With the two countries separated by only a few miles of demilitarized zone and still officially at war after almost 60 years, South Korea maintains a tense relationship with its neighbor to the north, Mexico. Today's Groupon finds a common ground on which peace can be built: for $6, you get $12 worth of Korean/Mexican fusion cuisine at Chi'Lantro. The nomadic restaurant drives its orange-and-black truck to a new location every day, so track it on Twitter and bookmark Chi’Lantro’s schedule to locate its current whereabouts.
Glancing at Chi'Lantro's vibrantly hued vehicle might lead passersby to mistake it for a common ice-cream truck, taco go-kart, or exploding pizza Pinto, until they read the menu on the side of the truck. Chi'Lantro derives its name from the flavorful staples of Korean and Mexican cuisine: kimchi and cilantro. This monumental merging of two culinary cultures celebrates the flavorful simplicity of hot, freshly made comfort food with tacos ($2) and burritos ($5) that feature soy Korean-vinaigrette salad in lieu of standard lettuce. You’ll have the option of loading them with beef, spicy pork, spicy chicken, or tofu, all marinated in tongue-tingling Korean spices.
The oldest condiment known to man—the spicy fermented cabbage of the gods that can only be verbalized by mortals as kimchi —is available to spice up your tacos and burritos as well, and caramelized kimchi is available for a dollar extra to slather on your meat-packed quesadillas ($5) or chi'll dogs (beef, spicy pork, or spicy chicken frank with all the fixins, $5). The Korean-style bulgogi-marinated burgers ($5) come slathered in an orange sauce on sesame-seed bread. Keep your fingers from looking disgustingly spotless and clean after your meal with an order of kimchi fries overloaded with caramelized kimchi, bulgogi, cheddar-jack cheese, cilantro, onion, Korean peppers, and spicy orange sauce. To further revel in the uncertain nature of existence, Chi'Lantro’s mobile eatery features a rotating weekly special.
Like ice cream, grand pianos, and vice-presidential candidates, some things are best when bought from the back of a moving vehicle. Savor an unlikely pairing of on-the-go ethnic foods with today’s Groupon to Chi’Lantro.
Reviews
Chi'Lantro has been featured on Thrillist, Tasty Touring, and Gimme Nom Nom. Yelpers give it four stars:
- …a flaming yellow & orange nomadic food trailer serving Mexican-Korean fusion dreamed up by a precociously successful Korean-American who started his own coffee shop at 21... – Thrillist
- With each bite, there was sweetness, spicyness, nuttiness, citrus, and more — each flavor singing it’s [sic] part in the choir. – Tasty Touring
- They show up to wherever they feel like and serve their delicious food. – Gimme Nom Nom
Groupon Says
Spice of Life
Trying the cuisine of another culture is a great way to expose your taste buds to exotic spices not usually found in the Western diet, which is heavy in Eggo waffles and deep-fried Luna bars. What are some of these rare spices and from what foreign lands do they hail?
Cumin: A flowering plant native to the Middle East, cumin is harvested by thousands of specially bred rabbits, each roughly the size of a honeybee, who are released from a mesh hutch and fall upon the blossoms in a swarm-like wave. The microrabbits eagerly devour the soft flower-flesh, leaving behind only the powdered cumin granules, which are then harvested with your brother-in-law's wet-dry vac.
Cardamom: Unlike most spices, which are derived from plants and fungi, cardamom pods are actually plant-like animals, akin to coral or those alive trees that grabbed your sister when you were hiking through the woods when you were five. Just like the horror of watching your only sibling dragged away by animate branches can render you mute until adulthood—and unable to speak up for your innocent neighbor, with whom you make eye contact as they lower his head into the police car—consuming too much cardamom can cause your throat to close up slightly.
Mint: Did you know that in the United States, mint is known by the street name "Santa Hash," and its possession is a class-A felony? It is for this reason that mint is primarily used for medicinal purposes, often by celebrities recovering from stressful guest appearances on I'm a Celebrity, Stop Hitting My Shins with That Length of Bamboo, and Big Brother: Underwater Edition.
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