San Jose Food Truck Slings Tiny Pancakes and Big-Ass Tacos Until 3 a.m.

Luke TsaiThien Pham
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Illustration: In a tented dining area, a man holds a large shrimp taco while his companion stuffs a huarache into his mouth.
The Orale taco truck is open — and stays busy — until 3 a.m. on the weekends. It’s located in the Alum Rock neighborhood in Eastside San Jose. (Thien Pham)

The Midnight Diners is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and artist Thien Pham. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.

The party is in full swing when we pull up to the Orale taco truck at 11 o’clock on a drizzly Friday night, in a tire shop parking lot in Eastside San Jose. The tented, ad hoc dining area has the festive, easygoing bustle of a backyard barbecue, all lit up with string lights. Off to the side, a taquero grills up a massive batch of carne asada, perfuming the air with the smell of sizzling fat.

We drove out to this stretch of strip malls on Alum Rock because we’d heard that Orale stays open until 3 a.m. on the weekend — and, in fact, does a brisk business all the way until 3. And so it does: When we arrive, the line runs seven or eight customers deep. It only gets longer the further into the night we go.

Orale belongs to that new-school brand of taquerias and taco trucks we have here in the Bay, with the kind of wide-ranging menu that seems to encompass every Mexican street food trend to hit our region. In the mood for consomé-drenched quesabirria? An alambre? A bacon-wrapped hot dog topped with everything under the sun? Orale has it all.

At the same time, the place doesn’t seem to have caught that social media–induced sickness where every burrito needs to be the longest of all-time and every plate gets drowned in an unconscionable amount of salsa — all for the sake of the ’gram. Orale serves some big-ass tacos, but they’re sensibly constructed and just darn tasty.

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The flashiest menu item is probably the “mar y tierra” surf-and-turf taco, tailor-made for the kind of indulgent eater who thinks no steak dinner is complete without a broiled lobster tail. In this case, the “surf” consists of plump, well-seasoned grilled shrimp, which come draped, deliciously, over a layer of juicy carne asada, then topped with guacamole.

My favorite, however, is Orale’s tripas taco, for which the cow’s small intestines are cooked in their own fat until they reach textural perfection: crispy on the outside but not over-fried, so the inside retains its softness and chew. Topped with a drizzle of spicy orange salsa to cut into the slight gaminess of the meat, it’s one of the best versions I’ve ever had.

Illustration: Diners sit at folding tables set up under a white tent on a drizzly night while others line up outside a taco truck to order their food.
Set up in the parking lot of a tire shop, the taco truck features a quintessential Bay Area crowd and vibe. (Thien Pham)

Orale is also notable for its variety of masa-based specialties, like its huaraches — crunchy, slipper-shaped masa shells topped with lettuce, tomato, sliced avocado, crema, refried beans and your protein of choice. The vegetables are so fresh, you can almost order the dish as a (massive) “salad,” to balance out your meal.

Funny as it sounds, one of the main reasons we had driven out to Orale is because we heard that it also serves little pancakes, and late-night dessert (or breakfast??) options are a particular rarity. In this respect, too, Orale didn’t let us down. Next to the truck, they set up a couple of portable molded pancake griddles, where they’ll cook you a batch to order: nine little pancakes or 25 even tinier pancakes for $10, each one flipped with a toothpick like a Japanese takoyaki maker. Then they dress them with whatever you pick from the toppings bar — I chose strawberries, condensed milk, cajeta and, why not, some smashed up Fruity Pebbles.

My friends, these were a delight. I don’t know if it was the lateness of the hour or the makeshift nature of the setting, but I can’t recall the last time I enjoyed a plate of pancakes so much — when the pancakes were so hot and fluffy and well-browned on the edges. It made me want to start a campaign for more street-side pancake vendors everywhere, or at least for one within walking distance of my home. Since it often takes a while for taco orders at Orale to come out, my advice is to go dessert-first. Have some pancakes while you wait.

Indeed, by the time we’d finished, the wait time for tacos was easily half an hour, and the line showed no sign of thinning out. But the vibe at Orale is so pleasant — so quintessentially San Jose, with an almost perfectly diverse crowd of twenty- and thirtysomethings (Latino, Black, Asian American) — that no one seems particularly pressed. Everyone is content to chill and make small talk with their neighbors at the long communal folding tables. About how great those tripitas are. And what a perfect time it is to be out here, eating this food, enjoying this night in the Bay.

Orale is located at 2240 Alum Rock Ave. in San Jose. It’s open Monday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m.–1 a.m., Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m.–3 a.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m.–1 a.m. Cash only.

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