Road Trip to Yosemite? Try Mariposa's Best Food Trucks for Lunch

As mobile food trucks continue to gain popularity in urban areas, the mobile lunch phenomenon is also gaining ground in rural areas. Traveling to Yosemite National Park through the Central Valley of California, you're likely to come across a number of taco trucks as well as other types of mobile food in park gateway towns such as Merced and Mariposa.

Planada, a tiny agricultural town nine miles east of Merced, is home to Ramon's Tacos parked at the El Campo convenience store located at the intersection of CA SR 140 and Plainsburg Road. Ramon's specializes in beef and pork tacos and burritos. Al pastor pork tacos are served with toppings that differ from other trucks: grilled onions, avocado slices and green salsa. Tacos at Ramon's are $1.25 each and burritos are $4.50.

Mariposa's orginal taco truck, Sal's Tacos, is parked in the carpool parking lot located next to the Mariposa Museum and History Center from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday through Friday and 9:00 AM to 5 PM on Saturday. Parked regularly in Mariposa, this truck also makes regular every-other-Thursday evening runs to the community of El Portal located 30 miles away at the entrance to Yosemite. Al pastor tacos for $1.25 are tastiest: pork marinated for days with ancho chiles and roasted rotisserie style with gas flame on a trompo, served with pico de gallo, cilantro and lime wedges on corn tortillas. Also cooking up lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday and most Thursdays at the end of the carpool parking lot is BB's Catering - a mobile food truck serving burgers and fries for $6.50, entree salads for $7.00 and daily special sandwiches. Take advantage of the picnic tables located at the museum and at the end of the parking lot to enjoy your mobile food truck lunch.

Parked in an empty lot directly on the main drag of CA SR 140 in Mariposa is Baja Tacos (209-742-5829) and Tim's Famous Tri-Tip food trucks. Baja Tacos offers Mexican seafood specialties in addition to beef and pork tacos including delicious ceviche tostadas and Mexican shrimp cocktail for $9.00 - a soupy mixture of shrimp, white/green onion, cucumber, avocado and cilantro in a lime juice and Ketchup-based sauce. Parked companionably next to Baja Tacos is Tim's Famous Tri-Tip serving sandwiches for $5.00 with or without barbecue sauce. Painted with stylized flames, Tim's Famous truck is actually a trailer, but the tasty tri-tip beef is flame-grilled with onions on a hoagie style roll. Both food trucks operate Monday through Friday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.