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"slug": "asi-mexican-middle-eastern-fusion-restaurant-san-jose-halal",
"title": "At This San Jose Fusion Restaurant, Mexican and Jordanian Flavors Collide",
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"content": "\u003cp>Located on a quiet corner of South \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">San Jose\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/asimexicanfusion/?hl=en\">Así Mexican Fusion Bistro\u003c/a> would be easy to miss if it weren’t for the vibrant butterfly mural on the wall — one of the butterfly’s wings is a Mexican flag, and the other is a Jordanian flag. Inside, where customers sip on micheladas and catch sports on the TV, the restaurant feels like a standard Mexican spot until the basket of pita chips and tortilla chips arrives at the table: Instead of guacamole, you dip the chips in hummus topped with salsa macha.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dip is typical of Así’s hybrid approach, which supplements the restaurant’s traditional Mexican menu with dishes that incorporate Middle Eastern ingredients in surprisingly delicious ways. Mini blue tostadas come topped with ribbons of beef shawarma, toum (garlic sauce) and sumac pickled onions. The shakshuka a la Mexicana, meanwhile, is a cross between traditional shakshuka and huevos rancheros, combining eggs, salty cheese, cilantro and a sumac-spiced tomato sauce — again, all on top of a tostada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Owner Lourdes Barraza quit her job as a Group Supervisor at Santa Cruz Juvenile Hall to start a taco catering business in August 2018. “I’m a mom of three girls,” says Barraza, noting that catering allowed her to keep a flexible schedule. “For me, having my career was important, but being a mom was always number one.” Six years later, in January 2024, Barraza opened Así Mexican Fusion Bistro along with her eldest daughter, Isabella Astorga, who manages the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979657\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallo%CC%81n-Left-to-right.jpg\" alt=\"Four women pose for a portrait in front of a mural.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right: Lourdes Barraza and her daughters Isabella Astorga, Sophia Gallón and Ana Colin. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Así Mexican Fusion Bistro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the brick-and-mortar, the mother and daughter wanted to go beyond traditional Mexican food. “We thought, ‘Let’s do Middle Eastern fusion,’” says Barraza. As it turns out, Astorga’s partner is from Jordan, and as she became more familiar with that country’s cuisine, she was intrigued by how similar it was to Mexican food — and how well the two cuisines’ spices and cooking techniques blended together. The fusion dishes at Así don’t come across as a gimmick, then, but rather a love letter to both cultures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also a lot of fun. Some of the restaurant’s most creative fusion creations include a falafel-stuffed burrito and fries loaded with chicken shawarma, black beans, feta and pickled turnips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recipe development starts by breaking dishes down into their components and examining potential twists. For example, if a Mexican dish has oregano, the chefs consider fortifying that earthy flavor by adding Middle Eastern spices like za’atar or sumac. “It’s trial and error,” says Barraza. “As we go, we make changes we feel necessary. It seems to be working, people seem to love it.” One of their greatest hits is the tahini-chipotle crema, which serves as a nutty, smoky complement to grilled meats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979658\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979658\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate.jpg\" alt=\"Chicken kebab, grilled tomatoes, cucumber salad and various sauces on a plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1126\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate-1536x865.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Así’s take on al pastor is like a deconstructed chicken kebab skewer. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s worth noting that there’s a long history of Mediterranean and Mexican fusion. Al pastor was created thanks to Lebanese immigrants who \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/08/584057034/building-a-latino-muslim-coalition-with-tacotrucksateverymosque\">introduced spit-roasted meat to Mexico in the 1930s\u003c/a>. Así shakes things up a bit by serving both chicken shawarma (cooked on a traditional vertical spit) and a pollo al pastor plate that’s essentially a deconstructed kebab: big, kebab-like chunks of spiced chicken paired with charred tomatoes, onion and a heaping pile of cucumber salad. The experience of loading up a freshly made corn tortilla with chicken kebab, tzatziki, toum and salsa verde is something you’re unlikely to find anywhere else in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13977033,arts_13971280,arts_13976236']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Así is also a fusion of the family’s experiences and skills. Barraza brings her cooking experience as well as knowledge of family recipes — Así’s salsas are the same ones her father served at his taqueria in Southern California. Meanwhile, Astorga puts her communications degree to use by running an efficient floor and creating a strong sense of community with customers. Barraza’s youngest daughter helps out as a server and makes \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DAl2EuYSxlV/?hl=en\">social media videos\u003c/a> for the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Así is relatively new, it has already earned a dedicated following, with some customers stopping in as many as five times a week. “We’ve become a pillar in the short time we’ve been in the community,” Astorga says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979656\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979656\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada.jpg\" alt=\"Tostada topped with egg cooked in tomato sauce.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1126\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada-1536x865.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Shakshuka a la Mexicana’ is a cross between traditional shakshuka and huevos rancheros. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The success can be attributed in part to Barraza’s willingness to adapt. When she noticed that a majority of Así’s customers were Muslims who had concerns about cross-contamination from pork, she decided to remove it from the menu. Now, all of the food they serve is halal. Meanwhile, Barraza says many Latino customers have been hesitant to try the restaurant’s Middle Eastern–influenced dishes. She hopes to entice them by pairing those items with more familiar Mexican dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family has bright hopes for the restaurant’s future, with plans to eventually open a nicer sit-down location with full table service. However, they’re in no rush to expand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The restaurant is in its toddler stages,” Barraza says. “Before we open another location, I need it walking on its own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/asimexicanfusion/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Así Mexican Fusion Bistro\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is located at 6239 Santa Teresa Blvd. in San Jose.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "A Mexican-Jordanian Fusion Restaurant Opens in San Jose | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Located on a quiet corner of South \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">San Jose\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/asimexicanfusion/?hl=en\">Así Mexican Fusion Bistro\u003c/a> would be easy to miss if it weren’t for the vibrant butterfly mural on the wall — one of the butterfly’s wings is a Mexican flag, and the other is a Jordanian flag. Inside, where customers sip on micheladas and catch sports on the TV, the restaurant feels like a standard Mexican spot until the basket of pita chips and tortilla chips arrives at the table: Instead of guacamole, you dip the chips in hummus topped with salsa macha.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dip is typical of Así’s hybrid approach, which supplements the restaurant’s traditional Mexican menu with dishes that incorporate Middle Eastern ingredients in surprisingly delicious ways. Mini blue tostadas come topped with ribbons of beef shawarma, toum (garlic sauce) and sumac pickled onions. The shakshuka a la Mexicana, meanwhile, is a cross between traditional shakshuka and huevos rancheros, combining eggs, salty cheese, cilantro and a sumac-spiced tomato sauce — again, all on top of a tostada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Owner Lourdes Barraza quit her job as a Group Supervisor at Santa Cruz Juvenile Hall to start a taco catering business in August 2018. “I’m a mom of three girls,” says Barraza, noting that catering allowed her to keep a flexible schedule. “For me, having my career was important, but being a mom was always number one.” Six years later, in January 2024, Barraza opened Así Mexican Fusion Bistro along with her eldest daughter, Isabella Astorga, who manages the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979657\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallo%CC%81n-Left-to-right.jpg\" alt=\"Four women pose for a portrait in front of a mural.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Lourdes-Barraza-Isabella-Astorga-Ana-Colin-and-Sophia-Gallón-Left-to-right-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right: Lourdes Barraza and her daughters Isabella Astorga, Sophia Gallón and Ana Colin. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Así Mexican Fusion Bistro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the brick-and-mortar, the mother and daughter wanted to go beyond traditional Mexican food. “We thought, ‘Let’s do Middle Eastern fusion,’” says Barraza. As it turns out, Astorga’s partner is from Jordan, and as she became more familiar with that country’s cuisine, she was intrigued by how similar it was to Mexican food — and how well the two cuisines’ spices and cooking techniques blended together. The fusion dishes at Así don’t come across as a gimmick, then, but rather a love letter to both cultures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also a lot of fun. Some of the restaurant’s most creative fusion creations include a falafel-stuffed burrito and fries loaded with chicken shawarma, black beans, feta and pickled turnips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recipe development starts by breaking dishes down into their components and examining potential twists. For example, if a Mexican dish has oregano, the chefs consider fortifying that earthy flavor by adding Middle Eastern spices like za’atar or sumac. “It’s trial and error,” says Barraza. “As we go, we make changes we feel necessary. It seems to be working, people seem to love it.” One of their greatest hits is the tahini-chipotle crema, which serves as a nutty, smoky complement to grilled meats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979658\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979658\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate.jpg\" alt=\"Chicken kebab, grilled tomatoes, cucumber salad and various sauces on a plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1126\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Pollo-Al-Pastor-Kebab-Plate-1536x865.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Así’s take on al pastor is like a deconstructed chicken kebab skewer. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s worth noting that there’s a long history of Mediterranean and Mexican fusion. Al pastor was created thanks to Lebanese immigrants who \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/08/584057034/building-a-latino-muslim-coalition-with-tacotrucksateverymosque\">introduced spit-roasted meat to Mexico in the 1930s\u003c/a>. Así shakes things up a bit by serving both chicken shawarma (cooked on a traditional vertical spit) and a pollo al pastor plate that’s essentially a deconstructed kebab: big, kebab-like chunks of spiced chicken paired with charred tomatoes, onion and a heaping pile of cucumber salad. The experience of loading up a freshly made corn tortilla with chicken kebab, tzatziki, toum and salsa verde is something you’re unlikely to find anywhere else in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Así is also a fusion of the family’s experiences and skills. Barraza brings her cooking experience as well as knowledge of family recipes — Así’s salsas are the same ones her father served at his taqueria in Southern California. Meanwhile, Astorga puts her communications degree to use by running an efficient floor and creating a strong sense of community with customers. Barraza’s youngest daughter helps out as a server and makes \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DAl2EuYSxlV/?hl=en\">social media videos\u003c/a> for the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Así is relatively new, it has already earned a dedicated following, with some customers stopping in as many as five times a week. “We’ve become a pillar in the short time we’ve been in the community,” Astorga says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979656\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979656\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada.jpg\" alt=\"Tostada topped with egg cooked in tomato sauce.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1126\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Shakshuka-a-la-Mexicana-tostada-1536x865.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Shakshuka a la Mexicana’ is a cross between traditional shakshuka and huevos rancheros. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The success can be attributed in part to Barraza’s willingness to adapt. When she noticed that a majority of Así’s customers were Muslims who had concerns about cross-contamination from pork, she decided to remove it from the menu. Now, all of the food they serve is halal. Meanwhile, Barraza says many Latino customers have been hesitant to try the restaurant’s Middle Eastern–influenced dishes. She hopes to entice them by pairing those items with more familiar Mexican dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family has bright hopes for the restaurant’s future, with plans to eventually open a nicer sit-down location with full table service. However, they’re in no rush to expand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The restaurant is in its toddler stages,” Barraza says. “Before we open another location, I need it walking on its own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/asimexicanfusion/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Así Mexican Fusion Bistro\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is located at 6239 Santa Teresa Blvd. in San Jose.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mexican-hibachi-fusion-burrito-benihana-bay-area-pinole",
"title": "Mexican Hibachi Is the Bay Area’s Next Great Fusion Cuisine",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen you walk into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">MexiHibachi\u003c/a>, a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mexican-food\">Mexican\u003c/a>-Japanese fusion restaurant in Pinole, the first thing you notice is the giant mural on the wall: a stylized image of a samurai — full armor, katana held upright — facing off against an Aztec warrior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s just the first of many cultural collisions that grab the diner’s attention. There’s the endless loop of Karol G reggaeton music videos juxtaposed with traditional Japanese decor elements like red paper lanterns. There’s the name of the restaurant, “MexiHibachi,” painted in bold letters in the tricolor of the Mexican flag across the body of a flying dragon. And there are the smells — a potent mix of garlic butter, taco sauce and teriyaki that’s meant to get your mouth watering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is, after all, a restaurant that specializes in Benihana-style Japanese hibachi with a Mexican twist: big plates of steak and shrimp served over fried rice or garlic noodles, everything cooked on a flat-top grill — and also stuffed, sometimes, into a burrito or a quesadilla, and drizzled with the kind of creamy orange hot sauce you might find at your favorite taqueria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That unique combination of flavors and cross-cultural influences has made MexiHibachi one of the hottest new restaurants in Contra Costa County since it opened in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971776\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971776\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A restaurant employee brings two plates of food out to customers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MexiHibachi employee Jocelyn Valadez brings out customers’ orders. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The brainchild of chef Francisco Arce and his wife Silvia Cortes, the business started during the pandemic-spurred economic downturn of 2022, when Arce’s day job as a union painter had slowed to a standstill. With medical bills piling up for their young daughter, who needed eye surgery, the couple decided to supplement their income by starting a home-based catering operation. At first they mostly sold quesabirria, but at that point \u003ci>everyone \u003c/i>was doing quesabirria. Meanwhile, Arce had picked up tens of thousands of followers on his \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@chefblackstone\">TikTok cooking channel\u003c/a>, where, among other recipes, he showed off the Benihana-style hibachi skills he’d learned working at a teppanyaki restaurant in Alameda. “Everyone was like, ‘Where can I get my hands on a plate?’” Cortes recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they decided to give it a shot. The first MexiHibachi pop-ups featured a portable flat-top grill that they set up in a 10-by-10-foot tent in front of their house in Richmond. Eventually, as word got out, they started booking big backyard quinceañera and anniversary parties, where Arce entertained guests by \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@mexihibachi/video/7219617566027779370\">flipping shrimp directly into their mouths\u003c/a> and casually lighting up the grill so the whole thing burst into flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one of those pop-ups, MexiHibachi caught the attention of their current business partner, Juan Nuñez, a local entrepreneur and tattoo artist. He set Arce and Cortes up in their first brick-and-mortar kitchen space, a little takeout shop attached to Nuñez’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juannuneztattoo/?hl=en\">tattoo shop\u003c/a> on San Pablo Avenue in Richmond. Business was brisk, and before long, they’d outgrown that kitchen as well. With Nuñez’s help, they found their current space, in a Pinole strip mall, last April and renovated the space themselves. (Nuñez, with his tattoo art background, did all the murals.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971460\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg\" alt=\"A man and woman pose for a portrait seated inside a restaurant, in front of a mural of a samurai fighting an Aztec warrior.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Silvia Cortes (left) and Francisco Arce, owners of MexiHibachi, pose for a photo at their newly-opened teppanyaki restaurant. