From a vintage bus at a gas station, find some of Pierce County’s best tacos

A woman’s arm surfaced from the open window of a 1970s-era Bluebird bus parked at a Puyallup gas station, a green, compostable plastic bag stacked with boxes of tacos in her hand.

“Guys! Here you go,” she called out. One of the customers, waiting under the covered patio outfitted with three picnic tables and an Instagram-ready wall with a pink neon sign, reached up to accept the order.

It’s a dry, mild Tuesday in late January, just after 1 p.m., and the lot around the 76 station at Canyon Road and 176th Street is buzzing. Is the gas cheaper here than the Shell across the street? That’s not quite it — Tony’s Tacos is open.

A group of construction workers files through the metal bus door and up the stairs. Inside, anyone over 5-feet-9 might feel cramped under the curvature of the gleaming-silver quilted pattern roof. Half of this bus-turned-food-truck is dedicated to the kitchen, the other to hosting a line that sometimes trickles down those stairs and into the parking lot.

Having heard that Tony’s quesabirria — the fashionable cheesy, lightly fried taco with slow-cooked beef historically prepared for caldo — was one of the best in the region, I couldn’t skip it. Thankfully you can order a single, served, like the pair and the “pizzadilla,” with consomé for dipping — or, as I learned owner Antonio Ruiz Jr. prefers, for sipping.

“I like to take a bite, take a sip,” he said, adding that he has witnessed customers dumping it all over the taco, which is inadvisable considering it’s already doused with the stuff on the grill.

At Tony’s, the small kitchen team ensures each cup carries a few actual pieces of the Angus beef chuck, slow-cooked for four or so hours, lending a sense of special-treatment to the plastic receptacle. Indeed, the rich consomé shined on its own, resonant of chiles and time, especially when paired with today’s revitalizing cucumber-lime agua fresca. It’s a shame only that you can’t order the originating dish itself, but Ruiz Jr. has learned that successful food trucks benefit from keeping it simple. The briefer the menu, the fresher the food, he said.

Since opening last July, Tony’s Tacos has no doubt proved its worth from this humble corner, a four-way thoroughfare in the rapidly growing Frederickson area on the border of Tacoma and Puyallup. Chain fast-food abounds, but as Bethany Cherry and her daughter Jocelyn told me while they waited for a burrito and quesabirria, after they noticed Tony’s, they won’t go anywhere else.

Lured by the homemade tortilla, I also ordered the namesake taco, trying it first with carne asada and then with birria. The vehicle is almost double the size of a typical street taco, dressed with pico de gallo and silky, perfectly avocado-green guacamole that had me wishing for extra on the side with chips.

These kinds of done-up versions can easily succumb to weight and wetness, but not under counsel of Ruiz Jr. and his mother Anadena Ruiz, who in 2003 started their family restaurant in Renton before moving it to the South Hill Mini Mart (now a Chevron). After closing it, they put baby Bluebird in storage.

By 2021, Ruiz Jr. had developed a career of his own, cooking for private events and catering operations. He wanted “to branch off and start my own thing.” Through an industry friend, he learned the owners of this 76 wanted to take advantage of the otherwise space-hogging blacktop.

“That’s a perfect spot for us to open up the bus again,” he recalled. “It helps out people like me to have a food truck, and it helps them — it’s extra income coming in.”

Like his forward-thinking landlord, Ruiz Jr. has his eyes on making Tony’s Tacos feel like more than just a food truck with nowhere to eat besides your car. He built the pergola himself, stringing bistro lights for added ambiance, and plans to add additional seating with umbrellas in another empty space.

I’m already scheming for a reason to take me through Frederickson for another Tony’s Taco and an extra helping of the quirky salsa verde richened with sour cream.

TONY’S TACOS

▪ 17519 Canyon Road E, Puyallup, 253-878-1241, facebook.com/tonystacos.pnw

▪ Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

▪ Details: family-run taco bus with covered outdoor seating; order in-person, online or by phone

▪ Recommended: Tony’s Taco, quesabirria, street tacos ($3.50-$15 for a 5-taco plate); menu includes mulitas, burritos, tortas ($5.75-$14.25) and a 10-inch pizzadilla ($26.50)

▪ Location Note: enter from westbound 176th or northbound Canyon Road; very clean single-stall bathroom available in convenience store