Had you tried to seek out Pueblan food in the area a few years ago, you would’ve come up short. While local Mexican fare is widely available around the Triangle, regional food is still somewhat limited. Case in point: despite the number of Mexican restaurants, grocery stores, and food trucks in the area, until recently, none offered regional Pueblan fare.
That changed in 2021 when the Vega family (Luis Miguel, his wife Angeles, and their children Luis Vazquez, Edwin Vazquez, and Jouse) opened Que Chula Es Puebla. The truck showcases matriarch Angeles’s traditional cooking from her hometown of Puebla, the capital city of the Mexican state that holds the same name.
Que Chula Es Puebla can be found parked at 2601 South Saunders Street in Raleigh next to a Mexican market and a Boost Mobile. Wrapped in photos of featured dishes and images of Pico de Orizaba, a striking volcano in Puebla, the colorful truck is open Monday through Saturday.
“We used to go all the way to New York to buy cemitas,” Luis Vazquez recounts customers saying, regarding the business’s presence in Raleigh. “Now we have them like 20 or 30 minutes away, not eight or nine hours.”
“I honestly have a lot of plates that you won’t see at other food trucks,” Luis Vazquez says. He’s talking about the huitlacoche quesadillas—handmade corn tortillas with quesillo (Oaxaca cheese), chicharron, and huitlacoche, or corn smut. Huitlacoche, a dark fungus that grows on the ears of corn, may not sound or look appealing to the untrained eye, but it has an earthy, intense umami flavor quite unlike anything else.
Puebla is located about two hours southeast of Mexico City. Its origins as a state go back to the 16th century, when Spanish colonizers established a city along the trade route between Mexico City and Veracuz. This has shaped the region’s cuisine, with ingredients brought from Europe and products like olive oil, wheat, and almonds incorporated into dishes that are now considered quintessentially Pueblan. Three decades later, Mexico’s defeat of the invading French army at Puebla on May 5, 1862, became a key event in the state’s, and country’s, history—a day now marked by the familiar festival Cinco de Mayo.
“We are the closest taste you can have to Pueblan food in the U.S. in this area,” Luis Vazquez says. “Everything is different, you won’t ever have that same taste, but we come close to it.”
Luis Vazquez’s parents came to the United States from Puebla in their late teens. Before embarking on this joint venture, Luis Miguel worked in construction and Angeles owned and operated a cleaning business. Angeles had always cooked Pueblan dishes at home but never dreamed of opening a food business, Luis Vazquez says, but several years ago, he encouraged her to share her cooking with a bigger audience.
“I know the cooking is really good—I’m not just saying that because she’s my mom,” Luis Vazquez explains. “I wouldn’t give her the idea if it wasn’t good. So we went ahead and did it.”
The entire Vega family works at Que Chula, each contributing to various aspects of the kitchen and business. Luis Vazquez and Edwin are currently studying to become an HVAC technician and barber, respectively, and the truck’s schedule is coordinated around respective responsibilities. All hands are on deck in this family pursuit, easing the stress of owning and operating a business with the many unexpected hurdles of running a food service operation.
Inflation has been one such hurdle: Customers expect food truck menus to be cheap, irrespective of the economy. But while the initial cost of opening a food truck is small in comparison to opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant, day-to-day costs still make for slim profit margins. Luis Vazquez notes that the steadily rising costs of ingredients made cheap eats less feasible at Que Chula—the cemita, which can easily feed two, will cost you $17, and a plate of three memelas comes in at $15. But once customers try the menu, he says, they are usually on board, recognizing the high quality and value of the dishes.
One of the dishes not to be missed are the tacos árabes. The origins of tacos árabes, or Arab tacos, are often traced to the early 20th century, when there were waves of immigration from Syria and Lebanon to various regions of Mexico, including Puebla. The taco, a fusion dish with both Mexican and Middle Eastern influences, has become a Pueblan staple. Marinated pork filling is traditionally cooked on a spit, similar to shawarma. Unlike more familiar street tacos that are served in corn tortillas, these are served in a slightly thicker and chewier flour tortilla called pan árabe,which has some resemblance to laffa, the flatbread traditionally used for shawarma.
“Nobody really knows why they’re called tacos árabes,” Luis Vazquez recounts, trying to get to the bottom of their origin story. “I want to know, I want to find out. I went to Puebla and I started asking around; they gave me theories, but nobody really knows why.”
Another popular Pueblan dish the family serves is the cemita. At Que Chula, the bread for this monstrosity of a sandwich, baked fresh every morning, is a perfect canvas for the fillings. Cemitas are served with a choice of chicken or beef milanesa, a breaded and fried cutlet, which is piled high with thick shreds of quesillo, avocado, and your choice of papas fritas or chipotle chilies. The crispy fried meat, stretchy cheese, creamy avocado, and sweet and spicy chilies balance out each bite.
The memelas poblanas served at Que Chula are another classic: handmade corn tortillas are stuffed with beans and topped with quesillo, salsa, onions, and meat. Luis Vazquez notes that, though it isn’t traditional, he grew up eating memelas with sour cream—and continues to snack on them this way.
Fusion foods and modern takes on traditional dishes are sometimes intentionally invented by conceptual chefs. But just as often, these evolutions and creations occur accidentally as people, and the foods they bring with them, migrate to new places. Whether tacos árabes on Pueblan street corners, or memelas topped with sour cream, foods evolve, telling the stories of where their creators came from.
Driving down Saunders Street, Que Chula Es Puebla might look like any other taco truck, but looks can be deceiving. This food truck’s attention to detail and commitment to creating authentic Pueblan dishes, with dishes made entirely from scratch, make this family-run food truck a unique destination worth seeking out.
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