I was pacing off my lunch last week (supposedly five steps equals one calorie). Walking up Salida a Celaya when, through the gritty dust in my eyes, I saw the sign outside Natalia’s.

It was only one of the words that stopped me in my tracks. Pibil. The word for the sauce that, in Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Johnny Depp constantly craves and occasionally kills for. Not that I would ever compare myself to Johnny Depp, but the craving was killing me.

Yes, I’d just had a hearty lunch at d’Avanza’s in Mercado Centro. But that was 20 minutes ago. Already 530 steps and 106 calories ago.

There was only one thing stopping me. That word in front of Pibil. That word Pollo. I prefer my Pibil anointing pork not chicken. And preferably cochinita, a young pig. And preferably the shoulder or leg. But you know what they say. Any pibil in a storm.

La Casa de Natalia’s is a food truck. It solved the problem of San Miguel not liking food trucks on their streets by taking their food truck off the street. Late last year they rented a lot. Or perhaps it would be better to call it a big fat driveway. And perhaps I should say they actually rented it earlier than late last year because “it took five months to clear the vacant lot of all the trash”, Natalia’s chef Karl Tostado Samaniego told me.

After which, Karl’s wife Paulina Galindo emphasized the extent of the clearing process by telling me, “We were hoping to find buried treasure.”

I’d only eaten at the truck twice before. I liked the place. Things like the kids table, the dog bowl, the funky music playing and the polka dot glasses that remind me of the ones that used to come in the picnic sets with the plates divided into three sections.

With his own website, logo and slogan, it was obvious that Karl Tostado was a very serious chef. It was also obvious Karl Tostado was a very talented chef. But I wasn’t all that excited about the menu.

I’d passed on Bennito’s Lord Sandwich because even after hearing it was a tribute to Benitto’s Paninoteca in Puerto Vallarta, where Karl and Paulina had lived for the previous 15 years, it sounded a little too breakfasty for a guy that rarely eats breakfast.

I’d passed on the Ensalada Waldorfina because despite having nothing in common with a Waldorf Salad (it’s a mix of lettuce, whatever veggies are available, fruit of the season, granola, goat cheese and a dressing of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil) it still sounded too 20th Century and this is the 21st. What I did have at Natalia’s I’d enjoyed a lot but somehow I wanted more. Somehow I wanted something that was going to be the irresistible magnet that would make me return.

I’d had a good fish taco with, not only lettuce and avocado, but some unexpected pickled onions and, as my friend Peter said, “a very nice crisp on that batter”.

I’d had the ciabatta with the tamarind and ginger which comes on a well-baked bun sided with pink cabbage and raisins but I needed lime to cut the sugar in the barbecue sauce.

I’d drank the lemonade with floating chia seeds but not because Paulina had told me “the seeds are good for you in so many ways” but because Natalia’s doesn’t sell Coca Lite.

I’ve had the smoked marlin taco but I’ve never been too excited about one guy’s smoked marlin taco over any another guy’s smoked marlin taco.

Now I was going to have that chicken pibil sandwich.

I think chicken should always be served with a gravy giving it a sloppy wet kiss. And if that gravy is very good, it not only kisses the chicken it hugs it. The gravy or sauce that Natalia’s puts on their chicken sandwich is very good. Lots of bitter (but not too bitter) orange in it is what I really like. And that sour cream that the chef weaves through the sauce is not just for show, it’s for flavor.

There’s thigh as well as breast in the chicken and though I might like a little more chicken, there’s more than ample sauce which is why the torta is called ahogada which does not refer to a black skinned fruit or a female lawyer but that the sandwich is drowned in the sauce.

The menu calls it Sinoloa style. I’ve never been to Sinoloa. When the word started to be followed by the word Cartel, I took it off my travel plans. So I’m not sure what the difference is between a chicken sandwich in pibil sauce Sinoloa style and any other style but I don’t really care as long as it’s this good.

The Sinaloa style probably has a lot to do with Karl Tostado coming from Culiacan in Sinaloa and the fact he’s obviously very proud of Sinaloan (hope that’s a word) cuisine for he uses it often in his menu descriptions.

His inspirations were his grandmother Maria Luisa and the namesake of the truck, his mother Natalia. “She taught me”, Karl said, “that cooking is useless if it’s not done with the heart.”

I like what Karl Tostado is doing with his menu these days. I like the chicken sandwich in pibil sauce. I like that he’s recently added a sushi roll and a bacalao sandwich to the specials. I like the new garden where he’s growing Serrano peppers, onions, cilantro, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and lettuce. And I really like the new mural.

But what I’d really like to see is more people at Natalia’s. It’s been lonely every time I’ve been there. I don’t like being lonely. I’ll bet that Karl Tostado Samaniego likes loneliness even less than me.

La Casa de Natalia’s is located at Salida a Celaya #32 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. They are open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.