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"slug": "delirama-pastrami-berkeley-opening-hella-hungry",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/deliramaofficial/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Delirama\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—a new, independently-owned deli in North Berkeley—won’t officially open its doors until Monday, August 8, the place is already poppin’ with pastrami.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because it’s owned by Cash Caris and Anahita Cann, the innovative couple who delivered popular Oakland pop-ups \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pyrospastrami/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pyro’s Pastrami\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/psychedelic_pizza_/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Psychedelic Pizza\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Both ventures earned an underground reputation for their \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yonU4-77Pgg\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">unique, pastrami-loaded offerings\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—pastrami pizza, pastrami bagels, pastrami cream cheese and even pastrami tacos. The pop-ups birthed a religious following of pastrami worshippers who have since been anticipating Delirama’s debut.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I stopped by to chat with Caris at the funky, retro-inspired Solano Avenue restaurant, we kept getting interrupted by hopeful patrons who thought the deli was open. One listened intently as Caris described the initial menu before promising to return for lunch on opening day, saving notes on her phone’s calendar. Another gentleman just kept peering in longingly from the street. Between the two of them, I’d never seen so much eagerness to consume pastrami.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CgU6I1ZPy5I/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s the kind of gravity Delirama has. In just a few days, they’ll start serving their constellation of quirky, homestyle pastrami goodies like “the OG Sandwich”—beef pastrami (or a vegan version made with celery root) on rye, with Thousand Island dressing, gruyere cheese and coleslaw. The opening menu also includes a Hawaiian- and childhood-inspired “POG Juice” and fresh-baked bagels and bialys (a “cousin” of the bagel with an indentation in the middle that Delirama fills with caramelized onions and pastrami bits).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During my visit, Caris told me about the magic that goes into making pastrami—a laborious process that takes an average of 30 days—and his journey into the food industry over 15 years ago. He also hopped into the kitchen to make me one of his favorite dishes, the Reuben.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Pastrami] really is like a spiritual experience,” he told me while grilling fresh slices of meat to heavenly perfection. After one bite, I agreed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13917125\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13917125\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"pastrami being cooked on the grill in Delirama's kitchen, with slices of bread being toasted nearby\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “spiritual experience” being prepared by chef Cash Caris. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: It seems like you’ve had a long love affair with pastrami. When did that begin?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Laughs) We’ve definitely had a long affair. The first pastrami I remember eating as a kid was from those 10-cent packs at Lucky’s. You could get thin cured meats for real cheap. My grandma would always get one pack of pastrami and I would fry it in a pan. Then, when I worked at Togo’s later on, when I was probably like 16, I saw pastrami again. I ate pastrami there every day for free. It was completely different from what I knew. I just got interested and started tinkering at home with it. I never made it in a restaurant, though, because it’s very time-consuming. When I got older, I did a cross country trip with Anahita. I started to think about different types of cuisines I could do for a food pop-up. I thought about doing tacos, American food, fresh Italian pasta, burgers. I can make it all. But the one thing I realized that I had the strongest connection to was pastrami. I could live without any of the others, but I would never want to live without pastrami, rye bread and mustard. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your connection to the Bay Area, and how does your food reflect that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was born and raised in the South Bay; I’ve spent the largest portion of my life in San Jose. I love it, but it’s not a place for pastrami right now, unfortunately. That time is nearing though. It’s something I want to do—open more Deliramas.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As far as pastrami fitting into the food scene, the Bay is so food-centric, but pastrami itself doesn’t exist much here. The fact that it’s not here as much as I want it to be, that’s what gave us our purpose. The Bay needs pastrami. We are putting in the time and love to provide it. Certain communities already know about pastrami, but we want to spread it. Doing this with craft and originality, that’s what it deserves. I’ll never use injection or anything in the meat to speed up the process. It is owed the time and energy that it takes. It’s not easily done. To make 2,000 pounds of it and flip it and constantly check it and watch the temperatures. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, to be honest, but also the most rewarding. We want to integrate our California roots with the deli style of the East Coast.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s the most popular item that you’re bringing to your menu?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The OG [sandwich]. That’s the original, in California, in terms of pastrami. We use rye bread, Thousand Island dressing, coleslaw and gruyere cheese on pastrami. We also add “Dad’s mustard”—our house mustard. So many people have really gravitated towards it [at Pyro’s]. We’re giving them a peek into the [pastrami making] process and what goes into it. We’re not just ripping open a pack and steaming it and slicing it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I heard that you’re also planning to do pastrami tacos. I’m very intrigued.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have you had a Crunchy Taco Supreme at Taco Bell? It’s sort of like that, but not exactly. We take parts of the pastrami, those little bits and pieces that don’t go into the sandwich, and we cook it— adding aromatics and spices, lettuce, sour cream and shredded sharp cheddar. Nostalgia catches people’s eyes, so that’s why I mention Taco Bell. It also taps into my roots [as a Mexican American]. My family is from SoCal and the Bay, but my great great grandparents were from Mexico on my mom’s side. The tacos taste incredible, but we won’t add that to the menu until September. People have always been asking me to do tacos, so I think they’ll be popular.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13917127\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13917127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"a row of pastrami-topped bialys (a type of bagel) on a rack displayed for customers inside Delirama\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1920x2880.