Some of Monterey County’s finest fish tacos come from a truck.

If 7am seems a little early to eat a fish taco, your taste buds just might be in the wrong place.

You’d probably think the dump is a weird place to eat too.

I would offer a humble life hack, if in fact this is how you feel, and fuller flavor is something you seek: It’s not about the hour of the day, or where you are, or what you’re having, it’s about how much you enjoy it.

And there is a lot to enjoy at the PT Catering food truck (408-204-6797) that parks in the lot next to Roberts Lake in Seaside, across the water from In-N-Out and Embassy Suites, and across Canyon Del Rey from Home Depot.

It’s there from around 6-9:30am weekdays before it heads to Monterey Regional Waste Management District, aka the Marina dump, for an 11:30am-1:30pm lunch shift (also Monday-Friday).

Sweet, friendly and lightly feisty Tuyet Truong earns the first entertaining impression. She co-ringleads the action with her husband Phuong (“call me Alfonso”) from a small table out front.

Often wearing a windbreaker with the hoodie on, the petite Vietnamese-American knows her regulars well. She’s quick with a greeting and a laugh and quicker to pounce if she sees someone unattended.

“Hey hermano!” she says with a point. “How many tacos? Pescado? Con todo?”

A word on the many regulars: They’re frequently Latino and more commonly blue collar builders (often both), a most promising sign when it comes to taco quality and value. I’ve seen a number of them who come every day, or close to it. One man has ordered three fish tacos and grabbed his co-worker a carne asada quesadilla daily for years. There are also a bunch of drinks in the long bay of crushed ice (Squirt, half liters of Coca Cola in glass bottles, Rock Star), chips and Mexico-leaning treats like Bimbo sugared donuts and little colorful custard cups.

On my first visit, inspired by a tip from a loyal Weekly reader, husband, father, and Spartan obstacle-race training wingman Liam Doust of Carmel, Tuyet Truong sniffed me out immediately.

You’d probably think the dump is a weird place to eat too.

“What kind of taco you want?” she said with a slight Vietnamese accent and a warm smile.

When asked, her immediate recommendation was fish ($2) or calamari ($2.75) tacos. On later visits she estimated 98 percent of her business falls into the seafood category.

Fish tacos, then.

She shouted the order to grinning husband Phuong in the truck and he set to work with speed, cooking them to order as he does most every item. (Some fish tortas, breakfast burritos, chimichangas and other items can be grab-and-go from the heated box beneath the kitchen window, or made fresh too, and are all $5 or less. The fish burrito is $6.)

Tuyet threw down a money-back guarantee on that original visit. “You no like, you no pay,” she said.

No danger there. They arrive panko-crusted and fried – crispy, not oily, decidedly fresh – made with a basa white fish, homemade spicy salsa, onions, cilantro and a wedge of lime (adding sour cream from the squirt bottle by the sodas is wise too, with a whole roasted jalapeño to address any chest hair deficiencies). It’s an expertly executed combination of crunch and heat and texture without the grease – exquisite, and well proportioned, for $2. There’s a reason these guys have been rolling for more than a decade.

On another occasion, Weekly editorial intern and food coverage contributor Margaret Mouat hustled out to the dump to stock up for a staff meeting. The 24 tacos – eight fish, eight carnitas, four pollo and four carne asada – didn’t stand a chance versus our staff.

The carnitas proved a favorite, though the fish suffered from the travel and are noticeably better truckside.

As impressive as the speed with which they were eaten – while reporter Ana Ceballos asked the hard questions (“Did these really come from the dump?”) – was the speed with which they were made. This mom-and-pop can’t stop/won’t stop.

They don’t have a website. They don’t do cards. The menu on the side of truck, with hotdogs and burgers, doesn’t provide accurate infomation. (The real menu appears on seven paper plates that encircle the service window, running down other taco offerings like pollo, asada, al pastor, chicharrón.)

They do smile a lot. They do visibly love their regulars. They do wake up and start prepping at 2:30am in San Jose, where they live, and park the truck at a kitchen (and source the fish and calamari through a wholesaler Phuong says is named San Martin Fish, though I couldn’t find them online).

They do have a mean calamari taco too, though I still give the nod to the flagship fish. They do use styrofoam trays, which is my only knock on them. And they do the best $2 fish taco I’ve had north of rural Ensenada in Baja.

“I [am honored] by the loyalty,” Phuong says. “The same people come every day – some people every single day. Same fish taco, same calamar.”

He says business picked up when he introduced the fish and calamari around five years back. When I ask him how he likes working with his wife so closely for such long shifts, he deals me straight.

“We like working together, but we have to,” he says. “It’s long hours, many hours. I’m tired, but I enjoy it.”

There’s something I can’t help but respect, along with the relentless work ethic: An answer as honest as his tacos.

~ QUICKBITES ~

• Sebastian’s (394-3321) is officially open in the former Best Western at the end of Canyon Del Rey on the Monterey-Seaside border. Menus and photos on the blog, www.mcweekly.com/edible.
• Joyce Winery does its debut party for its Salinas tasting room at 1341 Dayton St., Unit G (754-8774) 1:30-5pm Saturday, July 16. Hawaiian food truck Holopono and Tasty Solutions do the food, plus live music, wine, beer ($40).
• Locally owned Jack’s Coffee (272-6889) is now open 5am-4pm weekdays and 6am-2pm Saturday in the cute little mini cabin in the parking lot next to Zeph’s One-Stop on South Main in Salinas with America’s Best Coffee, Dr. Smoothies and Mighty Leaf Teas.
• Tried the schnitzel sandwich at new Nuernberger’s German Sausages (717-4168) at 398 E. Franklin St. in Monterey. Yum. Photos and menu peek on the blog.
• Sunday, July 17, new music at The Wine Experience on Cannery Row (324-4974) continues 3-6pm with John Sherry (ask for his Game of Thrones theme). Then Johan Sotelo on July 24.
• Italian Music Night at Gusto in Seaside (899-5825, info@gustopizzeriapasta.com) 6pm Tuesday, July 26, will sell out because $40++ for five courses and four live performers is a deal.
• One of the more classic bacon cheeseburgers ($5.25) remains rock solid at the El Estero Snack Bar (372-7446) next to Dennis the Menace. Great fries too. The deep-fried bean-and-beef burrito ($3) beckons next for the brave.
• 6pm Wednesday, July 20, flows a “Hello Wine!” tasting primer at Casanova Restaurant in Carmel ($25, 625-0501) with advanced level sommelier/bev director Jeff Birkemeier.
• Cool to see MEarth’s school kitchen-garden pull off an all-student-run restaurant dinner with assists from James Anderson (Poke Lab) and Eden Hutchinson (Carmel Belle). AlanLovewell (Real Good Fish), Shiho and Miki Fukushima (Ocean Sushi Deli), Ben Spungin (Sierra Mar), Yulanda Santos (Aubergine) and John Gehrman (La Bicyclette) are also getting in on the Grow.Cook.Eat “culinary bootcamp.” www.mearthcarmel.org for more.
• Tell it, Charles Bukowski: “Great art is horseshit, buy tacos.”