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a surface level, MexiHibachi’s take on teppanyaki doesn’t look \u003ci>so \u003c/i>different from what you might find at a regular old Benihana. Its staple dishes are the combo plates — your choice of proteins (steak, shrimp, chicken, salmon or scallops) served over a bed of garlicky, buttery fried rice; spicy udon noodles; or, my favorite, an excellent, extra-savory version of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a>. But then in addition to your standard hibachi shop “yum yum” sauce (a creamy, slightly tangy aioli) and ginger soy sauce, customers also have the option to drench their meal in MexiHibachi’s fiery housemade diablo sauce (again, something akin to a taqueria \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13958466/la-vics-orange-sauce-la-victoria-taqueria-late-night-san-jose\">orange sauce\u003c/a>). Even more fusion-minded customers have the option to pack the whole meal inside the confines of a cheesy quesadilla or a burrito — with or without the addition of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913985/hot-cheeto-burrito-taqueria-el-mezcal-richard-montanez-san-pablo\">Hot Cheetos\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, Arce plans to introduce more new dishes that play with the restaurant’s Mexican and Japanese influences. There will be a Baja-style fried fish taco, topped with both the red diablo sauce and the white yum yum sauce, for a subtle Japanese touch. They’ll also serve a version of spicy Mexican caldo de siete mares that has elements of an Asian seafood noodle soup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971784\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971784\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A burrito cut in half to reveal steak, Hot Cheetos and fried rice on the inside.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1296\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-800x518.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1020x661.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-768x498.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1536x995.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1920x1244.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A steak hibachi wrap with Hot Cheetos, one of the restaurant’s Mexican-Japanese fusion dishes. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Arce and Cortes didn’t invent the “Benihana-but-make-it-Mexican” food genre, but the trend seems to be fairly new, picking up steam in the early 2020s. A handful of other \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/losgallosxezbachi/\">restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hibachiteppanyaki90/\">food trucks\u003c/a> with similar menus opened in the Bay Area in the past couple of years. There are even more of them in Southern California, where at least one popular chain — \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihanashibachigrill/?hl=en\">Mexihanas\u003c/a> — has been around since 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13900855,arts_13913985,arts_13963832']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>One might assume that the trend stems from some deep, abiding love that Mexican Americans have for Benihana and its offshoots, but Cortes says that hasn’t been her experience. While some of MexiHibachi’s younger Mexican American customers might have eaten at a Japanese teppanyaki spot like Benihana at some point, most of the older Latino customers have no idea what to make of the restaurant the first time they come. At first, she says, “we were being compared to Panda Express.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our clientele at the beginning were more African American than anything,” Cortes recalls. But as word about MexiHibachi spread, Latino customers started to familiarize themselves with the pleasures of a steak-and-shrimp combo plate and griddle-top garlic fried rice. “Now they know what hibachi is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971461\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg\" alt=\"Stir-fried udon with shrimp, beef and broccoli.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The New York steak, chicken and shrimp spicy stir-fry udon plate. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Given that most Mexican American diners don’t have a long history with Japanese teppanyaki, the origin of the Mexican hibachi trend is probably even more obvious and mundane: As Nuñez notes, if you walk into any Benihana-style restaurant in the Bay Area these days, the vast majority of the chefs doing the fancy tricks on the grill will be Latino. (Arce himself learned his craft at one of those spots, after all.) It only makes sense, then, that some of those cooks would eventually open their own hibachi businesses and put their cultural stamp on the cuisine. It’s the same reason we’ve seen an infusion of ambitious Mexican-owned \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hakashisushibar/?hl=en\">sushi restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917556/davids-pastas-pizzas-richmond-red-sauce-italian-tortas\">red-sauce pasta joints\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course even more than the food itself, Benihanas are famous for their \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/23737639/benihana-be-the-chef-onion-volcano-shrimp-tails-performance-anxiety\">bag of tricks\u003c/a> — the juggling of spatulas, the shrimp tails flipped into the chef’s hat, the eggs that magically multiply underneath a bowl. And, as it turns out, MexiHibachi’s kitchen crew all trained in this dinner-and-a-show approach to teppanyaki; they’re fully conversant in the language of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kDxl_eiYycM\">flaming onion volcanos\u003c/a>. Arce has been honing his repertoire of crowd-pleasing stunts for years — one of his most popular moves, he says, is when he makes the steaks dance on the plancha to the tune of “I Like to Move It.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971777\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in a black baseball cap lights his grill on fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Arce sets the grill aflame. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For now, Cortes says, only customers who book MexiHibachi for private catering events will get a whole show with their meal. Their current space in Pinole isn’t big enough for the chefs to do tableside grilling, and the kitchen is set up, conventionally, in the back. A big chunk of the restaurant’s business is just takeout orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But,” Cortes says, “it’s definitely our goal and dream to open a fancy restaurant like that, like a Benihana, in the future.” There’s no precedent for that kind of grand, showy Mexican fusion teppanyaki restaurant in the Bay Area, and even L.A.’s more established Mexican hibachi scene mostly consists of food trucks and small takeout shops. But Arce and Cortes don’t think the idea is all that far-fetched — not when their business has already grown so much in the span of just a couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely see it happening,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">\u003ci>MexiHibachi\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday to Thursday noon–9 p.m., Friday to Saturday noon–10 p.m. and Sunday noon–8 p.m. at 1578 Fitzgerald Dr. in Pinole.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen you walk into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">MexiHibachi\u003c/a>, a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mexican-food\">Mexican\u003c/a>-Japanese fusion restaurant in Pinole, the first thing you notice is the giant mural on the wall: a stylized image of a samurai — full armor, katana held upright — facing off against an Aztec warrior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s just the first of many cultural collisions that grab the diner’s attention. There’s the endless loop of Karol G reggaeton music videos juxtaposed with traditional Japanese decor elements like red paper lanterns. There’s the name of the restaurant, “MexiHibachi,” painted in bold letters in the tricolor of the Mexican flag across the body of a flying dragon. And there are the smells — a potent mix of garlic butter, taco sauce and teriyaki that’s meant to get your mouth watering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is, after all, a restaurant that specializes in Benihana-style Japanese hibachi with a Mexican twist: big plates of steak and shrimp served over fried rice or garlic noodles, everything cooked on a flat-top grill — and also stuffed, sometimes, into a burrito or a quesadilla, and drizzled with the kind of creamy orange hot sauce you might find at your favorite taqueria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That unique combination of flavors and cross-cultural influences has made MexiHibachi one of the hottest new restaurants in Contra Costa County since it opened in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971776\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971776\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A restaurant employee brings two plates of food out to customers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MexiHibachi employee Jocelyn Valadez brings out customers’ orders. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The brainchild of chef Francisco Arce and his wife Silvia Cortes, the business started during the pandemic-spurred economic downturn of 2022, when Arce’s day job as a union painter had slowed to a standstill. With medical bills piling up for their young daughter, who needed eye surgery, the couple decided to supplement their income by starting a home-based catering operation. At first they mostly sold quesabirria, but at that point \u003ci>everyone \u003c/i>was doing quesabirria. Meanwhile, Arce had picked up tens of thousands of followers on his \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@chefblackstone\">TikTok cooking channel\u003c/a>, where, among other recipes, he showed off the Benihana-style hibachi skills he’d learned working at a teppanyaki restaurant in Alameda. “Everyone was like, ‘Where can I get my hands on a plate?’” Cortes recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they decided to give it a shot. The first MexiHibachi pop-ups featured a portable flat-top grill that they set up in a 10-by-10-foot tent in front of their house in Richmond. Eventually, as word got out, they started booking big backyard quinceañera and anniversary parties, where Arce entertained guests by \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@mexihibachi/video/7219617566027779370\">flipping shrimp directly into their mouths\u003c/a> and casually lighting up the grill so the whole thing burst into flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one of those pop-ups, MexiHibachi caught the attention of their current business partner, Juan Nuñez, a local entrepreneur and tattoo artist. He set Arce and Cortes up in their first brick-and-mortar kitchen space, a little takeout shop attached to Nuñez’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juannuneztattoo/?hl=en\">tattoo shop\u003c/a> on San Pablo Avenue in Richmond. Business was brisk, and before long, they’d outgrown that kitchen as well. With Nuñez’s help, they found their current space, in a Pinole strip mall, last April and renovated the space themselves. (Nuñez, with his tattoo art background, did all the murals.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971460\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg\" alt=\"A man and woman pose for a portrait seated inside a restaurant, in front of a mural of a samurai fighting an Aztec warrior.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Silvia Cortes (left) and Francisco Arce, owners of MexiHibachi, pose for a photo at their newly-opened teppanyaki restaurant. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a surface level, MexiHibachi’s take on teppanyaki doesn’t look \u003ci>so \u003c/i>different from what you might find at a regular old Benihana. Its staple dishes are the combo plates — your choice of proteins (steak, shrimp, chicken, salmon or scallops) served over a bed of garlicky, buttery fried rice; spicy udon noodles; or, my favorite, an excellent, extra-savory version of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a>. But then in addition to your standard hibachi shop “yum yum” sauce (a creamy, slightly tangy aioli) and ginger soy sauce, customers also have the option to drench their meal in MexiHibachi’s fiery housemade diablo sauce (again, something akin to a taqueria \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13958466/la-vics-orange-sauce-la-victoria-taqueria-late-night-san-jose\">orange sauce\u003c/a>). Even more fusion-minded customers have the option to pack the whole meal inside the confines of a cheesy quesadilla or a burrito — with or without the addition of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913985/hot-cheeto-burrito-taqueria-el-mezcal-richard-montanez-san-pablo\">Hot Cheetos\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, Arce plans to introduce more new dishes that play with the restaurant’s Mexican and Japanese influences. There will be a Baja-style fried fish taco, topped with both the red diablo sauce and the white yum yum sauce, for a subtle Japanese touch. They’ll also serve a version of spicy Mexican caldo de siete mares that has elements of an Asian seafood noodle soup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971784\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971784\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A burrito cut in half to reveal steak, Hot Cheetos and fried rice on the inside.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1296\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-800x518.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1020x661.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-768x498.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1536x995.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1920x1244.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A steak hibachi wrap with Hot Cheetos, one of the restaurant’s Mexican-Japanese fusion dishes. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Arce and Cortes didn’t invent the “Benihana-but-make-it-Mexican” food genre, but the trend seems to be fairly new, picking up steam in the early 2020s. A handful of other \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/losgallosxezbachi/\">restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hibachiteppanyaki90/\">food trucks\u003c/a> with similar menus opened in the Bay Area in the past couple of years. There are even more of them in Southern California, where at least one popular chain — \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihanashibachigrill/?hl=en\">Mexihanas\u003c/a> — has been around since 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>One might assume that the trend stems from some deep, abiding love that Mexican Americans have for Benihana and its offshoots, but Cortes says that hasn’t been her experience. While some of MexiHibachi’s younger Mexican American customers might have eaten at a Japanese teppanyaki spot like Benihana at some point, most of the older Latino customers have no idea what to make of the restaurant the first time they come. At first, she says, “we were being compared to Panda Express.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our clientele at the beginning were more African American than anything,” Cortes recalls. But as word about MexiHibachi spread, Latino customers started to familiarize themselves with the pleasures of a steak-and-shrimp combo plate and griddle-top garlic fried rice. “Now they know what hibachi is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971461\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg\" alt=\"Stir-fried udon with shrimp, beef and broccoli.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The New York steak, chicken and shrimp spicy stir-fry udon plate. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Given that most Mexican American diners don’t have a long history with Japanese teppanyaki, the origin of the Mexican hibachi trend is probably even more obvious and mundane: As Nuñez notes, if you walk into any Benihana-style restaurant in the Bay Area these days, the vast majority of the chefs doing the fancy tricks on the grill will be Latino. (Arce himself learned his craft at one of those spots, after all.) It only makes sense, then, that some of those cooks would eventually open their own hibachi businesses and put their cultural stamp on the cuisine. It’s the same reason we’ve seen an infusion of ambitious Mexican-owned \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hakashisushibar/?hl=en\">sushi restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917556/davids-pastas-pizzas-richmond-red-sauce-italian-tortas\">red-sauce pasta joints\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course even more than the food itself, Benihanas are famous for their \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/23737639/benihana-be-the-chef-onion-volcano-shrimp-tails-performance-anxiety\">bag of tricks\u003c/a> — the juggling of spatulas, the shrimp tails flipped into the chef’s hat, the eggs that magically multiply underneath a bowl. And, as it turns out, MexiHibachi’s kitchen crew all trained in this dinner-and-a-show approach to teppanyaki; they’re fully conversant in the language of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kDxl_eiYycM\">flaming onion volcanos\u003c/a>. Arce has been honing his repertoire of crowd-pleasing stunts for years — one of his most popular moves, he says, is when he makes the steaks dance on the plancha to the tune of “I Like to Move It.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971777\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in a black baseball cap lights his grill on fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Arce sets the grill aflame. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For now, Cortes says, only customers who book MexiHibachi for private catering events will get a whole show with their meal. Their current space in Pinole isn’t big enough for the chefs to do tableside grilling, and the kitchen is set up, conventionally, in the back. A big chunk of the restaurant’s business is just takeout orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But,” Cortes says, “it’s definitely our goal and dream to open a fancy restaurant like that, like a Benihana, in the future.” There’s no precedent for that kind of grand, showy Mexican fusion teppanyaki restaurant in the Bay Area, and even L.A.’s more established Mexican hibachi scene mostly consists of food trucks and small takeout shops. But Arce and Cortes don’t think the idea is all that far-fetched — not when their business has already grown so much in the span of just a couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely see it happening,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">\u003ci>MexiHibachi\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday to Thursday noon–9 p.m., Friday to Saturday noon–10 p.m. and Sunday noon–8 p.m. at 1578 Fitzgerald Dr. in Pinole.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "aguachiles-8-spiciest-mariscos-food-truck-san-jose",
"title": "This San Jose Seafood Truck Serves One of the Spiciest Dishes in the Bay Area",
