There is something about a really good breakfast taco that can make you wonder why breakfast ever needed to be complicated in the first place. Give me fresh eggs, potatoes, sausage, cheese and a warm tortilla made by somebody who knows what they are doing, and I am perfectly happy.
That is exactly what I found at Brothers Bento & Tacos, serving at Garrisons in Phoenix, where the breakfast tacos are reason enough to make a morning stop.
I love discovering good food, but I especially enjoy finding it at locally operated food trucks where the people preparing your meal have clearly put some thought and pride into what they are serving. Brothers Bento & Tacos does not try to turn breakfast into some elaborate production. Instead, the focus is on familiar ingredients, fresh preparation and getting the fundamentals right.
The breakfast tacos are built around egg, potato, sausage and cheese. It is a straightforward combination, but straightforward food still has to be executed properly. The potatoes give the tacos substance, the sausage brings the savory richness, and the eggs and cheese pull everything together into the kind of warm, satisfying breakfast that actually feels like breakfast.
Then there are the homemade corn tortillas.
For me, this is where these tacos separate themselves from the ordinary. A freshly made tortilla has a texture, aroma and flavor that the packaged version simply cannot duplicate. It is not merely something wrapped around the filling. It becomes part of the meal. These tortillas have that unmistakable freshness that you notice from the first bite, and they complement the filling rather than disappearing underneath it.
That attention to something as fundamental as the tortilla says quite a bit about what Brothers Bento & Tacos is putting into its food. Making tortillas takes additional time and effort, especially when it would be much easier to open a package and call it good. They chose the harder route, and the tacos are better because of it.
Southern Oregon has an increasingly interesting collection of food trucks and small independent food businesses, and some of the best finds are not necessarily the places with enormous menus or elaborate presentations. Sometimes it is a truck serving something familiar and making it exceptionally well.
Brothers Bento & Tacos fits comfortably into that category.
If you are in Phoenix and breakfast is calling, head over to Garrisons and give the breakfast tacos a try. Come hungry, appreciate the homemade tortillas and enjoy what happens when a handful of simple breakfast ingredients are treated with the attention they deserve.
There are mornings for fancy brunches, towering plates and complicated menus.
And then there are mornings when a damn good breakfast taco wins.