Prey Libations & Supper serves fun, gourmet modern Mexican from a food truck with nothing priced over $4.
Although tacos from a truck aren’t new in Tucson, Prey exhibits an extra level of mindfulness in the ingredients used.
At the recent Borderlands Brewing Co. Citrana can release event at Tucson Hop Shop, Prey incorporated Borderlands beer into the menu with Borderlands BBQ pork butt tacos. The veggie taco featured foraged mushrooms, while the duck confit tacos featured burnt stone fruit salsa.
“We like to use local sourced ingredients and change with the seasons,” said Kyle Nottingham, chef and co-owner of Prey.
Nottingham and co-owner Nick George chose the name “Prey” for the way it ties into the whole ecosystem of food.
“It started out as a restaurant concept we were working on when I was in Massachusetts working as Chef de Cuisine at a farm-to-table cafe at Canyon Ranch,” Nottingham said. “Nick reached out to me to be his chef for a concept he’d been working on for a while and when I got back to Tucson, we really started to push the idea and brainstorm.”
Nottingham’s father purchased the Planet of the Crepes business, which still operates, but lets the duo use the truck as well to test out the concept.
“We never thought we’d start out as a food truck, but we’re having fun with it,” Nottingham said.
The fun shows in the food. Bacon fat guacamole includes crispy lardons of bacon. The chorizo mac features Velveeta-style shells and cheese, but dressed up with Oaxacan cheese and chorizo.
The aguas frescas join in the light-heartedness with “high quality H2O” in a nod to the 1998 comedy Waterboy. The creativity still shines with ingredients such as grapefruit bitters and purple bitters.
Prey has operated quietly for events at the Tucson Hop Shop on 3230 N. Dodge Blvd., but have a few nights planned for the next two months.
“We both work full time at restaurants, so we’re going to keep it pretty exclusive and pop-up style given what free time we have,” said Nottingham, who works as the sous chef at Miraval Arizona.
Keep up with Prey on Facebook.
Article written by:
Jackie Tran
More about JackieJackie Tran is a Tucson-based food writer, photographer, culinary educator, and owner-chef of the now-closed food truck Tran’s Fats. Although he is best known locally for his work for Tucson Foodie, his work has also appeared in publications such as Bon Appétit, National Geographic, and the New York Times.
An adventurous foodie, he enjoys culinary experiences ranging from seasonal omakase to sloppily devouring green chili patty melts in his car afterhours. His favorite foods include aguachile, garlic noodles, and leftover fried chicken illuminated by the fridge light. His favorite drinks include morning micheladas, fireside imperial stouts, candle-lit negroni, and grassy mezcales.
Outside of food, he also loves playing musical instruments, karaoke, Tetris, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and petting Addie’s dog Spaghetti.
If you’d like to stalk him, visit his Instagram @jackie_tran_ or jackietran.com.