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"headTitle": "This San Jose Seafood Truck Serves One of the Spiciest Dishes in the Bay Area | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mariscos El Aguachiles 8 is a seafood trailer wrapped in a giant, chile-red octopus tucked away in a small, bustling Mexican neighborhood a few minutes from Downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">San Jose\u003c/a>. Its main attraction? Aguachile served in 12 heat levels — ranging from tickle-in-the-back-of-your-throat to capsaicin-induced hysteria — that might be the single spiciest dish in the entire Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you’re not a heat seeker, the business has become a community hub for all seafood lovers. During my visit on a cold Sunday morning, a couple huddled up in front of a bowl of soup swimming with mussels, crawfish and shrimp. Meanwhile, a group of rowdy friends passed around a glass chalice overflowing with octopus, shrimp and pata de mula to treat their hangovers. Meanwhile, the owner, Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez, made the rounds, giving customers tips on how to best enjoy their meal — like spooning the spicy aguachile liquid onto their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oysters\">oysters\u003c/a> — and bantering with the ones panting and sweating from the chile heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez started selling mariscos from his San Jose home in 2018. His recipes are inspired by his grandmother, who taught him to make traditional seafood dishes like ceviche and Mexican-style shrimp cocktail when he was growing up on the coast of Michoacán. The decision to actually sell his food came after years of family and friends hyping Rodriguez up during the weekly aguachile feasts he hosted in his backyard. “I started with five pounds of shrimp,” he recalls of the early days of his home business. “And I didn’t sell them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971298\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971298\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a large platter of clams and oysters topped with shrimp, with lime wedges all around the perimeter of the plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An oyster and clam plate. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But business wasn’t slow for long. Rodriguez became known for his fresh, flavorful aguachiles — a raw seafood dish made by marinating shrimp in chiles and lime juice. By 2023, he’d built up a large enough customer base that he invested in a food trailer and started selling 300 to 400 pounds of seafood every weekend. At the end of last year, he moved to his current location, which has a tented outdoor dining area, and started opening on weekdays too. Even as he’s gotten more successful, the food truck still feels like an extension of those early, informal backyard seafood bashes. Rodriguez often sits down to chat with his regulars while they eat as if they were guests at his home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growth of the business can be attributed in part to Aguachiles 8’s reputation as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/best-ceviche-bay-area-18150070.php\">spiciest aguachiles spot in all of San Jose\u003c/a>. But those 12 heat levels are more than just a clever marketing hook. They also help create a lively sense of camaraderie among the customers, who tend to come together in groups to share a spicy dish, poking fun at each other’s reactions to the heat. The option to tweak the spice level is also what keeps many regulars coming back for a new experience on each visit. For the more mild versions, the marinade is made with serranos and chiles de árbol, while the highest levels are laced with a frightening amount of ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971301\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971301\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana.jpg\" alt=\"A glass chalice overflowing with shrimp and other seafood.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aguachiles 8’s campechana is overflowing with seafood. The dish is a famous hangover cure. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez says one customer even worked his way up through the ranks to complete all 12 levels. Anyone who dares take on that final level 12 challenge does so to both chuckling onlookers and, usually, an audience on Instagram Live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not something I would recommend to you,” says Rodriguez. “It hurts your stomach. I’ve sent people to the hospital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13961214,arts_13969477,arts_13954983']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>A lot of people want to look good for the camera but can’t deal with the consequences, Rodriguez explains. Whenever he spots anyone in the dining area with a runny nose or teary eyes, he shakes them by the shoulders and says, “estás enchilado!” (“you’re spiced out!”), loudly announcing their defeat. During one visit, I saw a man hiding from his friends as he coughed it out in a corner of the parking lot. I wish I could say I ignored Rodriguez’s stern warning and finished the level 12 aguachile without breaking a sweat, but he ultimately talked me down to a level nine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have a decent heat tolerance. I always opt for the spiciest option on the menu, and I’ve even nibbled on Carolina Reapers just for fun. Yet, my tostada de aguachile verde left me with red swollen lips and a lava pit deep in my stomach. The tostada came stacked with raw shrimp, onions, cucumber and avocado slices speckled with chiltepin. I’ll admit I dug in too confidently, and by the time I started feeling it, my tongue was numb and the heat was creeping into my ears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the morning was a blur that ended with a pile of sauce-stained napkins and an empty 32-ounce water bottle. Thankfully, I brought a designated driver — my fiancé — to get me home safely while I burrowed my tongue in an ice cream cone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971303\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971303\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of soup filled with large shrimp, garnished with chopped onion and cilantro.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bowl of mariscos soup, one of a handful of hot dishes that rotate through the menu. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s food isn’t all about overpowering heat, though. His aguachile marinade stands apart for its extreme acidity and the complex flavor that comes from his use of multiple chiles. On a previous visit, I’d enjoyed the (still very spicy) level four, which showed off the aguachile’s more subtle flavors of avocado and mango. Even the overwhelming level nine was still delicious because of the contrast between the crunchy tostada, tender shrimp, and snappy cucumber and onion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the aguachiles, Rodriguez offers more than 85 rotating dishes that vary based on what seafood or vegetables are in season. “I’m very particular. I’ll complain to my seafood or vegetable vendors if they bring me something I don’t like,” he says. Most of the dishes are cold, but he sometimes also serves hot dishes like catfish soup or spicy octopus tacos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When demand for his spiciest aguachiles went up, Rodriguez even started growing his own chiles at home, and his cousin grows an additional 200 pounds of ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers for him at his farm in Petaluma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971304\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971304\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez.jpg\" alt='Two men pose for a portrait in front of their food truck. The painted lettering on the truck reads, \"Mariscos El Aguachiles 8.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Owner Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez (right) and his son Anthony pose for a portrait in front of their mariscos truck. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mariscos El Aguachiles 8)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez hopes to eventually turn Aguachiles 8 into a full-fledged restaurant. These days, while he works in construction during the week, his 19-year-old son, Anthony, runs the trailer. “I told my son, ‘I’m only in this life for a limited time. This business is for you,’” says Rodriguez. He encourages his son to experiment in the kitchen, and if he likes his creations, they get added to the menu. “I’m really proud of what he’s doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, Anthony has stepped up to command the ship more and more of the time — but on weekends, he still needs the final thumbs up from his dad for anyone seeking higher than a level eight.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mariscos_elaguachiles8/?hl=en\">Mariscos El Aguachiles 8\u003c/a> is open Tue. to Sun. 11 a.m.–5 p.m. at 199 Willow St., San Jose. Cash only.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mariscos El Aguachiles 8 is a seafood trailer wrapped in a giant, chile-red octopus tucked away in a small, bustling Mexican neighborhood a few minutes from Downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">San Jose\u003c/a>. Its main attraction? Aguachile served in 12 heat levels — ranging from tickle-in-the-back-of-your-throat to capsaicin-induced hysteria — that might be the single spiciest dish in the entire Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you’re not a heat seeker, the business has become a community hub for all seafood lovers. During my visit on a cold Sunday morning, a couple huddled up in front of a bowl of soup swimming with mussels, crawfish and shrimp. Meanwhile, a group of rowdy friends passed around a glass chalice overflowing with octopus, shrimp and pata de mula to treat their hangovers. Meanwhile, the owner, Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez, made the rounds, giving customers tips on how to best enjoy their meal — like spooning the spicy aguachile liquid onto their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oysters\">oysters\u003c/a> — and bantering with the ones panting and sweating from the chile heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez started selling mariscos from his San Jose home in 2018. His recipes are inspired by his grandmother, who taught him to make traditional seafood dishes like ceviche and Mexican-style shrimp cocktail when he was growing up on the coast of Michoacán. The decision to actually sell his food came after years of family and friends hyping Rodriguez up during the weekly aguachile feasts he hosted in his backyard. “I started with five pounds of shrimp,” he recalls of the early days of his home business. “And I didn’t sell them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971298\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971298\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a large platter of clams and oysters topped with shrimp, with lime wedges all around the perimeter of the plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Oyster-and-Clam-plate-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An oyster and clam plate. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But business wasn’t slow for long. Rodriguez became known for his fresh, flavorful aguachiles — a raw seafood dish made by marinating shrimp in chiles and lime juice. By 2023, he’d built up a large enough customer base that he invested in a food trailer and started selling 300 to 400 pounds of seafood every weekend. At the end of last year, he moved to his current location, which has a tented outdoor dining area, and started opening on weekdays too. Even as he’s gotten more successful, the food truck still feels like an extension of those early, informal backyard seafood bashes. Rodriguez often sits down to chat with his regulars while they eat as if they were guests at his home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growth of the business can be attributed in part to Aguachiles 8’s reputation as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/best-ceviche-bay-area-18150070.php\">spiciest aguachiles spot in all of San Jose\u003c/a>. But those 12 heat levels are more than just a clever marketing hook. They also help create a lively sense of camaraderie among the customers, who tend to come together in groups to share a spicy dish, poking fun at each other’s reactions to the heat. The option to tweak the spice level is also what keeps many regulars coming back for a new experience on each visit. For the more mild versions, the marinade is made with serranos and chiles de árbol, while the highest levels are laced with a frightening amount of ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971301\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971301\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana.jpg\" alt=\"A glass chalice overflowing with shrimp and other seafood.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Campechana-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aguachiles 8’s campechana is overflowing with seafood. The dish is a famous hangover cure. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez says one customer even worked his way up through the ranks to complete all 12 levels. Anyone who dares take on that final level 12 challenge does so to both chuckling onlookers and, usually, an audience on Instagram Live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not something I would recommend to you,” says Rodriguez. “It hurts your stomach. I’ve sent people to the hospital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>A lot of people want to look good for the camera but can’t deal with the consequences, Rodriguez explains. Whenever he spots anyone in the dining area with a runny nose or teary eyes, he shakes them by the shoulders and says, “estás enchilado!” (“you’re spiced out!”), loudly announcing their defeat. During one visit, I saw a man hiding from his friends as he coughed it out in a corner of the parking lot. I wish I could say I ignored Rodriguez’s stern warning and finished the level 12 aguachile without breaking a sweat, but he ultimately talked me down to a level nine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have a decent heat tolerance. I always opt for the spiciest option on the menu, and I’ve even nibbled on Carolina Reapers just for fun. Yet, my tostada de aguachile verde left me with red swollen lips and a lava pit deep in my stomach. The tostada came stacked with raw shrimp, onions, cucumber and avocado slices speckled with chiltepin. I’ll admit I dug in too confidently, and by the time I started feeling it, my tongue was numb and the heat was creeping into my ears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the morning was a blur that ended with a pile of sauce-stained napkins and an empty 32-ounce water bottle. Thankfully, I brought a designated driver — my fiancé — to get me home safely while I burrowed my tongue in an ice cream cone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971303\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971303\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of soup filled with large shrimp, garnished with chopped onion and cilantro.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Mariscos-Soup-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bowl of mariscos soup, one of a handful of hot dishes that rotate through the menu. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s food isn’t all about overpowering heat, though. His aguachile marinade stands apart for its extreme acidity and the complex flavor that comes from his use of multiple chiles. On a previous visit, I’d enjoyed the (still very spicy) level four, which showed off the aguachile’s more subtle flavors of avocado and mango. Even the overwhelming level nine was still delicious because of the contrast between the crunchy tostada, tender shrimp, and snappy cucumber and onion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the aguachiles, Rodriguez offers more than 85 rotating dishes that vary based on what seafood or vegetables are in season. “I’m very particular. I’ll complain to my seafood or vegetable vendors if they bring me something I don’t like,” he says. Most of the dishes are cold, but he sometimes also serves hot dishes like catfish soup or spicy octopus tacos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When demand for his spiciest aguachiles went up, Rodriguez even started growing his own chiles at home, and his cousin grows an additional 200 pounds of ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers for him at his farm in Petaluma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971304\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971304\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez.jpg\" alt='Two men pose for a portrait in front of their food truck. The painted lettering on the truck reads, \"Mariscos El Aguachiles 8.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Anthony-and-Pepe-Rodriguez-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Owner Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez (right) and his son Anthony pose for a portrait in front of their mariscos truck. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mariscos El Aguachiles 8)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez hopes to eventually turn Aguachiles 8 into a full-fledged restaurant. These days, while he works in construction during the week, his 19-year-old son, Anthony, runs the trailer. “I told my son, ‘I’m only in this life for a limited time. This business is for you,’” says Rodriguez. He encourages his son to experiment in the kitchen, and if he likes his creations, they get added to the menu. “I’m really proud of what he’s doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, Anthony has stepped up to command the ship more and more of the time — but on weekends, he still needs the final thumbs up from his dad for anyone seeking higher than a level eight.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mariscos_elaguachiles8/?hl=en\">Mariscos El Aguachiles 8\u003c/a> is open Tue. to Sun. 11 a.m.–5 p.m. at 199 Willow St., San Jose. Cash only.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "tacos-el-rulas-richmond-late-night-taqueria-midnight-diners",
"title": "Richmond’s New Late-Night Taqueria Goes Big",
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"headTitle": "Richmond’s New Late-Night Taqueria Goes Big | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963836\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating tacos and tortas inside a dimly lit restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Tacos El Rulas’ new brick-and-mortar taqueria, everything — from the tortas to the dining room — is uncommonly big. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing to know about Richmond’s newest late-night taqueria, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">Tacos El Rulas\u003c/a>, is that everything about it is big.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the space itself, which is, in a word, cavernous. Located on the southern edge of Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/a-richmond-taco-crawl-2-1/\">23rd Street taco corridor\u003c/a>, it’s a high-ceilinged barn of a building that used to house a Mexican grocery store. Every square inch of wall space is covered with colorful blinking lights, neon signs (“Save Water, Drink Micheladas”), Mexican flags and larger-than-life murals depicting Selena, Jenni Rivera and other Mexican American musical icons. At around 9:30 on a Wednesday night, Colombian salsa music was blasting over the speakers while a group of coworkers threw back a $100 round of tequila shots served atop a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C_bc6q4yf6D/?hl=en\">miniature combi bus lit up with sparklers\u003c/a>. The overall vibe was somewhere between rowdy cafeteria and cool, dimly neon-lit nightclub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, it might not be the best place to visit if you’re trying to avoid overstimulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Veteran East Bay taco eaters may recall that El Rulas \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931115/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-taco-truck-alambre-papa-loca-instagram-food-influencer\">started out as a taco truck\u003c/a> — which currently sits idle in its old spot in the restaurant’s parking lot. The truck was popular in part because of its block-party-meets-backyard-barbecue atmosphere, perfuming the neighborhood with the smell of charred meat late into the night. Its success was also largely a product of social media: Every item on the menu seemed specifically engineered to go viral on Instagram, from the red-tinged, dripping-wet quesabirria tacos to the monstrous (and since discontinued) three-foot-long burritos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the new brick-and-mortar Tacos El Rulas, too, much of the food is comically oversized — and all of it is available until midnight every night. We started with one of the restaurant’s Instagram hits, the papas locas, a.k.a. the Mexican American answer to a loaded baked potato, except that El Rulas’ version comes pre-smashed, sans skin, in an aluminum tray. It comes topped with your choice of protein (I recommend the supremely well-seasoned al pastor), butter, bacon, more butter, two big dollops of guacamole and a metric ton of stretchy melted cheese. Order this with a side of handmade tortillas to scoop it all up, and the dish is hearty enough to feed two or three hungry diners all by itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant bathed in neon light at nighttime. The sign above reads, \"Tacos El Rulas.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The longtime taco truck has taken over a cavernous space on the southern edge of Richmond’s 23rd Street taco corridor. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The El Rulas taco truck’s \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2021/2/11/22275500/tacos-el-rulas-truck-berkeley-quesabirria-torta-cubana-handmade-tortillas\">first claim to fame\u003c/a>, long before it became a darling of Bay Area food influencers, was that it sold some of the biggest and tastiest tortas in our region. The restaurant makes a whopping 18 different varieties. And to this day, one of the most delicious things on the menu, pound for pound, is the torta Cubana. This is a sandwich the literal size of a football, layered so thick with meat that we practically had to unhinge our jaws in order to take a bite. The funny thing about El Rulas’ Cubana is that they seem to make it a little bit differently every time I order it, depending on what they have available in the kitchen. The most recent edition was crammed to overflowing with ham, four or five fried beef cutlets, a fried egg and stretchy mozzarella cheese — and no detectable vegetable matter whatsoever. (Other times, the sandwich has included some combination of lettuce, ham, chorizo and queso fresco.) Regardless: It’s a spectacular sandwich, especially after we doused it with some red salsa from the self-serve salsa station. And we still couldn’t finish even half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13963437,arts_13958926,arts_13958466']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The closest thing to a normally-portioned dish that we ordered was the ribeye tacos. Reasonable people might quibble over whether they’re worth the $6-a-taco price tag, but the thick cubes of steak were as buttery and tender as we could have hoped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there’s a downside to Tacos El Rulas, it’s that the place has been so infected by the social media brain worm that some of the offerings veer a little bit too close to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936325/social-media-biggest-pupusas-burritos-instagram-tiktok-latinextravagant-bay-area\">stunt food territory\u003c/a>. The menu is loaded with luxe upgrades that aren’t really necessary for you to have a good experience — though I’ll admit that ribeye papas locas \u003ci>do \u003c/i>sound pretty great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My advice? Come with a group that likes to share, because you’re going to want to sample a few items. A solo diner can really only handle one of El Rulas’ special, over-the-top creations — and then you’re going to be eating one dish for a solid 40 minutes, and you still probably won’t finish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On weekend nights, the restaurant tends to fill up with the party crowd. The lines get long, and things can get a little bit chaotic. Late on a random weeknight, though? It’s a lot of families with kids, and coworkers stopping by for a drink and a meal at the end of their shift. Neon lights, gargantuan sandwiches and sensory overload notwithstanding, it’s actually a pretty chill place to grab a bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Tacos El Rulas\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 11 a.m.–midnight daily at 232 23rd St. in Richmond. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tacos El Rulas serves the East Bay’s largest tortas and most decadent loaded baked potatoes. ",
