It's Not Too Late to Visit The Last Taco Stand at Norwalk Cove Marina

Braised (then shredded) beef taco is one of the standouts at The Last Taco Stand

The thing about most food trucks in our area is that they’re seasonal. Once the weather gets frosty, they hibernate until the flowers begin to bloom again. But still, it’s better to have found quality eats late in the season than not at all.

I first heard about The Last Taco Stand (and we LOVE the name) in a couple of Norwalk local Facebook groups, then when I posted a quick Instagram story that I was planning to check them and their picturesque tacos out, that’s when my friend, Dominique said it was a good idea. Dom’s one of the folks I trust when it comes to food and drink, so when she told me that Neil, The Last Taco Stand’s owner, is “the best” and to make sure I get the sweet potato taco and “any of his hot sauces,” I knew I had to follow her instructions.

On this day, the trailer was parked just to the right when you turn into mini golf on Calf Pasture Beach Road. It’s wise to check where the truck might be ahead of time. Sometimes he’s parked near Sunset Grille.

On a beautiful early September afternoon, finally, after what seemed like six straight months of being in a sweltering August, I cruised over to Norwalk Cove Marina where I introduced myself to Neil Ward asking if he had a few minutes to tell his story, but after I ordered and demolished six tacos, a third of a quesadilla, and several fresh fried tortilla chips used to scoop up just slapped guacamole.

When we got to talking, I realized I wasn’t just late this season…I was late to the truck by a full year! How The Last Taco Truck slipped by me for that long in my city is kinda crazy. Anyway, like I said, better late than never.

Ward, a Norwalk native, actually opened The Last Taco Stand in 2020 for only a few weeks to test out his newly purchased taco trailer. But where his idea to start a taco business came from is a story in itself.

“When I was 18, I moved to Boulder for eight years building computers and working in IT support,” Ward says. “I moved back to Norwalk at 27, still doing IT, but I was bored with it. It didn’t grab my attention. I love to cook. My dad was a bar manager. My mom worked at a deli, It’s Delicious, that was on Main Avenue. And my first job was on my mom’s food truck when I was in the seventh grade.” 

Although he took the trailer out for a three-week trial run in 2020, Neil went back to pizza making. He slung pies at Posa in Ridgefield to bridge the gap. 2021 was The Last Taco Stand’s first full season in operation.

Eight-hour smoked pulled pork taco. The house-made habanero-pineapple salsa that comes on the side offers a spicy, sweet compliment to this handheld.

That boredom led Ward to work for Graziano and Maurizio Ricci, the owners of Romanacci. Prior to Romanacci, the Ricci Brothers owned a coffee and wine bar for a short time. Ward, whose mother frequented the coffee-wine bar, knew they needed help, so he started working there making paninis and salads.

That coffee-wine bar concept fizzled for business partnership reasons, but Ward, having worked for the Riccis, knew they were about to open Romanacci. “My original goal was to learn pizza, then take that knowledge to Colorado because the pizza sucks out there, but I loved living there,” he says. “I worked at Romanacci for free at the beginning learning to make bread, pasta, and pastries. It took me a full year to learn to make a good cappuccino! But I did it! I learned to make pizza, but I was terrible at that. It’s different at home than in a restaurant setting, but I eventually got pretty good at it. I’d make pizza in the mornings before the REAL pizza guy would come in. Finally, I got my skills to where the needed to be, and I started being able to make pizza at the restaurant’s busier times.”

Teriyaki sweet potato taco. It’s vegan. And it’s delicious.

This pizza journey would take Ward to Brick + Wood in Fairfield for a dining experience. But he knew that learning Neapolitan pizza was the next step up. When he met Paolo Cavalli, he knew immediately that he wanted to work for him.

“Paolo and I liked some of the same things, had the same vibe, and we even liked some of the same books,” Ward says. “I knew he had multiple successful restaurant in Texas, and that was a similar path I wanted to take.”

Now spending half his time working at Brick + Wood, and half working at Romanacci, Ward eventually had to make a choice, so he chose to pursue Neapolitan style pizza under Cavalli’s mentorship. Ward became Brick + Wood’s kitchen manager, eventually leading their mobile operation, and along the way, he absorbed invaluable knowledge about the Neapolitan dough and cooking processes, making dough, hydration, fermentation, the scorching hot wood-fired oven, and he even learned to make mozzarella.

Ask for that same habanero-pineapple salsa with your quesadilla, too. FYI: this is a flour tortilla.

Ward’s skillset was in demand, and it led him to training the staff at Barra in Shelton, but he knew after three months or so that he needed a break, unsure if he’d even stay in the industry. “I was done,” he says. “I wanted weekends and holidays back. I wanted to spend time with my girlfriend. I worked at a local wine company for a bit. I wasn’t sure what to do next. In that time, my dad passed away, and he always wanted a restaurant.”

One thing Ward knew before purchasing a trailer was that the Norwalk Cove Marina and that whole area could have more growth in terms of food and drink. He even mentioned that he covets the mini golf shack, only reimagined as a small tiki bar (I for one, think this would be incredibly cool). That idea aside, he wanted to put something there. The first idea was the obvious…a pizza truck.

“Pizza trucks are very expensive,” Ward explains. “I’d also need a commercial kitchen to make and ferment dough. But I knew I could do tacos. When I was in Colorado, I knew I wanted to do something like the Mexican food I had out there. It was incredible. I know Colorado isn’t the mecca for that, but it was a whole nother level than what I had in Connecticut. Burritos smothered in smoked green chili sauce, some Tex-Mex, BBQ tacos, stuff like that.”

That’s why The Last Taco Stand offers a mashup of cultures and tacos. There’s an ode to Austin, Texas in an eight-hour smoked pulled pork taco (Ward smokes it in back of the trailer on a Traeger) with green apple slaw and avocado crema, a couple of more traditional Mexican tacos (spicy chorizo with onion, cotija, avocado crema; and a rich, braised, then shredded beef taco with guac, finely diced onion, cilantro, and cotija), and a couple of veggie tacos, one being roasted curry cauliflower (fresh pico, roasted corn, cotija, avocado crema) and the other being a vegan teriyaki sweet potato with avocado, pickled red onion, and hoisin. Additionally, there’s chips and guac, chips and salsa, and quesadillas that you can customize yourself.

Clockwise from the top: Chorizo (spicy chorizo, caramelized onion, cotija, avocado crema), Americano (seasoned ground beef, melted three-cheese blend, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado crema), Chicken (marinated grilled chicken, roasted corn, pickled red onion, chipotle aioli).

What’s coming soon for Ward and The Last Taco Stand is more research.

“I didn’t do a research trip to Mexico, but instead I went to Austin,” Ward says. “I liked how the flow at the Austin places worked. Order, seat yourself, sauces on the table, we bring the food out to you. I want to get into more BBQ and Tex-Mex style tacos because we need more of that here, more of the nontraditional tacos, not just cilantro and onion toppings. I like to combine research trips with my vacations when I go to music festivals. Next up, I’m going to L.A. to see what’s happening there. I’d like to expand the vegetarian side of my tacos to give people more options.”

Further down the road, Ward would love to get a truck to tow the trailer to other locations like breweries, festivals, and private events. And even further out, he’d like to open a brick-and-mortar when the time is right with plans to make his own corn tortillas.

For now and before the season ends, catch The Last Taco Stand at the marina.

48 Calf Pasture Beach Road; Norwalk
Check out The Last Taco Stand on Instagram for their updated weekly schedule
Website + menu: thelasttaco.com