A quick note to readers: The following is best read on a full stomach. A chat with taco journalist Mando Rayo, host of the “Tacos of Texas” podcast, tends to make stomachs growl.
And today is no exception, as Rayo talks about the premiere of season four of the podcast: what to expect, what he’s learned – and of course, what he’s eaten.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: It seems like the first three season have flown by. What do you think you’ve learned from the show over the years? What’s the experience been like?
Mando Rayo: I think there’s just a lot of stories to tell, right? And there’s a lot of people doing great things out here in Texas. So they’re kind of like rolling up their sleeves. They’re creating their platforms. They’re in kitchens, outside. They’re learning from each other.
And, you know, at the core, it’s kind of like, all right, there’s some people – they don’t have to have like the training or go through formal channels. They’re just doing it on their own with their community. And that’s what I love. I think that’s definitely what I’ve learned these last few years with the podcast.
Well, here we are. The first episode of season four is out now. Can you tell us a little bit about where you start this season?
I’m based in Austin, so we start at home here in Austin, Texas. So we go to Los Verdes – Austin FC – but we really kind of talk about the impact of Austin FC as it relates to the taqueros, like how has the building of this Q2 Stadium impacted how people eat tacos?
Tacos from Con Todo in Austin.
Courtesy Mando Rayo
The taqueros themselves – you know, the advantages of being close to the stadium, but as well as inside the stadium. So we talked to Joseph Gomez from Con Todo Austin, and I talked to him about how he’s bringing those flavors from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin and introducing that. In fact, I love this quote that he tells us: “You know, we’re not an Austin taqueria. We’re bringing those flavors to Austin.” And I love that because it just basically puts a stake in the ground.
And then the idea with Onetaco and how they’re inside the actual stadium: How do you stay fresh and sizzling when you’re competing against maybe hot dogs, right?
And so we started in Austin, but then we go into South Texas. We took the taco studio to San Antonio. Then we moved on to Houston, which is – you’re familiar with H-E-B’s Mi Tienda products, right?
Oh, yeah.
So we there’s an actual store called Mi Tienda in Houston. And so that episode is like how H-E-B went full Hispanic aisle with that. They have 2 Mi Tienda proper stores. Where you look at it, they don’t even say H-E-B. You just go in and you feel like you’re in a Mexican meat market/grocery store. It’s amazing.
So we definitely went deep. We went into Texas and we even asked, you know, in West Texas, in El Paso, are Chico’s Tacos actually tacos? That’s a hot take. So you’ll get to find out when it comes out.
Can you talk about what the best thing you ate while taping the season was? Is that even possible?
I can name two things. So we were in the back of Mi Tienda where they were making the tortillas right there, fresh off the press. This one was the butter flour tortillas that are the Mi Tienda product. And they came just right off the press, nice and warm. I had to, like, flip them. They were so hot. I had to flip them between both hands. Roll it up, you know, they already have infused that butter, and it’s just, like, so simple, so delicious.
I would say that and maybe going to the Tia Pancha pulga in Houston – they had this taquero set up with a big batch of birria and a big batch of carnitas. And, man, I went to town on that.