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"title": "Tacos El Rulas Is Richmond’s New Late-Night Taqueria | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963836\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating tacos and tortas inside a dimly lit restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Tacos El Rulas’ new brick-and-mortar taqueria, everything — from the tortas to the dining room — is uncommonly big. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing to know about Richmond’s newest late-night taqueria, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">Tacos El Rulas\u003c/a>, is that everything about it is big.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the space itself, which is, in a word, cavernous. Located on the southern edge of Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/a-richmond-taco-crawl-2-1/\">23rd Street taco corridor\u003c/a>, it’s a high-ceilinged barn of a building that used to house a Mexican grocery store. Every square inch of wall space is covered with colorful blinking lights, neon signs (“Save Water, Drink Micheladas”), Mexican flags and larger-than-life murals depicting Selena, Jenni Rivera and other Mexican American musical icons. At around 9:30 on a Wednesday night, Colombian salsa music was blasting over the speakers while a group of coworkers threw back a $100 round of tequila shots served atop a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C_bc6q4yf6D/?hl=en\">miniature combi bus lit up with sparklers\u003c/a>. The overall vibe was somewhere between rowdy cafeteria and cool, dimly neon-lit nightclub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, it might not be the best place to visit if you’re trying to avoid overstimulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Veteran East Bay taco eaters may recall that El Rulas \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931115/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-taco-truck-alambre-papa-loca-instagram-food-influencer\">started out as a taco truck\u003c/a> — which currently sits idle in its old spot in the restaurant’s parking lot. The truck was popular in part because of its block-party-meets-backyard-barbecue atmosphere, perfuming the neighborhood with the smell of charred meat late into the night. Its success was also largely a product of social media: Every item on the menu seemed specifically engineered to go viral on Instagram, from the red-tinged, dripping-wet quesabirria tacos to the monstrous (and since discontinued) three-foot-long burritos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the new brick-and-mortar Tacos El Rulas, too, much of the food is comically oversized — and all of it is available until midnight every night. We started with one of the restaurant’s Instagram hits, the papas locas, a.k.a. the Mexican American answer to a loaded baked potato, except that El Rulas’ version comes pre-smashed, sans skin, in an aluminum tray. It comes topped with your choice of protein (I recommend the supremely well-seasoned al pastor), butter, bacon, more butter, two big dollops of guacamole and a metric ton of stretchy melted cheese. Order this with a side of handmade tortillas to scoop it all up, and the dish is hearty enough to feed two or three hungry diners all by itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant bathed in neon light at nighttime. The sign above reads, \"Tacos El Rulas.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The longtime taco truck has taken over a cavernous space on the southern edge of Richmond’s 23rd Street taco corridor. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The El Rulas taco truck’s \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2021/2/11/22275500/tacos-el-rulas-truck-berkeley-quesabirria-torta-cubana-handmade-tortillas\">first claim to fame\u003c/a>, long before it became a darling of Bay Area food influencers, was that it sold some of the biggest and tastiest tortas in our region. The restaurant makes a whopping 18 different varieties. And to this day, one of the most delicious things on the menu, pound for pound, is the torta Cubana. This is a sandwich the literal size of a football, layered so thick with meat that we practically had to unhinge our jaws in order to take a bite. The funny thing about El Rulas’ Cubana is that they seem to make it a little bit differently every time I order it, depending on what they have available in the kitchen. The most recent edition was crammed to overflowing with ham, four or five fried beef cutlets, a fried egg and stretchy mozzarella cheese — and no detectable vegetable matter whatsoever. (Other times, the sandwich has included some combination of lettuce, ham, chorizo and queso fresco.) Regardless: It’s a spectacular sandwich, especially after we doused it with some red salsa from the self-serve salsa station. And we still couldn’t finish even half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The closest thing to a normally-portioned dish that we ordered was the ribeye tacos. Reasonable people might quibble over whether they’re worth the $6-a-taco price tag, but the thick cubes of steak were as buttery and tender as we could have hoped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there’s a downside to Tacos El Rulas, it’s that the place has been so infected by the social media brain worm that some of the offerings veer a little bit too close to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936325/social-media-biggest-pupusas-burritos-instagram-tiktok-latinextravagant-bay-area\">stunt food territory\u003c/a>. The menu is loaded with luxe upgrades that aren’t really necessary for you to have a good experience — though I’ll admit that ribeye papas locas \u003ci>do \u003c/i>sound pretty great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My advice? Come with a group that likes to share, because you’re going to want to sample a few items. A solo diner can really only handle one of El Rulas’ special, over-the-top creations — and then you’re going to be eating one dish for a solid 40 minutes, and you still probably won’t finish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On weekend nights, the restaurant tends to fill up with the party crowd. The lines get long, and things can get a little bit chaotic. Late on a random weeknight, though? It’s a lot of families with kids, and coworkers stopping by for a drink and a meal at the end of their shift. Neon lights, gargantuan sandwiches and sensory overload notwithstanding, it’s actually a pretty chill place to grab a bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Tacos El Rulas\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 11 a.m.–midnight daily at 232 23rd St. in Richmond. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sonoran-flour-tortillas-san-jose-mirandas",
"title": "This San Jose Tortilleria Makes the Best Sonoran Flour Tortillas in the South Bay",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the United States, many Mexican food enthusiasts don’t consider flour tortillas to be as “authentic” as corn tortillas, \u003ca href=\"https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2018/04/19/in-defense-of-flour-tortillas-an-origin-story-with-gustavo-arellano\">arguing that they’re not a real part of the cuisine\u003c/a>. And it’s true that the mass-produced flour tortillas you find in a Crunchwrap Supreme or packaged at the grocery store tend to compromise everything in favor of shelf stability. They have the same texture and flavor profile as a sheet of paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the state of Sonora, in northern Mexico, flour tortillas are a centuries-long tradition. These handmade tortillas are both chewy and delicate, and they take on the subtle flavor of the fat used to make them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Diana Miranda Benitez moved from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, to San Jose, she grew frustrated with the poor imitations sold at the local markets. “I couldn’t find a quality flour tortilla in the U.S.,” she says, “and I always had this idea of starting a tortilleria.” At the time, Benitez worked at a Jack in the Box while doing housekeeping gigs on the side. She learned how to make tortillas from her sister-in-law, who also introduced her to a man in the mechanical tortilla press industry. After some hesitation, she purchased an industrial-grade tortilla press from Sonora and started her business — \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mirandas_tortillas_/\">Miranda’s Tortillas\u003c/a> — in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, Benitez and her team produce roughly 200 eight-inch tortillas per hour in assembly-line fashion. Benitez dances along to the rhythm of the machine, quickly swapping each newly flattened tortilla with a pre-portioned ball of dough. The raw tortilla is transferred to a hot comal and cooked on both sides until it’s covered in brown spots. Once it puffs up, it’s placed on a wire rack to cool. Miranda’s sells tortillas by the dozen, producing a minimum of 35 packs a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961225\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas.jpg\" alt=\"A stack of flour tortillas, blistered in spots.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stack of Miranda’s fresh flour tortillas, which are chewy and delicate, with a rich flavor from the addition of butter and shortening. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Every week, new customers find Benitez through Instagram and word of mouth. Her reputation? That she makes the best flour tortillas in the San Jose area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benitez is proud of her tortillas’ texture and their ability to maintain their quality over time. “Flour tortillas don’t get hard, and when you warm them up, it’s as if they’re freshly cooked,” she says. The tortillas are rich from the inclusion of both vegetable shortening and butter. They’re also pliable, so you can use them to make a burrito with a double scoop of rice and beans without worrying about tearing. To truly savor the tortillas’ flavor, gently reheat one on a comal — or in a nonstick pan — and enjoy it with some melted butter and a pinch of salt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13960139,arts_13958466,arts_13958172']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>For now, Benitez only sells the one size and style of flour tortilla. But she also provides a direct link to the flavors of Sonora in other ways. She sells ingredients imported from the region like machaca, a dehydrated shredded meat popular in the region. And she keeps a stock of what is considered to be the mother of all chiles — \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-are-chiltepin-chiles\">chiltepín\u003c/a>. The chiles are worth picking up because they’re rare in California, and they’re great for making a salsa to pair with those flour tortillas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Mexican food lovers accustomed to only eating corn tortillas, these homemade flour tortillas offer an entirely different taste experience: They’re larger and chewier, and have an extra richness thanks to the addition of fat. In many ways, flour tortillas in the Bay Area are now following a similar path that corn tortillas did during their renaissance, in the 2010s, when the improving quality of the masa available here made the way for tortillas that taste closer to the ones you find in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961226\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961226\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press.jpg\" alt=\"Flattened tortilla dough on an industrial tortilla press.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diana Miranda Benitez and her team can make about 200 tortillas in an hour, assembly line–style. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the same way, the Bay Area’s emerging \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/flour-tortillas-bay-area-xulo-semilla-mamacuca-17001425.php\">artisanal flour tortilla\u003c/a> scene is also driven by experimentation and the desire to recreate a taste of home. \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/12/16/22177318/xulo-flour-tortillas-berkeley-pop-up-michael-de-la-torre\">Xulo\u003c/a> — a Berkeley-born pop-up whose flour tortillas are now sold at mainstream grocery stores like Berkeley Bowl— offers tortillas made with traditional manteca (pork fat), but also versions that swap it out for olive oil, duck fat and grass-fed butter. At East Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/tacos-mama-cuca-oakland-19379525.php\">Tacos Mama Cuca\u003c/a>, the flour tortillas the chef uses to make her Sonoran-style tacos are a tether to her home and family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Miranda’s Tortillas appears to be the first business to bring these high-quality Sonoran flour tortillas to San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of Benitez’s customers are Sonoran immigrants who couldn’t find the tortillas they were used to back home. But the buzz around Miranda’s isn’t limited to people looking for a taste of nostalgia. “A lot of people who buy my tortillas are from Sonora,” says Benitez, “but I also get customers who are from other parts of Mexico and even other countries.” Local taquerias have also started buying her tortillas to use in their burritos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Benitez hopes to put a flour tortilla on everyone’s table. “I’m working on getting a trailer,” Benitez says. “In the future, I’d like for my tortillas to be sold in grocery stores.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Miranda’s Tortillas is open Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Text 408-690-6565 or send a message on \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mirandas_tortillas_/\">\u003ci>Instagram\u003c/i>\u003c/a> t\u003ci>o place an order (and for the exact pickup location in San Jose)\u003c/i>\u003ci>. Tortillas are $8 per dozen.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Where to Get the Best Sonoran Flour Tortillas in San Jose | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the United States, many Mexican food enthusiasts don’t consider flour tortillas to be as “authentic” as corn tortillas, \u003ca href=\"https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2018/04/19/in-defense-of-flour-tortillas-an-origin-story-with-gustavo-arellano\">arguing that they’re not a real part of the cuisine\u003c/a>. And it’s true that the mass-produced flour tortillas you find in a Crunchwrap Supreme or packaged at the grocery store tend to compromise everything in favor of shelf stability. They have the same texture and flavor profile as a sheet of paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the state of Sonora, in northern Mexico, flour tortillas are a centuries-long tradition. These handmade tortillas are both chewy and delicate, and they take on the subtle flavor of the fat used to make them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Diana Miranda Benitez moved from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, to San Jose, she grew frustrated with the poor imitations sold at the local markets. “I couldn’t find a quality flour tortilla in the U.S.,” she says, “and I always had this idea of starting a tortilleria.” At the time, Benitez worked at a Jack in the Box while doing housekeeping gigs on the side. She learned how to make tortillas from her sister-in-law, who also introduced her to a man in the mechanical tortilla press industry. After some hesitation, she purchased an industrial-grade tortilla press from Sonora and started her business — \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mirandas_tortillas_/\">Miranda’s Tortillas\u003c/a> — in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, Benitez and her team produce roughly 200 eight-inch tortillas per hour in assembly-line fashion. Benitez dances along to the rhythm of the machine, quickly swapping each newly flattened tortilla with a pre-portioned ball of dough. The raw tortilla is transferred to a hot comal and cooked on both sides until it’s covered in brown spots. Once it puffs up, it’s placed on a wire rack to cool. Miranda’s sells tortillas by the dozen, producing a minimum of 35 packs a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961225\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas.jpg\" alt=\"A stack of flour tortillas, blistered in spots.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Flour-Tortillas-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stack of Miranda’s fresh flour tortillas, which are chewy and delicate, with a rich flavor from the addition of butter and shortening. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Every week, new customers find Benitez through Instagram and word of mouth. Her reputation? That she makes the best flour tortillas in the San Jose area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benitez is proud of her tortillas’ texture and their ability to maintain their quality over time. “Flour tortillas don’t get hard, and when you warm them up, it’s as if they’re freshly cooked,” she says. The tortillas are rich from the inclusion of both vegetable shortening and butter. They’re also pliable, so you can use them to make a burrito with a double scoop of rice and beans without worrying about tearing. To truly savor the tortillas’ flavor, gently reheat one on a comal — or in a nonstick pan — and enjoy it with some melted butter and a pinch of salt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>For now, Benitez only sells the one size and style of flour tortilla. But she also provides a direct link to the flavors of Sonora in other ways. She sells ingredients imported from the region like machaca, a dehydrated shredded meat popular in the region. And she keeps a stock of what is considered to be the mother of all chiles — \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-are-chiltepin-chiles\">chiltepín\u003c/a>. The chiles are worth picking up because they’re rare in California, and they’re great for making a salsa to pair with those flour tortillas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Mexican food lovers accustomed to only eating corn tortillas, these homemade flour tortillas offer an entirely different taste experience: They’re larger and chewier, and have an extra richness thanks to the addition of fat. In many ways, flour tortillas in the Bay Area are now following a similar path that corn tortillas did during their renaissance, in the 2010s, when the improving quality of the masa available here made the way for tortillas that taste closer to the ones you find in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961226\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961226\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press.jpg\" alt=\"Flattened tortilla dough on an industrial tortilla press.