Da Bomb Taco truck lives up to its name

Detroit's Avenue of Fashion is a culinary wonderland with a bevy of places to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner or brunch, or just have a sweet snack or grab a cup of coffee.

That includes food trucks, too. The one I want to shine a light on this week is Da Bomb Taco. Believe that name, because chef Lisa Session's creative and flavorful tacos are the absolute bomb.

Session, who grew up in this area, says she wanted to focus on tacos because she thought this neighborhood needed more fast-casual cuisine that was accessible to all. Da Bomb Taco truck soft launched in April 2022 and she went full time with it a few months ago.

A timely $12,500 grant from Olga's Kitchen's Olga Loizon Memorial Foundation was awarded to Session just as she was about to take her business from part time to full time, leaving her job as a financial analyst with the City of Detroit.

"I always knew that would be a temporary thing to get me to my launching pad, which is the truck, and the grant came right at the perfect time. It was a bit serendipitous feeling," Session said.

Session makes a vegetarian taco with panko-fried avocado that is crispy, creamy and fruity, topped with a chunky mango salsa and a chipotle aioli that has a bit of a kick. This is a super flavorful way to do meatless tacos, and the execution is flawless with a crumbly coating surrounding the bright green and rich hunk of avocado.

The slow-roasted, tender beef cheek birria tacos at Da Bomb come with "da dip," a beefy consommé to dip the tacos in, and they're topped with pickled red onion, cilantro and premium Chihuahua cheese.

All of Session's taco shells are "chef-griddled," meaning she takes the locally bought yellow corn tortillas, seasons them and grills them a bit in corn oil, bringing out that corn flavor but with a bit of a crunch. If the tacos come with cheese, she griddles the cheese right onto the shell.

"It's my goal and my mission to layer flavor at every stage," she said. In addition to eight kinds of tacos, Da Bomb Taco also has a pretty bomb beans and rice dish, which is mixed together using seasoned rice and stewed beans, not refried. The menu also has elote, chips and guacamole and a house-made soft drink called "margaritade." Tacos are $5 each, or get two tacos, two sides and a pop for $17.

While she is a graduate of Howard University School of Business, Session says hospitality has always been part of her nature due to the way she grew up. Her parents, particularly her physician father, loved to host friends, have parties, do games for the neighborhood kids and accommodate guests. After working in a restaurant in Maryland to see if her passion translated into a career, she moved back home to the Detroit area and attended Schoolcraft College Culinary School.

"That was super affirmative, I'm like, wow, this my gift," she said, adding that as she learned pastries, butchery, restaurant management and other skills, she was more and more confident that being in the food and hospitality industry was her calling.

She envisioned Da Bomb Taco being a brick-and-mortar, fast-casual restaurant but a "food truck fell into my lap," so she went that route first. Session is hoping she and her partner, Paul Jameson, can launch a physical, permanent restaurant for Da Bomb Taco by next year in the 48221 zip code. This neighborhood is important to her.

"It's the area I grew up in and I know the market well," she said. "I was first-hand impacted by the underserved nature of it and I'm looking to change that. I know there's been a lot of development recently, but still, in the fast-casual arena, there's still quite an opportunity and an outlet for Da Bomb Taco.

Loredana Gianino, president of the Olga Loizon Memorial Foundation, said it was Session's tenacity and connection with her community that made her application for the grant catch their eye. In the two years since it launched, the foundation has granted $70,000 to six women entrepreneurs from Michigan.

"We were just absolutely captivated by her incredible story," said Gianino of Session. "I think she's put a lot of hard work and she's dedicated a lot of her own time to make her community a better place, and we've already seen that pay off."

Gianino said Session's story is similar to that of Loizon, who founded Olga's Kitchen herself 1970 in Birmingham and remained the face of the business for decades after, until her death in 2019.

"That was certainly something that made her stand out," she said.

Find Da Bomb Taco truck around dinnertime Thurs.-Sat. and noon-6 p.m. Sun. in the parking lot of West York Cleaners, Seven Mile near Livernois in Detroit. The truck is also available for private events. Follow Da Bomb Taco on Instagram at instagram.com/dabombtaco or visit the website at dabombtaco.com for full menu and updated schedule.

For more information on the Olga Loizon Memorial Foundation, including how to donate and how to apply for a grant, visit olgas.com/foundation.

Melody Baetens is The Detroit News' restaurant critic

mbaetens@detroitnews.com