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Chef travels across country to learn styles of cooking for Mexican street food truck

"No matter where I go, I come back to San Antonio. So, I just knew that whatever I was doing, I wanted to do it here..."

SAN ANTONIO — Carnita tacos, corn in a cup with a ton of cilantro and chocolate covered grasshoppers. Sound good? Well, keep reading.

If you've been searching for authentic Mexican street food, you might like a new local business called Milpa. It's a food truck that Owner and Chef Jessica Kuykendall started to honor her mother; the logo on the truck is her mom!

"I revolved this whole concept around her cooking and just wanted to bring a little bit of that to SA," said Kuykendall.

Kuykendall is also the Executive Chef for Ocho at Hotel Havana. And with the help of other chefs and culinary minds, this authentic Mexican food truck came to be, while combining styles and techniques from other areas.

"I’ve gone off to California -- learned some Cali Mex. Down to Mexico, Oaxaca. I’ve like kind of dabbed into a bit of every type of Mexican cuisines," said Kuykendall.

So, of course, we had to check out a few menu items:

Tacos Arabas

Credit: KENS 5

Straight from Puebla, Mexico, Kuykendall said they’re the first to bring them to San Antonio.

"This one is going to be made with crema cucumbers on a flour tortilla and salsa. The pork is made with tomatillo, so it just kinda breaks down that fat and it just melts in your mouth," said Kuykendall.

Carnita Tacos

Credit: KENS 5

"They’re made with pickled onions -- house pickled onions -- cilantro, queso fresco and some limes to give it that tangy, acid taste," said Kuykendall.

And then, we got to try some dessert options from locally owned bake shop Quetzal. We hear their pan dulce is pretty popular. You can even special request a giant pan dulce. No, really. It's huge. Check out their social media here.

Kuykendall also mentioned you can add some of their chocolate covered grasshoppers to your dessert.

Credit: KENS 5

"This is one of these things that you can put on top of your pan dulce, eat on the side with your coffee -- just enjoy as a snack," said Kuykendall.

And being able to try these authentic foods here in the Alamo City is something Kuykendall told KENS 5 is a dream come true.

"No matter where I go, I come back to San Antonio. So, I just knew that whatever I was doing, I wanted to do it here and I wanted to share it with the community," said Kuykendall. "This is the place to be. This is the place that’s growing. It’s a melting pot and I want to be a part of it."

For their hours, location and menu, click here.

Related links on KENS 5:

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