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Tortilla-Press-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diana Miranda Benitez and her team can make about 200 tortillas in an hour, assembly line–style. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the same way, the Bay Area’s emerging \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/flour-tortillas-bay-area-xulo-semilla-mamacuca-17001425.php\">artisanal flour tortilla\u003c/a> scene is also driven by experimentation and the desire to recreate a taste of home. \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/12/16/22177318/xulo-flour-tortillas-berkeley-pop-up-michael-de-la-torre\">Xulo\u003c/a> — a Berkeley-born pop-up whose flour tortillas are now sold at mainstream grocery stores like Berkeley Bowl— offers tortillas made with traditional manteca (pork fat), but also versions that swap it out for olive oil, duck fat and grass-fed butter. At East Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/tacos-mama-cuca-oakland-19379525.php\">Tacos Mama Cuca\u003c/a>, the flour tortillas the chef uses to make her Sonoran-style tacos are a tether to her home and family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Miranda’s Tortillas appears to be the first business to bring these high-quality Sonoran flour tortillas to San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of Benitez’s customers are Sonoran immigrants who couldn’t find the tortillas they were used to back home. But the buzz around Miranda’s isn’t limited to people looking for a taste of nostalgia. “A lot of people who buy my tortillas are from Sonora,” says Benitez, “but I also get customers who are from other parts of Mexico and even other countries.” Local taquerias have also started buying her tortillas to use in their burritos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Benitez hopes to put a flour tortilla on everyone’s table. “I’m working on getting a trailer,” Benitez says. “In the future, I’d like for my tortillas to be sold in grocery stores.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Miranda’s Tortillas is open Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Text 408-690-6565 or send a message on \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mirandas_tortillas_/\">\u003ci>Instagram\u003c/i>\u003c/a> t\u003ci>o place an order (and for the exact pickup location in San Jose)\u003c/i>\u003ci>. Tortillas are $8 per dozen.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mezcal-tastings-hugo-gonzales-east-oakland-garage",
"title": "This Rare-Bottle Mezcal Collector Offers Unique Tastings in Oakland",
"publishDate": 1719846040,
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"headTitle": "This Rare-Bottle Mezcal Collector Offers Unique Tastings in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Behind a Victorian house near High Street in East Oakland — in a residential neighborhood where adults and kids playfully linger outside after dark, and rubber tire marks etch the concrete like scriptures from a history of sideshows — the Bay Area’s most off-the-radar mezcal session awaits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s where \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/agavesanto/?locale=en-GB\">Hugo Gonzalez\u003c/a>, a self-described mezcal storyteller, invited me for a private crash course on the smoky Mexican spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our night began by picking up an order of tacos from nearby \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/taquer%C3%ADa-el-paisa/2949/\">El Paisa\u003c/a>, which should be on every short list of the Bay Area’s most fire taquerias. We took our loot back to a nondescript garage, where Gonzalez proceeded to deliver the most elevated and quirkily passionate mezcal tasting I’ve ever had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With over 100 rare bottles of regionally diverse Mexican spirits in his personal stash to go along with a bookshelf of related texts, mezcal production maps, vintage mezcal paraphernalia and a “tasting wheel” — a large set of concentric circles with a dictionary’s worth of vocab to precisely pinpoint flavor profiles ranging from cinnamon to shrimp — Gonzalez is more than qualified to teach others about Mexico’s ancient relationship with the agave distillate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960405\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960405\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mezcal expert explains his favorite mezcal options to a journalist sitting at the same table\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gonzalez (right) teaches KQED journalist Alan Chazaro about the various nuances of mezcal. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His journey and approach are unorthodox. Having grown up in the Xochimilco neighborhood of Mexico City, Gonzalez was once a lawyer and a government employee before marrying a U.S. citizen and moving to Cambodia for environmental work. Eventually, his wife — a first-generation Hungarian American who was raised in the Bay Area — convinced him to move here in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon arriving, he worked in construction for five years. Despite being good with his hands, the physical demands and constant overtime shifts led him to seek another, more inspiring career path based on his heritage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Mexico, we have something called ‘saboreada’ (tastings),” he says while pouring me a splash of micro-batch, Oaxacan mezcal. “I decided to start doing that here. I don’t want to go back to construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez didn’t bluff. For the past six years, he has plunged himself deep into the mezcal multiverse. The devoted connoisseur regularly visits Mexico’s palenques (old-world mezcal distilleries) and occasionally treks into the Mexican hillsides for days on end to accompany the maestros as they concoct tiny 40-liter batches from start to finish. He then returns to the Bay Area and disseminates what he’s learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960402\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960402\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a map of Mexico showing where agaves are from\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There are roughly 200 agave species in Mexico. Gonzalez identifies which regions produce the best kinds for distinct variations of mezcal. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez, who once preferred to drink pulque, a fermented beverage that is nearly impossible to find outside of Mexico, slowly became a fan of mezcal while living in California, where he gained a newfound appreciation for the distilled spirit’s Mexican tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, Gonzalez works part-time as a mezcal consultant at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/odin.oakland/?hl=en\">Odin Mezcaleria\u003c/a>, a Mexican restaurant in Oakland’s Jack London Square that serves the best variations of mezcal cocktails I’ve encountered in the Bay. He’s also a member of \u003ca href=\"https://maestrosdelmezcal.com/\">Maestros del Mezcal\u003c/a>, a non-profit that supports the artisanal traditions of non-corporatized mezcal producers in Mexico, which he sometimes gives public talks about (including at a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/4143\">KQED Live event\u003c/a>). He’s also is a brand ambassador for a handful of mezcals that have entered the U.S. market in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13917398,arts_13920076,arts_13899700']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Like mezcal itself, Gonzalez is somewhat roguish — a Mexican immigrant who simply loves the beverage and genuinely wants to inform others about how, where and why it’s produced. He’s especially mindful of the maestros, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to talk about small productions of small [scale] mezcaleros,” he tells me. “[It’s] one of the most important things. Transparency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During my visit, he makes a point to name every maestro when holding up each bottle. (Most small-batch productions show the region where the mezcal comes from, the genus of agave, any materials and processes used, and who made it by first and last name.) Throughout the night Gonzalez riffs like a freewheeling jazz musician, improvising with personal anecdotes and backstories about each mezcal and its maestro. It’s not just a flamboyant show of bravado; Gonzalez also drops bountiful knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960399\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"four bottles of mezcal from Mexico displayed on a table\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gonzalez has a penchant for small-batch mezcal that can only be found in Mexico. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the main points he drives home is simple: Each mezcal is extremely nuanced in process, craft and result, differing from maestro to maestro, pueblo to pueblo. Mezcal is extremely varied and comes from multiple sources (Mexico has over 300 agave species that vary across the changing climates of the country’s 32 states). Though largely associated with \u003ca href=\"https://atmos.earth/mezcal-oaxaca-environmental-impact/\">Oaxaca — which admittedly accounts for over 90% of mezcal production in the world and has grown in demand at an alarming rate\u003c/a> — mezcal is cultivated in ten disparate regions of Mexico. Oaxaca’s biodiversity certainly allows for an ideal proliferation of the agave-based drink, but as my time with Gonzalez progressed, he went deeper into his metaphorical bag to reveal some of the rarest mezcals I’ve ever tasted, spanning from areas in Guerrero, Chihuahua, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas. He effectively took me on a tour of Mexico with each quarter-shot of mezcal while connecting the dots on his agave map.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One shot of mezcal might yield a zing of gun metal. Another could evoke strawberries. The next? Maybe copper. One mezcal I tasted even had notes of salt and seafood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960397\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960397\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a digitized photo of an indigenous Mexican man wearing a cowboy hat\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Throughout the year, Gonzalez visits Mexico to spend time with maestros and learn about mezcal from the source. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In explaining each pour, Gonzalez is more of a professor than he is a bartender, more poet than salesman. As a former construction worker who knows what it means to use his hands as a means to make ends meet, he has a kindred gratitude for the type of corporeal rigor that mezcal-making demands of its maestros. This isn’t a big-corporate industry, after all; mezcal is still largely homegrown and handmade, demanding a kind of slow-burning discipline of bygone techniques that reflect the slow burn that follows each sip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coyote-, armadillo- and turkey-distilled mezcals (made with \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/drinks/2016/2/9/10939962/what-is-mezcal-de-pechuga\">a redistillation process\u003c/a> wherein the animal’s carcass is hung over the still)? He’s got that. Unlabeled stashes straight from the pit-fired earth? Yep, it’s a casual part of his rotation. But more than the sipping and smoke blowing, it’s about the context — the magical surrealism that is inherent in Mexico that Gonzalez so effortlessly summons on this side of the border. In the broadest sense, to learn about and better understand mezcal — its permutations, its origins, its peculiarities — is to learn about and better understand Mexico. (“Not all of it is smoky,” Gonzalez says of mezcal, but his aphorism can be applied to the negative perceptions surrounding Mexico as well.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be clear, I’ve had my fair share of mezcal dalliances; I once found myself drinking mezcal with the governor of Michoacan at a family dinner on a bull ranch. I’ve also sipped it with my uncles and cousins in Veracruz, and enjoyed it at family parties in the States. But an evening with East Oakland’s underground mezcal king is unlike any bar stool I’ve sat on or any drinking tour I’ve attended. For some, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/mezcal-with-yola-jimenez?_sp=f2f2c4d6-bf70-4f1a-9418-23351d1500d7.1718083917830\">mezcal is seen as a spiritual aid\u003c/a>, and it is with this kind of deep reverence that Gonzalez handles the holy beverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960400\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960400\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mezcal expert points to a circular graph on a table to explain the flavor profiles of mezcal\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The tasting wheel allows Gonzalez, and his guests, to pinpoint the various textures and complexities of mezcal’s many flavors. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mezcal in the Bay Area is usually associated with high-end cocktails, which tend to dilute the spirit. It’s rarely consumed in the same way bar-goers might ask for a shot of tequila or a glass of whiskey on the rocks. Though mezcal has entered the mainstream’s vocabulary in recent years, it remains far behind tequila and Corona in terms of its market size and popularity. Part of the reason is that mezcal simply requires a Herculean effort — along with a deep, intimate knowledge — to produce. It lacks the kind of celebrity investment, distribution and brand power of other, more popular Mexican alcoholic beverages. Mezcal is more esoteric, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-is-mezcal\">the Mexican government has sometimes even struggled with enforcing the “quasi-illegal shenanigans” surrounding it\u003c/a>. A\u003ca href=\"https://agaveroadtrip.com/episodes/s2e116-why-lou-says-agave-spirits-instead-of-mezcal\"> Mexican law enacted in 1994 “stole” the word mezcal\u003c/a> from artisanal makers and “laid claim” to it. An \u003cem>Eater\u003c/em> article, appropriately titled “\u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/22929882/mezcal-destilado-de-agave-distilling-indigenous-culture-oaxaca\">The Great Mezcal Heist\u003c/a>,” goes into depth on it all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Gonzalez, those misunderstandings are part of what attracts him to the beverage. Like the rest of us, he’s learning as he goes, and he aims to bring clarity and focus to those layers. Sitting inside a clandestine garage with a belly full of suadero and a few pours of rare mezcal, I’m happy to be along for the liquid ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People ask me, ‘Are you a sommelier for mezcal, a mezcalier?’ No, I am not,” he says. “I am not an expert. Actually, every time I start to read more about it or try to study it too hard, I get more confused. So the only thing I can do is go to Mexico to explore, to make connections with the people and master distillers, to get the most direct knowledge I can. Then I share the best that I can with you. I am just a storyteller.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hugo Gonzalez is available for private tastings and educational mezcal sessions. Contact him on Instagram (\u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/agavesanto/?locale=en-GB\">@agavesanto\u003c/a>) for more details.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Hugo Gonzalez Is East Oakland's Underground Mezcal King | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Behind a Victorian house near High Street in East Oakland — in a residential neighborhood where adults and kids playfully linger outside after dark, and rubber tire marks etch the concrete like scriptures from a history of sideshows — the Bay Area’s most off-the-radar mezcal session awaits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s where \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/agavesanto/?locale=en-GB\">Hugo Gonzalez\u003c/a>, a self-described mezcal storyteller, invited me for a private crash course on the smoky Mexican spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our night began by picking up an order of tacos from nearby \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/taquer%C3%ADa-el-paisa/2949/\">El Paisa\u003c/a>, which should be on every short list of the Bay Area’s most fire taquerias. We took our loot back to a nondescript garage, where Gonzalez proceeded to deliver the most elevated and quirkily passionate mezcal tasting I’ve ever had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With over 100 rare bottles of regionally diverse Mexican spirits in his personal stash to go along with a bookshelf of related texts, mezcal production maps, vintage mezcal paraphernalia and a “tasting wheel” — a large set of concentric circles with a dictionary’s worth of vocab to precisely pinpoint flavor profiles ranging from cinnamon to shrimp — Gonzalez is more than qualified to teach others about Mexico’s ancient relationship with the agave distillate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960405\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960405\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mezcal expert explains his favorite mezcal options to a journalist sitting at the same table\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3860-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gonzalez (right) teaches KQED journalist Alan Chazaro about the various nuances of mezcal. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His journey and approach are unorthodox. Having grown up in the Xochimilco neighborhood of Mexico City, Gonzalez was once a lawyer and a government employee before marrying a U.S. citizen and moving to Cambodia for environmental work. Eventually, his wife — a first-generation Hungarian American who was raised in the Bay Area — convinced him to move here in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon arriving, he worked in construction for five years. Despite being good with his hands, the physical demands and constant overtime shifts led him to seek another, more inspiring career path based on his heritage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Mexico, we have something called ‘saboreada’ (tastings),” he says while pouring me a splash of micro-batch, Oaxacan mezcal. “I decided to start doing that here. I don’t want to go back to construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez didn’t bluff. For the past six years, he has plunged himself deep into the mezcal multiverse. The devoted connoisseur regularly visits Mexico’s palenques (old-world mezcal distilleries) and occasionally treks into the Mexican hillsides for days on end to accompany the maestros as they concoct tiny 40-liter batches from start to finish. He then returns to the Bay Area and disseminates what he’s learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960402\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960402\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a map of Mexico showing where agaves are from\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF3800-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There are roughly 200 agave species in Mexico. Gonzalez identifies which regions produce the best kinds for distinct variations of mezcal. