MexSal Mobile food truck keeps it in the family

Jorge Artola cooks inside of the MexSal food cart during an after hours event for adults at the Madison Children’s Museum.

Jorge Artola is at home behind the grill at MexSal, one of Madison’s newest food trucks, MexSal. Specializing in Mexican street tacos, burritos, and Salvadoran pupusas, MexSal is a family affair.

About nine years ago, Jorge Artola began to feel stuck living out west in the San Francisco Bay Area, and felt like he needed a new start. Fate arrived in a message from an old friend: a job opportunity for him in Wisconsin.

It wasn’t glamorous — a gig in the kitchen at a local franchise of the chain BBQ joint Famous Dave’s — but it was a change, and sometimes new surroundings are the best comfort food. While he’d been employed in food service before, Jorge Artola had never actually cooked in a restaurant kitchen.

“I didn’t know if I should go, but then I thought in the back of my head ‘How about if something good happens?’ You never know,” Artola said.

Back in the Bay Area, as the tech boom exploded in the mid-2010s, Artola’s older brother Carlos had begun a catering business with their mother, Mirna. Working parties and weddings, the team quickly gained customers, eventually plating events for big companies like Facebook and Google.

A few years ago, the brothers Artola and their mother decided to expand to the Madison area. Jorge Artola had worked in a mobile restaurant recently with another friend, so when a trailer became available, they went for it.

“The first time I visited Madison in 2015, we went for a walk around the Capitol building and the main streets,” says Carlos Artola of their plan. “Exactly that moment I realized that Madison was a great city and thought that someday I would do something here.”

Customers order dinner from MexSal food cart during an after hours event for adults at the Madison Children’s Museum.

Stationed near the playground at the Madison Children’s Museum for a recent Adult Swim event, Jorge Artola, his wife Crystal Kostka, and cook Mercedes Ascencio dished out tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and pupusas to a nonstop line of customers. Jorge described the busy crowd of diners as a welcome rush of adrenaline.

The tacos are prepared with steak ($5), chicken ($4.50), carne asada ($4.50), shrimp ($4.50), fish ($4.50), or vegetarian ($4.50), laid out on soft masa flour street tacos.

“I love to sprinkle cilantro on the onions and make them look beautiful,” says Jorge Artola.

The steak is tender, well seasoned and juicy, while the carne asada, prepared with a home-made adobo, practically melts in your mouth. The burrito especial ($15.00) comes loaded with beans, rice, a choice of the aforementioned meats, sour cream and guacamole, and grilled to a golden brown.

Clockwise from upper left are a pork pups, chorizo street tacos and a burrito especial from MexSal food cart during an after hours event for adults at the Madison Children’s Museum.

Now, let’s talk about the pupusas. Fashioned from a masa (corn) flour, the shell of this Salvadoran buttery dough is soft on the inside and crispy to the touch. The “revuetlas” ($5) is a mixed filling that’s just the right balance of pork, beans, and cheese contained delicately within the center of the dough.

There’s also a three cheese ($4.50) version oozing with a combination of mozzarella, Oaxaca cheese, and queso guajillo. Topped with a fermented Salvadoran slaw called curtido and a bit of hot or green salsa, it’s a street treat that could sit on any top list of Madison’s savory delectables.

Worth noting for the wheat averse crowd: the whole thing is gluten free.

Every week, the family takes stock of how they’re doing and decide where to go next. While there have been challenges (a busted water pipe early in the season, finding the right spot to drop anchor), the Artolas are encouraged by the feedback they’re getting.

Crystal Kostka takes a customer’s food order from the MexSal food cart during an after hours event for adults at the Madison Children’s Museum.

Last week, MexSal set up shop at a local cidery for the first time. “I just got a text yesterday, asking us to come back. So, you know, if you show that your food is great, they’ll ask you to come back,” said Jorge Artola of building a reputation in this town.

“Most people we’ve encountered have been understanding and friendly — wholesome in a way. And we appreciate that.”

Let's Eat is a budget eats column about delicious food in the Madison area that doesn't cost a lot. To submit an idea for coverage, contact food editor Lindsay Christians at [email protected].

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