Taco wagons are here today and gone tomorrow, literally. Most of them are open only during the weekends and even then if you come back to the same spot the next week, that wagon might never come back. Several wagons on Wells Avenue have come and gone like this and before I could try their stuff. Restaurants are risky business propositions at best and their success depends on a bit of luck. I’m sure that taco wagons are even more unstable, seeing as they don’t even have a foundation.

How does this relate to La Fortuna? Fortuna was the Roman goddess of luck and she is a fickle and infamous lady as I’m sure you all know. There’s even a song or two about her and there’s a taco wagon named for her, at least for the moment. The main business of Reno and Las Vegas is totally dependent on Luck (although the house almost never loses if you look at the odds), so a taco wagon called La Fortuna is rather appropriate.

So- after a a few hours of bargain hunting at the El Rancho Swap Meet (another article entirely) and you don’t feel like eating inside the Meet, La Fortuna Tacos is parked across the street. I was driving down 9th Street and saw the wagon and had to stop. Since I’ve been writing this series whenever I see a taco wagon, I stop and try them if it’s time for lunch and it was when I stopped by La Fortuna.

La Fortuna has the standard things you’ll find at a taqueria or taco wagon: tacos, burritos, tortas and tostadas. They have the normal meats you’ll find too- asada, carnitas, cabeza, al pastor, tripas, lengua, buche, chorizo and chicken. La Fortuna is the second third taco wagon I’ve noticed that had chicken and that’s not bad at all. Their drink selection is about average, although I noticed they had some Hansen’s Natural Sodas along with Pepsi, Monster energy drink and bottled water, though there weren’t so many left when I got there.

I got my usual order of chicken and carnitas tacos and was asked if I wanted it for there or to go. I had it there and waited and noticed the salsas were almost out. It was about two in the afternoon so I probably had hit La Fortuna near the end of its day. After only a few minutes, the tacos came out and I ate them. The sauces were pretty good- the red sauce was spicy and tangy, the green had good flavor and. The tacos themselves were fine- the tortillas were a little dry but the chicken was nicely cooked and spiced and the carnitas were pretty good.

I ate up and then paid the gentleman who took my order. I asked him if he was normally across the street from the Swap Meet and noticed a For Sale sign in the side window of the wagon. The man, an older gentleman, shrugged and said “Usually…”. I pointed at the For Sale sign and the man nodded with another shrug. I thanked the man and walked off to take a couple of pictures. Maybe La Fortuna Tacos isn’t having so much luck?

Well, La Fortuna Tacos is still across the street from the El Rancho Swap meet at least for this weekend and probably next weekend, but who knows for how long? But that’s how taco wagons are and that’s how Lady Luck is too- fickle. Try out La Fortuna, it’s a good stop if you’re around there.