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez, who once preferred to drink pulque, a fermented beverage that is nearly impossible to find outside of Mexico, slowly became a fan of mezcal while living in California, where he gained a newfound appreciation for the distilled spirit’s Mexican tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, Gonzalez works part-time as a mezcal consultant at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/odin.oakland/?hl=en\">Odin Mezcaleria\u003c/a>, a Mexican restaurant in Oakland’s Jack London Square that serves the best variations of mezcal cocktails I’ve encountered in the Bay. He’s also a member of \u003ca href=\"https://maestrosdelmezcal.com/\">Maestros del Mezcal\u003c/a>, a non-profit that supports the artisanal traditions of non-corporatized mezcal producers in Mexico, which he sometimes gives public talks about (including at a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/4143\">KQED Live event\u003c/a>). He’s also is a brand ambassador for a handful of mezcals that have entered the U.S. market in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Like mezcal itself, Gonzalez is somewhat roguish — a Mexican immigrant who simply loves the beverage and genuinely wants to inform others about how, where and why it’s produced. He’s especially mindful of the maestros, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to talk about small productions of small [scale] mezcaleros,” he tells me. “[It’s] one of the most important things. Transparency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During my visit, he makes a point to name every maestro when holding up each bottle. (Most small-batch productions show the region where the mezcal comes from, the genus of agave, any materials and processes used, and who made it by first and last name.) Throughout the night Gonzalez riffs like a freewheeling jazz musician, improvising with personal anecdotes and backstories about each mezcal and its maestro. It’s not just a flamboyant show of bravado; Gonzalez also drops bountiful knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960399\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"four bottles of mezcal from Mexico displayed on a table\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4161-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gonzalez has a penchant for small-batch mezcal that can only be found in Mexico. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the main points he drives home is simple: Each mezcal is extremely nuanced in process, craft and result, differing from maestro to maestro, pueblo to pueblo. Mezcal is extremely varied and comes from multiple sources (Mexico has over 300 agave species that vary across the changing climates of the country’s 32 states). Though largely associated with \u003ca href=\"https://atmos.earth/mezcal-oaxaca-environmental-impact/\">Oaxaca — which admittedly accounts for over 90% of mezcal production in the world and has grown in demand at an alarming rate\u003c/a> — mezcal is cultivated in ten disparate regions of Mexico. Oaxaca’s biodiversity certainly allows for an ideal proliferation of the agave-based drink, but as my time with Gonzalez progressed, he went deeper into his metaphorical bag to reveal some of the rarest mezcals I’ve ever tasted, spanning from areas in Guerrero, Chihuahua, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas. He effectively took me on a tour of Mexico with each quarter-shot of mezcal while connecting the dots on his agave map.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One shot of mezcal might yield a zing of gun metal. Another could evoke strawberries. The next? Maybe copper. One mezcal I tasted even had notes of salt and seafood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960397\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960397\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a digitized photo of an indigenous Mexican man wearing a cowboy hat\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4264-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Throughout the year, Gonzalez visits Mexico to spend time with maestros and learn about mezcal from the source. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In explaining each pour, Gonzalez is more of a professor than he is a bartender, more poet than salesman. As a former construction worker who knows what it means to use his hands as a means to make ends meet, he has a kindred gratitude for the type of corporeal rigor that mezcal-making demands of its maestros. This isn’t a big-corporate industry, after all; mezcal is still largely homegrown and handmade, demanding a kind of slow-burning discipline of bygone techniques that reflect the slow burn that follows each sip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coyote-, armadillo- and turkey-distilled mezcals (made with \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/drinks/2016/2/9/10939962/what-is-mezcal-de-pechuga\">a redistillation process\u003c/a> wherein the animal’s carcass is hung over the still)? He’s got that. Unlabeled stashes straight from the pit-fired earth? Yep, it’s a casual part of his rotation. But more than the sipping and smoke blowing, it’s about the context — the magical surrealism that is inherent in Mexico that Gonzalez so effortlessly summons on this side of the border. In the broadest sense, to learn about and better understand mezcal — its permutations, its origins, its peculiarities — is to learn about and better understand Mexico. (“Not all of it is smoky,” Gonzalez says of mezcal, but his aphorism can be applied to the negative perceptions surrounding Mexico as well.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be clear, I’ve had my fair share of mezcal dalliances; I once found myself drinking mezcal with the governor of Michoacan at a family dinner on a bull ranch. I’ve also sipped it with my uncles and cousins in Veracruz, and enjoyed it at family parties in the States. But an evening with East Oakland’s underground mezcal king is unlike any bar stool I’ve sat on or any drinking tour I’ve attended. For some, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/mezcal-with-yola-jimenez?_sp=f2f2c4d6-bf70-4f1a-9418-23351d1500d7.1718083917830\">mezcal is seen as a spiritual aid\u003c/a>, and it is with this kind of deep reverence that Gonzalez handles the holy beverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960400\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960400\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mezcal expert points to a circular graph on a table to explain the flavor profiles of mezcal\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/DSCF4148-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The tasting wheel allows Gonzalez, and his guests, to pinpoint the various textures and complexities of mezcal’s many flavors. \u003ccite>(Darius Riley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mezcal in the Bay Area is usually associated with high-end cocktails, which tend to dilute the spirit. It’s rarely consumed in the same way bar-goers might ask for a shot of tequila or a glass of whiskey on the rocks. Though mezcal has entered the mainstream’s vocabulary in recent years, it remains far behind tequila and Corona in terms of its market size and popularity. Part of the reason is that mezcal simply requires a Herculean effort — along with a deep, intimate knowledge — to produce. It lacks the kind of celebrity investment, distribution and brand power of other, more popular Mexican alcoholic beverages. Mezcal is more esoteric, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-is-mezcal\">the Mexican government has sometimes even struggled with enforcing the “quasi-illegal shenanigans” surrounding it\u003c/a>. A\u003ca href=\"https://agaveroadtrip.com/episodes/s2e116-why-lou-says-agave-spirits-instead-of-mezcal\"> Mexican law enacted in 1994 “stole” the word mezcal\u003c/a> from artisanal makers and “laid claim” to it. An \u003cem>Eater\u003c/em> article, appropriately titled “\u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/22929882/mezcal-destilado-de-agave-distilling-indigenous-culture-oaxaca\">The Great Mezcal Heist\u003c/a>,” goes into depth on it all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Gonzalez, those misunderstandings are part of what attracts him to the beverage. Like the rest of us, he’s learning as he goes, and he aims to bring clarity and focus to those layers. Sitting inside a clandestine garage with a belly full of suadero and a few pours of rare mezcal, I’m happy to be along for the liquid ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People ask me, ‘Are you a sommelier for mezcal, a mezcalier?’ No, I am not,” he says. “I am not an expert. Actually, every time I start to read more about it or try to study it too hard, I get more confused. So the only thing I can do is go to Mexico to explore, to make connections with the people and master distillers, to get the most direct knowledge I can. Then I share the best that I can with you. I am just a storyteller.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hugo Gonzalez is available for private tastings and educational mezcal sessions. Contact him on Instagram (\u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/agavesanto/?locale=en-GB\">@agavesanto\u003c/a>) for more details.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-jose-foos-chris-villa-tacos-music-festival",
"title": "This Wildly Popular IG Account Is Throwing a Huge Latin Music Festival in San Jose",
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"headTitle": "This Wildly Popular IG Account Is Throwing a Huge Latin Music Festival in San Jose | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/a> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South Almaden Avenue is a long stretch of pavement that runs through a scrappy, historic neighborhood on the southern edge of San Jose’s downtown. It’s the kind of barrio you can visit at any hour to find some of the Bay Area’s most homey tacos while vatos circle the block on bicycles and inside minivans. It’s also where you’ll find\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rosarios_tacos/?hl=en\"> Rosario’s Tacos\u003c/a>, a no-frills taqueria that started inside a garage before moving to its current brick-and-mortar location in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gregarious owner, Joe, is an embodiment of San Jose’s low-riding Chicano spirit — a proud father with a full-bellied laugh and cynical sense of humor who refuses to give up on his community. The restaurant is named after his late mother, Rosario, whose recipes Joe has adapted to create the restaurant’s beloved quesabirria — a red-drenched behemoth of a taco, dripping with consomme, birria, cheese and (if desired) plump, succulent shrimp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario’s generous portion sizes and undiluted hometown pride are what attract one of Shark City’s biggest foodies:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/chrisillmatic/?hl=en\"> Chris Villa\u003c/a>. As the face of\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sanjosefoos/?hl=en\"> San Jose Foos\u003c/a> — the 408’s most culturally influential social media empire, with over 226,000 followers on Instagram — Villa has been going to Rosario’s for years and chose it as our rendezvous point on a sunny South Bay afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958803\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958803\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a table of tacos and flyers for a music festival\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose Foos is helping to coordinate the city’s first-ever Latin house music festival at Discovery Meadow Park on June 15. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though not food-specific, the page — which Villa co-facilitates with \u003ca href=\"https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/san-jose-foos-become-a-much-needed-voice-for-san-jose-culture/\">San Jose Foos founder, Jorge Anthony Gomez\u003c/a> — uplifts a variety of San Jose-owned businesses like Rosario’s. Their popular, insider-y memes and videos highlight small, family-run, genuinely under-appreciated and off-the-radar locales that otherwise go unnoticed by the Bay Area mainstream. Villa has been involved with the account for four years and recently left his job at Apple to pursue his creativity full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their biggest effort to continue building the city’s cultural profile, San Jose Foos are launching a new music festival: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C7AhHO0Pucw/?hl=en\">Taraka\u003c/a>. Headlined by\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gordoszn/?hl=en\"> Nicaraguan super producer and DJ, Gordo\u003c/a>, and featuring a cast of eleven Latin American house music DJs, the festival will be the only one of its kind in the region (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13865311/how-sonido-clash-music-fest-became-a-hub-for-forward-thinking-latinx-sounds\">Sonido Clash, the alternative Latinx music festival\u003c/a> that was once held in San Jose, has been discontinued since the pandemic).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ordering close to 20 tacos — which we divvied up, each taking home leftovers — Villa and I ate ourselves into a peaceful state of higher consciousness while chatting about Silicon Valley’s joys, complexities and upcoming food and music takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>********\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958806\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958806\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"birria tacos on a grill at a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The quesabirria tacos are a main attraction at Rosario’s. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You chose this spot as our meeting point. What does Rosario’s Tacos mean to you? [mariachi music blares in the background]\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Villa: \u003c/b>I’ve known about this spot for the longest. It’s a San Jose staple. It’s one of those spots that everyone in San Jose goes to. I’ve built a rapport with Joe [the owner] because of what he does and what he has contributed to the community. He has a presence here. And the food is delicious. This isn’t a gentrified spot, but you’ll still see every culture here. A group of Indian foodies recently made a video. That’s really cool to see. And Joe doesn’t want to go anywhere. He wants to stay right here in San Jose. That gives people a sense of pride. You can’t hate on that, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I feel that. Have you eaten the Godzilla Taco here? The menu says it’s a 14-inch quesabirria taco. It crossed my mind.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, I have. I can’t finish it [laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958804\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a kitchen cook prepares meat for birria tacos\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosario’s Tacos uses family recipes from the owner’s late mother, Rosario, to make some of the best quesabirria in San Jose. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>There are a lot of solid taquerias in this area. I remember eating around here when I was a teenager, and a group of gang members got out of their car and approached the people I was with because of some of the colors they were wearing. But the tacos were so damn good that I kept coming back. Did you grow up in this part of the city?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13958336,arts_13958466,arts_13920483']\u003c/span>I grew up on the south side of San Jose. We used to stay away from this area growing up because of what it is, you know [laughs]. Where I lived was like the opposite gang, but I wasn’t affiliated or anything like that. Before all the Instagram stuff, I’ve always been cool with everyone. Just going out and saying what’s up to all the homies. That’s just the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did you start working with San Jose Foos, and what’s your involvement?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I partnered with my homie, Anthony [Gomez]. He’s the one who started it; I’m considered the face of it, and I’m in some of the videos. I also help with scheduling, shooting, editing and stuff like that as much as needed. I started a few years ago right after COVID [emerged] in 2020. After all that was going on, that’s when I jumped on board, and I was like, hey, you know, it’s a lot of fighting hate with hate. We wanted to make it a love thing. Support our community. Support local businesses however we can. We were at maybe 10,000 followers at the time, and it still made a difference. And from then it blew up from just telling people to check out this spot, go look at this artist, sharing San Jose staples that you got to know. It became more about that. Local history, culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958805\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958805\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mural that reads "Rosario's Tacos San Jose" inside a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural inside the taqueria reflects the owner’s hometown Chicano pride. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is that cultural representation something you think San Jose was lacking at the time — or is maybe still lacking?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was missing for the longest. San Jose hasn’t always been shown the same love as San Francisco and Oakland. We wanted to pivot and put San Jose on the map in different ways. That was the goal. We want to make people laugh, too [laughs]. This is my favorite horchata in San Jose, by the way [sips horchata].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re helping launch a new festival in San Jose. That’s a big deal. How’s that going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s huge. The first of its kind here in San Jose. They’re going to start building the stage. We’ve always wanted to do something big, festival wise. We’ve been mapping things out. Gordo is a dope artist. I’ve always been a fan of his, so when I heard we’re bringing him out I was like yo, that’s crazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958808\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958808\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a journalist eating a taco\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED food journalist Alan Chazaro listens in as Chris Villa talks about San Jose’s cultural riches. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your role in the festival?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m helping facilitate, mainly with the vendors. Making sure everyone’s good. I’ve been running around, wearing a few hats. It’ll all be at Discovery Meadows [the park outside the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose]. We have a friend who organizes events, and they’re really good at putting things together and getting the permits and things like that, so they took care of all that. We’ve done events before, but not this size. It’s gonna be good. It’s a large event being held in San Jose at a venue that not many people know about. The last big event that happened there was with Logic. He held a free event there. Hella random.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who’s going to be there?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live DJs will be going on from 2 to 9 on one stage. Gordo, Lee Foss, Malóne, Maneki. Nico Crespo from San Jose. He’s actually my best friend’s cousin and he’s been doing it big in the house and techno scene. It’s 11 Latin American house music DJs in total.\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brownnproudla/?hl=en\"> Brown N Proud\u003c/a> LA is doing an SJ collab. He’s a clothing guy; [the clothing brand] Foos Gone Wild has partnered up with him before. But it’s mostly San Jose people:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shrimpn_aint_eazy/?hl=en\"> Shrimpin Ain’t Eazy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popupsj/?hl=en\">Pop Up SJ\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mrshrimpsj/\">Mr. Shrimp\u003c/a>. Food trucks, thrifters, clothing brands. Our own stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958809\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958809\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"three people sit in front of a taqueria during lunch\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Vilal (left), Alan Chazaro (center) and Rosario’s Tacos owner, Joe (right), discuss San Jose’s artistic community. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your philosophy on what San Jose could be doing better moving forward?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest thing I see in San Jose is people fighting against each other, making everything a competition. [San Jose Foos] never saw it that way. We want to partner up with whoever wants to make a difference, big or small. Artists, photographers, any of that. One of the organizations we help out is\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/adopt_my_block/?hl=en\"> Adopt My Block\u003c/a>. They’re about adopting dogs, sheltering dogs. We reached out to them. It’s run by\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13839650/on-3rtys-veteran-san-jose-battle-rapper-dirtbag-dan-reveals-his-introspective-side\"> Dirtbag Dan\u003c/a>, one of [San Jose’s] old school battle rappers. We want to show that love to our city.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Taraka with Gordo’ will take place at Discovery Meadow Park (180 Woz Way, San Jose) on Sat., June 15 from 2 to 9 p.m. Tickets available \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taraka-san-jose-w-gordo-more-tba-tickets-891379388747?aff=aff0bandsintown&comeFrom=2500&artist_event_id=1031776474&bit_userid=%24%7Buser_id%7D&appId=onaqfvagbja_jro\">here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "San Jose Foos Is Throwing a Huge New Latin Music Festival | KQED",
"description": "San Jose Foos’ Chris Villa breaks down Silicon Valley’s upcoming Latin American electronic music festival and where he goes to get his favorite tacos.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/hellahungry\">¡Hella Hungry!\u003c/a> is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South Almaden Avenue is a long stretch of pavement that runs through a scrappy, historic neighborhood on the southern edge of San Jose’s downtown. It’s the kind of barrio you can visit at any hour to find some of the Bay Area’s most homey tacos while vatos circle the block on bicycles and inside minivans. It’s also where you’ll find\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rosarios_tacos/?hl=en\"> Rosario’s Tacos\u003c/a>, a no-frills taqueria that started inside a garage before moving to its current brick-and-mortar location in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gregarious owner, Joe, is an embodiment of San Jose’s low-riding Chicano spirit — a proud father with a full-bellied laugh and cynical sense of humor who refuses to give up on his community. The restaurant is named after his late mother, Rosario, whose recipes Joe has adapted to create the restaurant’s beloved quesabirria — a red-drenched behemoth of a taco, dripping with consomme, birria, cheese and (if desired) plump, succulent shrimp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario’s generous portion sizes and undiluted hometown pride are what attract one of Shark City’s biggest foodies:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/chrisillmatic/?hl=en\"> Chris Villa\u003c/a>. As the face of\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sanjosefoos/?hl=en\"> San Jose Foos\u003c/a> — the 408’s most culturally influential social media empire, with over 226,000 followers on Instagram — Villa has been going to Rosario’s for years and chose it as our rendezvous point on a sunny South Bay afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958803\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958803\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a table of tacos and flyers for a music festival\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-35-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose Foos is helping to coordinate the city’s first-ever Latin house music festival at Discovery Meadow Park on June 15. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though not food-specific, the page — which Villa co-facilitates with \u003ca href=\"https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/san-jose-foos-become-a-much-needed-voice-for-san-jose-culture/\">San Jose Foos founder, Jorge Anthony Gomez\u003c/a> — uplifts a variety of San Jose-owned businesses like Rosario’s. Their popular, insider-y memes and videos highlight small, family-run, genuinely under-appreciated and off-the-radar locales that otherwise go unnoticed by the Bay Area mainstream. Villa has been involved with the account for four years and recently left his job at Apple to pursue his creativity full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their biggest effort to continue building the city’s cultural profile, San Jose Foos are launching a new music festival: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C7AhHO0Pucw/?hl=en\">Taraka\u003c/a>. Headlined by\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gordoszn/?hl=en\"> Nicaraguan super producer and DJ, Gordo\u003c/a>, and featuring a cast of eleven Latin American house music DJs, the festival will be the only one of its kind in the region (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13865311/how-sonido-clash-music-fest-became-a-hub-for-forward-thinking-latinx-sounds\">Sonido Clash, the alternative Latinx music festival\u003c/a> that was once held in San Jose, has been discontinued since the pandemic).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ordering close to 20 tacos — which we divvied up, each taking home leftovers — Villa and I ate ourselves into a peaceful state of higher consciousness while chatting about Silicon Valley’s joys, complexities and upcoming food and music takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003ci>********\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958806\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958806\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"birria tacos on a grill at a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-14-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The quesabirria tacos are a main attraction at Rosario’s. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You chose this spot as our meeting point. What does Rosario’s Tacos mean to you? [mariachi music blares in the background]\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Villa: \u003c/b>I’ve known about this spot for the longest. It’s a San Jose staple. It’s one of those spots that everyone in San Jose goes to. I’ve built a rapport with Joe [the owner] because of what he does and what he has contributed to the community. He has a presence here. And the food is delicious. This isn’t a gentrified spot, but you’ll still see every culture here. A group of Indian foodies recently made a video. That’s really cool to see. And Joe doesn’t want to go anywhere. He wants to stay right here in San Jose. That gives people a sense of pride. You can’t hate on that, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I feel that. Have you eaten the Godzilla Taco here? The menu says it’s a 14-inch quesabirria taco. It crossed my mind.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, I have. I can’t finish it [laughs].\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958804\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a kitchen cook prepares meat for birria tacos\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosario’s Tacos uses family recipes from the owner’s late mother, Rosario, to make some of the best quesabirria in San Jose. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>There are a lot of solid taquerias in this area. I remember eating around here when I was a teenager, and a group of gang members got out of their car and approached the people I was with because of some of the colors they were wearing. But the tacos were so damn good that I kept coming back. Did you grow up in this part of the city?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>I grew up on the south side of San Jose. We used to stay away from this area growing up because of what it is, you know [laughs]. Where I lived was like the opposite gang, but I wasn’t affiliated or anything like that. Before all the Instagram stuff, I’ve always been cool with everyone. Just going out and saying what’s up to all the homies. That’s just the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did you start working with San Jose Foos, and what’s your involvement?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I partnered with my homie, Anthony [Gomez]. He’s the one who started it; I’m considered the face of it, and I’m in some of the videos. I also help with scheduling, shooting, editing and stuff like that as much as needed. I started a few years ago right after COVID [emerged] in 2020. After all that was going on, that’s when I jumped on board, and I was like, hey, you know, it’s a lot of fighting hate with hate. We wanted to make it a love thing. Support our community. Support local businesses however we can. We were at maybe 10,000 followers at the time, and it still made a difference. And from then it blew up from just telling people to check out this spot, go look at this artist, sharing San Jose staples that you got to know. It became more about that. Local history, culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958805\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958805\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mural that reads "Rosario's Tacos San Jose" inside a taqueria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural inside the taqueria reflects the owner’s hometown Chicano pride. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is that cultural representation something you think San Jose was lacking at the time — or is maybe still lacking?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was missing for the longest. San Jose hasn’t always been shown the same love as San Francisco and Oakland. We wanted to pivot and put San Jose on the map in different ways. That was the goal. We want to make people laugh, too [laughs]. This is my favorite horchata in San Jose, by the way [sips horchata].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re helping launch a new festival in San Jose. That’s a big deal. How’s that going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s huge. The first of its kind here in San Jose. They’re going to start building the stage. We’ve always wanted to do something big, festival wise. We’ve been mapping things out. Gordo is a dope artist. I’ve always been a fan of his, so when I heard we’re bringing him out I was like yo, that’s crazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958808\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958808\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a journalist eating a taco\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-26-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED food journalist Alan Chazaro listens in as Chris Villa talks about San Jose’s cultural riches. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your role in the festival?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m helping facilitate, mainly with the vendors. Making sure everyone’s good. I’ve been running around, wearing a few hats. It’ll all be at Discovery Meadows [the park outside the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose]. We have a friend who organizes events, and they’re really good at putting things together and getting the permits and things like that, so they took care of all that. We’ve done events before, but not this size. It’s gonna be good. It’s a large event being held in San Jose at a venue that not many people know about. The last big event that happened there was with Logic. He held a free event there. Hella random.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who’s going to be there?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live DJs will be going on from 2 to 9 on one stage. Gordo, Lee Foss, Malóne, Maneki. Nico Crespo from San Jose. He’s actually my best friend’s cousin and he’s been doing it big in the house and techno scene. It’s 11 Latin American house music DJs in total.\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brownnproudla/?hl=en\"> Brown N Proud\u003c/a> LA is doing an SJ collab. He’s a clothing guy; [the clothing brand] Foos Gone Wild has partnered up with him before. But it’s mostly San Jose people:\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shrimpn_aint_eazy/?hl=en\"> Shrimpin Ain’t Eazy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/popupsj/?hl=en\">Pop Up SJ\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mrshrimpsj/\">Mr. Shrimp\u003c/a>. Food trucks, thrifters, clothing brands. Our own stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958809\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958809\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"three people sit in front of a taqueria during lunch\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/TacoTalkWAlanChris-37-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Vilal (left), Alan Chazaro (center) and Rosario’s Tacos owner, Joe (right), discuss San Jose’s artistic community. \u003ccite>(@alexknowbody)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your philosophy on what San Jose could be doing better moving forward?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest thing I see in San Jose is people fighting against each other, making everything a competition. [San Jose Foos] never saw it that way. We want to partner up with whoever wants to make a difference, big or small. Artists, photographers, any of that. One of the organizations we help out is\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/adopt_my_block/?hl=en\"> Adopt My Block\u003c/a>. They’re about adopting dogs, sheltering dogs. We reached out to them. It’s run by\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13839650/on-3rtys-veteran-san-jose-battle-rapper-dirtbag-dan-reveals-his-introspective-side\"> Dirtbag Dan\u003c/a>, one of [San Jose’s] old school battle rappers. We want to show that love to our city.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Taraka with Gordo’ will take place at Discovery Meadow Park (180 Woz Way, San Jose) on Sat., June 15 from 2 to 9 p.m. Tickets available \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taraka-san-jose-w-gordo-more-tba-tickets-891379388747?aff=aff0bandsintown&comeFrom=2500&artist_event_id=1031776474&bit_userid=%24%7Buser_id%7D&appId=onaqfvagbja_jro\">here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958470\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958470\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men devour tacos and burritos while pouring hot sauce from squeeze bottles directly into their mouths.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose’s La Victoria Taqueria (aka La Vic’s), is famous for its orange sauce — and for feeding hungry college students until 3 a.m. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve never stumbled into \u003ca href=\"https://www.lavicsj.com/\">La Victoria Taqueria\u003c/a> at 2 o’clock in the morning, bleary-eyed and half-starving midway through a six-hour cram session during finals week at San Jose State. Never crushed a plate of carne asada fries, half-drunk, after a night of dancing at Agenda or SJ Live back in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So my devotion to La Vic’s legendary orange sauce — the creamy, chile-flecked condiment that spawned a hundred imitators — is merely practical rather than religious. I just think it’s one of the most delicious hot sauces in the Bay Area. Almost certainly the most delicious you can get your hands on at 3 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And after our recent late-night visit, I think I understand the hype.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Open since 1998, the original San Carlos Street location of La Vic’s sits kitty-corner to SJSU’s main campus, inside a cheery, slightly ramshackle old house — like a cartoon Victorian where a child detective goes mystery hunting. The family-owned taqueria offers a very standard college town burrito shop menu: enormously overstuffed tacos and burritos, quesadillas and loaded nachos and fries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only difference is that everywhere you look, there’s orange sauce. Twelve-ounce squeeze bottles on every table, and lined up in the fridge case behind the counter. Multiple orange sauce posters on the walls. College kids — so many college kids, in gym shorts or decked out for a night at the club — ordering extra tubs of orange sauce to go with their takeout burritos. Even the cup for our agua fresca was decorated with a picture of a bottle of orange sauce. (“Orange you glad you tried,” reads the tagline.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958473\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958473\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of La Victoria Taqueria, in an old Victorian house, lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The original La Vic’s is located in downtown San Jose, right across the street from San Jose State University. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Look, if we’re being strictly honest, there are plenty of taquerias in San Jose — and all around the Bay — where you can get a tastier, more well-constructed burrito than the ones La Vic’s is rolling out these days. You can find more flavorful carnitas and juicier, less gristly carne asada. There are other restaurants that do a better job of piling meat and cheese on top of French fries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But man does that orange sauce paper over a thousand sins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like any well-guarded family recipe, the actual contents of the sauce are shrouded in secrecy and wild speculation. In \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/07/san-jose-orange-sauce-taco-burrito-la-victoria-recipe/\">public interviews\u003c/a>, La Vic’s owners have only revealed a handful of obvious ingredients: garlic, onions, tomatoes, dried red chiles. Meanwhile, orange-sauce conspiracy theorists have long debated the source of the sauce’s telltale creaminess, which has been rumored to come from crushed-up crackers, mayonnaise and even leftover chorizo grease (!). The restaurant, for its part, stresses that the sauce has always been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/La-Victoria-orange-sauce-is-secret-17081821.php\">100% vegan\u003c/a>. (I, and most \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/SalsaSnobs/comments/191wyaw/update_la_victorias_orange_sauce_aka_san_jose/\">copycat recipes\u003c/a>, suspect the creaminess just comes from emulsified vegetable oil.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13958041,arts_13955884,arts_13954983']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Whatever the secret, La Vic’s orange sauce is delicious. It has a bright, garlicky heat that immediately perks up the palate and a tanginess that keeps it from being overly heavy, making it a natural foil to salty grilled meats. And we loved how the sauce’s slightly dense, creamy texture allows it to cling to surfaces instead of making the food soggy like your typical watery salsa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also figured out how, if you order smartly, you can put together a legitimately solid meal at La Vic’s, even apart from squirting orange sauce onto every bite. First pro tip: It’s the super tacos, not the burritos, that are the star of the menu, especially if you order them with lengua, which is the tastiest and most tender of the meat options. The super tacos feature thick, double-stacked tortillas that the taqueros will crisp up on request, and they’re loaded with guacamole and sour cream, which provide a refreshing tang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second tip: Don’t sleep on the zippy and criminally underrated green sauce, which some La Vic’s loyalists like even better than the orange sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: It’s true that the carne asada fries, which come loaded with steak, nacho cheese, sour cream and guac, are the ideal drunk food. But the fries here aren’t especially crispy, and it’s only a matter of minutes before the whole thing turns into a soggy mess. Consider instead the nachos. They have a much more resilient crunch and are, in my view, the perfect vessel for orange sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unless you count my own cooking, that is. Like so many other La Vic’s initiates, I dropped $8 on a bottle of the sauce to bring home — to test if it does, in fact, taste amazing on everything, like so many of the glowing reviews I’d read. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been putting it on scrambled eggs and homemade carnitas, stirring it into bowls of rice and beans. And it really is true: I haven’t been disappointed yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lavicsj.com/\">\u003ci>La Victoria Taqueria\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> has six Bay Area locations, mostly in San Jose. The original location at 140 E. San Carlos St. is open from 7 a.m.–3 a.m. daily.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958470\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958470\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men devour tacos and burritos while pouring hot sauce from squeeze bottles directly into their mouths.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose’s La Victoria Taqueria (aka La Vic’s), is famous for its orange sauce — and for feeding hungry college students until 3 a.m. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve never stumbled into \u003ca href=\"https://www.lavicsj.com/\">La Victoria Taqueria\u003c/a> at 2 o’clock in the morning, bleary-eyed and half-starving midway through a six-hour cram session during finals week at San Jose State. Never crushed a plate of carne asada fries, half-drunk, after a night of dancing at Agenda or SJ Live back in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So my devotion to La Vic’s legendary orange sauce — the creamy, chile-flecked condiment that spawned a hundred imitators — is merely practical rather than religious. I just think it’s one of the most delicious hot sauces in the Bay Area. Almost certainly the most delicious you can get your hands on at 3 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And after our recent late-night visit, I think I understand the hype.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Open since 1998, the original San Carlos Street location of La Vic’s sits kitty-corner to SJSU’s main campus, inside a cheery, slightly ramshackle old house — like a cartoon Victorian where a child detective goes mystery hunting. The family-owned taqueria offers a very standard college town burrito shop menu: enormously overstuffed tacos and burritos, quesadillas and loaded nachos and fries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only difference is that everywhere you look, there’s orange sauce. Twelve-ounce squeeze bottles on every table, and lined up in the fridge case behind the counter. Multiple orange sauce posters on the walls. College kids — so many college kids, in gym shorts or decked out for a night at the club — ordering extra tubs of orange sauce to go with their takeout burritos. Even the cup for our agua fresca was decorated with a picture of a bottle of orange sauce. (“Orange you glad you tried,” reads the tagline.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958473\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958473\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of La Victoria Taqueria, in an old Victorian house, lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Lavics2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The original La Vic’s is located in downtown San Jose, right across the street from San Jose State University. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Look, if we’re being strictly honest, there are plenty of taquerias in San Jose — and all around the Bay — where you can get a tastier, more well-constructed burrito than the ones La Vic’s is rolling out these days. You can find more flavorful carnitas and juicier, less gristly carne asada. There are other restaurants that do a better job of piling meat and cheese on top of French fries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But man does that orange sauce paper over a thousand sins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like any well-guarded family recipe, the actual contents of the sauce are shrouded in secrecy and wild speculation. In \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/07/san-jose-orange-sauce-taco-burrito-la-victoria-recipe/\">public interviews\u003c/a>, La Vic’s owners have only revealed a handful of obvious ingredients: garlic, onions, tomatoes, dried red chiles. Meanwhile, orange-sauce conspiracy theorists have long debated the source of the sauce’s telltale creaminess, which has been rumored to come from crushed-up crackers, mayonnaise and even leftover chorizo grease (!). The restaurant, for its part, stresses that the sauce has always been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/La-Victoria-orange-sauce-is-secret-17081821.php\">100% vegan\u003c/a>. (I, and most \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/SalsaSnobs/comments/191wyaw/update_la_victorias_orange_sauce_aka_san_jose/\">copycat recipes\u003c/a>, suspect the creaminess just comes from emulsified vegetable oil.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Whatever the secret, La Vic’s orange sauce is delicious. It has a bright, garlicky heat that immediately perks up the palate and a tanginess that keeps it from being overly heavy, making it a natural foil to salty grilled meats. And we loved how the sauce’s slightly dense, creamy texture allows it to cling to surfaces instead of making the food soggy like your typical watery salsa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also figured out how, if you order smartly, you can put together a legitimately solid meal at La Vic’s, even apart from squirting orange sauce onto every bite. First pro tip: It’s the super tacos, not the burritos, that are the star of the menu, especially if you order them with lengua, which is the tastiest and most tender of the meat options. The super tacos feature thick, double-stacked tortillas that the taqueros will crisp up on request, and they’re loaded with guacamole and sour cream, which provide a refreshing tang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second tip: Don’t sleep on the zippy and criminally underrated green sauce, which some La Vic’s loyalists like even better than the orange sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: It’s true that the carne asada fries, which come loaded with steak, nacho cheese, sour cream and guac, are the ideal drunk food. But the fries here aren’t especially crispy, and it’s only a matter of minutes before the whole thing turns into a soggy mess. Consider instead the nachos. They have a much more resilient crunch and are, in my view, the perfect vessel for orange sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unless you count my own cooking, that is. Like so many other La Vic’s initiates, I dropped $8 on a bottle of the sauce to bring home — to test if it does, in fact, taste amazing on everything, like so many of the glowing reviews I’d read. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been putting it on scrambled eggs and homemade carnitas, stirring it into bowls of rice and beans. And it really is true: I haven’t been disappointed yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lavicsj.com/\">\u003ci>La Victoria Taqueria\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> has six Bay Area locations, mostly in San Jose. The original location at 140 E. San Carlos St. is open from 7 a.m.–3 a.m. daily.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "San Jose’s Most Creative Paleta Cart Is Leveling Up the Mexican Ice Pop",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a hot summer day, the sound of a paleta cart’s bells usually signals the arrival of bright red paletas de fresa, ice cream sandwiches and gumball-eyed Spider-Man popsicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the ice pops inside \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/paletaplaneta/\">Paleta Planeta’s\u003c/a> galaxy-wrapped cart in San Jose are different. While the cart does sell some traditional Mexican fruit paletas, it also offers an ever-rotating selection of hybrid flavors like taro Oreo and avocado chocolate. Other flavors aren’t particularly Mexican, or what you’d think to put in a popsicle, at all — pumpkin pie, for instance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experimental approach has earned Paleta Planeta a cult following across the South Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our paletas have traditional Mexican roots,” co-founder Mauricio Salazar says. “But we blend them with flavors from other cultures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mauricio and his brother Luis Salazar started selling paletas from their parents’ garage in October 2021. They wanted to start their own business due to the uncertainty of the pandemic’s layoffs, and their cousins — third-generation paleteros in Texas — offered to teach them the basics. Now, the Salazars manufacture and sell their ice pops from a kitchen in the back of Zuñigas Restaurant in San Jose. While recipe development is a joint effort, Luis is the one who makes the paletas. Mauricio primarily handles events and social media. And Gabriel, their younger brother, helps with bookkeeping and invoicing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We grew up playing competitive soccer,” Mauricio says. “We understand the importance of having a team.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958233\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958233\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in rubber gloves hold up popsicles.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brothers Mauricio (left) and Luis Salazar started their paleta business in 2021. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a team of two, Mauricio and Luis are able to produce and package a few hundred paletas per day with the use of a flash freezer. They fill metal paleta molds with fresh fruit purées and dunk them into a water-glycol bath, which freezes a batch within minutes. This is faster than waiting for paletas to solidify in a traditional freezer, and more importantly, it produces paletas that are light and airy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brothers take their craft seriously and have even traveled to the \u003ca href=\"https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/reposteros-espa%C3%B1oles-mexicanos-innovan-ser-223100688.html\">international paleta convention\u003c/a> in Mexico City to learn the flavors and techniques being used by new-wave paleteros. Indeed, what sets Planeta Paletas apart is the brothers’ creativity and dedication to offering unique flavor combinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958230\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958230\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake.jpg\" alt=\"Three colorful Mexican popsicles on top of a tray of ice.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-1536x960.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A trio of colorful paletas. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I go to the bar for inspiration,” says Luis. “If flavors work in a drink, they work in a paleta.” (A mojito inspired him to pair mint with fruit flavors like strawberry, pineapple and mango.) Mauricio keeps an eye out for potential ideas by keeping track of what fruits are in season and perusing boba shop menus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13958114,arts_13953266,arts_13957666']\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>Their flavor combinations aren’t thoughtless mishmashes of trendy ingredients. The matcha horchata, for example, pairs a drink popular in Japan with one popular in Mexico highlighting the subtle nuttiness of each. It’s herbal, sweet, and, for anyone that’s a fan of both drinks, provides simultaneous flashes of the sophistication of sitting down for a cup of hot tea and the cooling-off effect of a refreshing agua fresca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Salazar brothers use mostly seasonal fruits for two reasons: Because they’re more flavorful, they require less additional sugar, and they present the opportunity to experiment with ingredients the Salazars wouldn’t typically consider. Luis is especially proud of a creation he made by pairing mamey sapote, a Mexican fruit that has notes of pumpkin and apricot, with mango, which brightens the earthiness of the sapote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958237\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler.jpg\" alt=\"Ube brownie, mango maracuya lechera, mazapán paletas in a cooler.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Planeta Paleta is known for its creative, non-traditional flavors, and its use of seasonal ingredients. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My favorite is Planeta’s take on an orange cream pop. The paleta’s shattering exterior is made with mango and passionfruit which maintains the original creation’s tropical flavor while introducing a musky complexity. The interior swaps cream for lechera (i.e., Latin American condensed milk), which is sweeter and denser, balancing out the acidity of the fruits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other Paleta Planeta flavors are fun reinventions of Mexican classics. Candies like gansito and mazapan are suspended in ice to create a refreshing version of the treats. Abuelita brand Mexican hot chocolate is typically reserved for winter nights, but in ice pop form, you can bring it along for a beach day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958238\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart.jpg\" alt='A purple, galaxy-themed paleta cart with the name of the business, \"Paleta Planeta,\" in a space-age font. ' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cart makes frequent appearances at a variety of South Bay events. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After years of hard work, the brothers are ready to take their business to the next step: a brick-and-mortar location in downtown San Jose, in the former 4th Street Pizza building across from City Hall. New additions include a system that will allow customers to customize their paletas with a variety of toppings. The Salazars expect to open their doors by July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re born and raised in Eastside San Jose,” Mauricio says, “so we’re excited to be a part of the city’s new wave of flourishing businesses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.paletaplaneta.com/\">\u003ci>Paleta Planeta\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is currently located inside of Zuñiga’s Restaurant at 1783 Alum Rock Ave. Unit 20 in San Jose. When it opens, the new brick-and-mortar shop will be located at 150 E. Santa Clara St. For weekly hours and events, check their \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/paletaplaneta/\">\u003ci>Instagram account.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We grew up playing competitive soccer,” Mauricio says. “We understand the importance of having a team.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958233\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958233\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in rubber gloves hold up popsicles.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Mauricio-Left-and-Luis-Right-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brothers Mauricio (left) and Luis Salazar started their paleta business in 2021. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a team of two, Mauricio and Luis are able to produce and package a few hundred paletas per day with the use of a flash freezer. They fill metal paleta molds with fresh fruit purées and dunk them into a water-glycol bath, which freezes a batch within minutes. This is faster than waiting for paletas to solidify in a traditional freezer, and more importantly, it produces paletas that are light and airy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brothers take their craft seriously and have even traveled to the \u003ca href=\"https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/reposteros-espa%C3%B1oles-mexicanos-innovan-ser-223100688.html\">international paleta convention\u003c/a> in Mexico City to learn the flavors and techniques being used by new-wave paleteros. Indeed, what sets Planeta Paletas apart is the brothers’ creativity and dedication to offering unique flavor combinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958230\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958230\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake.jpg\" alt=\"Three colorful Mexican popsicles on top of a tray of ice.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Vibras-Mix-Chile-Cucumber-Strawberry-Cheesecake-1536x960.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A trio of colorful paletas. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I go to the bar for inspiration,” says Luis. “If flavors work in a drink, they work in a paleta.” (A mojito inspired him to pair mint with fruit flavors like strawberry, pineapple and mango.) Mauricio keeps an eye out for potential ideas by keeping track of what fruits are in season and perusing boba shop menus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>Their flavor combinations aren’t thoughtless mishmashes of trendy ingredients. The matcha horchata, for example, pairs a drink popular in Japan with one popular in Mexico highlighting the subtle nuttiness of each. It’s herbal, sweet, and, for anyone that’s a fan of both drinks, provides simultaneous flashes of the sophistication of sitting down for a cup of hot tea and the cooling-off effect of a refreshing agua fresca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Salazar brothers use mostly seasonal fruits for two reasons: Because they’re more flavorful, they require less additional sugar, and they present the opportunity to experiment with ingredients the Salazars wouldn’t typically consider. Luis is especially proud of a creation he made by pairing mamey sapote, a Mexican fruit that has notes of pumpkin and apricot, with mango, which brightens the earthiness of the sapote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958237\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler.jpg\" alt=\"Ube brownie, mango maracuya lechera, mazapán paletas in a cooler.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cooler-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Planeta Paleta is known for its creative, non-traditional flavors, and its use of seasonal ingredients. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My favorite is Planeta’s take on an orange cream pop. The paleta’s shattering exterior is made with mango and passionfruit which maintains the original creation’s tropical flavor while introducing a musky complexity. The interior swaps cream for lechera (i.e., Latin American condensed milk), which is sweeter and denser, balancing out the acidity of the fruits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other Paleta Planeta flavors are fun reinventions of Mexican classics. Candies like gansito and mazapan are suspended in ice to create a refreshing version of the treats. Abuelita brand Mexican hot chocolate is typically reserved for winter nights, but in ice pop form, you can bring it along for a beach day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958238\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart.jpg\" alt='A purple, galaxy-themed paleta cart with the name of the business, \"Paleta Planeta,\" in a space-age font. ' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Cart-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cart makes frequent appearances at a variety of South Bay events. \u003ccite>(Octavio Peña)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After years of hard work, the brothers are ready to take their business to the next step: a brick-and-mortar location in downtown San Jose, in the former 4th Street Pizza building across from City Hall. New additions include a system that will allow customers to customize their paletas with a variety of toppings. The Salazars expect to open their doors by July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re born and raised in Eastside San Jose,” Mauricio says, “so we’re excited to be a part of the city’s new wave of flourishing businesses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.paletaplaneta.com/\">\u003ci>Paleta Planeta\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is currently located inside of Zuñiga’s Restaurant at 1783 Alum Rock Ave. Unit 20 in San Jose. When it opens, the new brick-and-mortar shop will be located at 150 E. Santa Clara St. For weekly hours and events, check their \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/paletaplaneta/\">\u003ci>Instagram account.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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