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Freshly baked bialys with pastrami await at Delirama. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I recently kicked it with the \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916044/sucka-free-soul-the-vegan-hood-chefs-honor-southern-heritage-with-a-frisco-twist\">\u003cb>Vegan Hood Chefs\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>; I’m sure they’d be hyped to see your vegan options. Can you tell us how your vegan pastrami is made?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I used to live in Portland and was vegan. When we thought of Delirama, we knew we needed to have vegan options—at least 50% vegan and vegetarian on the menu—for the sake of the planet, the people. I didn’t want to use any soy or texturized protein. I wanted it all to be 100% plant-based and non-refined. Our vegan pastrami is made from celery root. It’s definitely a versatile root that is overlooked. We take the root, we brine it, smoke it, steam it. It’s chilled, then sliced super, super thin. It’s cooked al dente. We brine it again. It has this really great umami, smoky, salty savoriness. It makes for an amazing reuben sandwich. We throw it on our vegan rye, and our vegan Thousand Island sauce, get that all nice and melty with vegan cheese; it’s delicious. You feel good after it. A seitan is pure gluten and sodium. It’s like bread on bread. But this is fresh. You can never replace the meat fully, but it’s a delicious option and opens up the pastrami experience to people who wouldn’t expect to get something substantial at a deli. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where are your favorite delis in the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A really well-done deli that comes to mind is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oksdeli.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok’s Deli\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. They do everything from scratch and have extremely talented people working there. That’s up and coming for sure. It’s off Telegraph. They started as a pop-up as well. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s also \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.picnicrotisserie.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Picnic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It isn’t a deli though. It’s a woman-owned rotisserie. They make pastrami, too. They serve it on a baguette with coleslaw. Their pastrami is underrated. They have some of the best pastrami in the Bay. I don’t think people know about it, to be honest. They don’t blast it out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In San Francisco, we like the pastrami sandwich at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thelittleredwindow.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Little Red Window\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For nostalgia, we go to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://molinaridelisf.com/41085\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molinari\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for sandwiches. We’re also going to check out the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandwich_saint/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Saint Sandwich\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> shop next. We haven’t been yet, but we keep hearing great things about it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve operated successful pop-ups and now you’re about to open your first brick-and-mortar deli in a few days. How does it feel?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13913592,arts_13916044,arts_13914585']It’s emotional. We’re days away from opening and it almost doesn’t feel real. It’s here though, it’s gonna happen, but it’s still hard to believe. There have been a lot of roadblocks. We tried for a while to get a brick-and-mortar. We [previously] had another spot locked down, and it was ripped from underneath us. It was a local spot. We were paying back our [loans] and everything looked set, but it got sabotaged. If we didn’t find a new spot within 5 months, we wouldn’t have been able to survive. We had used up most of our capital. It was a scary feeling. To be here now is amazing. I’m confident in what we can do, and I have pure intentions with this brand and vision. It all happened for a reason. It was a blessing in disguise because we’re sitting here now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What early experiences have shaped your connection to the local food industry?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I was a teenager, I raised some money to go to the SF Academy of Arts for Motion Picture and Television Production. But I needed a job. I didn’t have much experience, but I found a weird posting about an Israeli caterer in Santa Clara. It was a strange place with a dark, dingy kitchen. The couple running it didn’t speak English. But it smelled good. I was introduced to foods I’ve never seen before. Different spices and aromas. It took me by surprise. They hired me on the spot. I just washed dishes at first. I was young and without experience; I had to earn everything. Two months into it, the owner’s wife came over. She pointed at two bags of onions that needed to be chopped. That’s how I got into the kitchen, and I just stayed there. I eventually moved to an assistant on the hot line and kept moving up. We only communicated with body language the entire time. It was bonding, but not much guidance was given. Then I had to make a choice one day: Do I stay in the kitchen or keep making films? I was barely scraping by, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about the kitchen. So I went all in.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13917129\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a tray of sliced pastrami in the kitchen of Delirama, waiting to be used for sandwiches, pizzas, and more\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/deliramaofficial/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Delirama\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (1746 Solano Ave, Berkeley) opens on Monday, August 8. Service will begin at 7 am until 3 pm (or until sold out). They will open every Mon., Thu. & Fri. 7 am–3 pm and Sat. & Sun. 9 am–5 pm (or until sold out).\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Pastrami pizza. Pastrami bagels. Even pastrami tacos.",
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"title": "Berkeley’s Delirama Is Putting Pastrami on Everything | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/deliramaofficial/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Delirama\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—a new, independently-owned deli in North Berkeley—won’t officially open its doors until Monday, August 8, the place is already poppin’ with pastrami.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because it’s owned by Cash Caris and Anahita Cann, the innovative couple who delivered popular Oakland pop-ups \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pyrospastrami/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pyro’s Pastrami\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/psychedelic_pizza_/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Psychedelic Pizza\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Both ventures earned an underground reputation for their \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yonU4-77Pgg\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">unique, pastrami-loaded offerings\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—pastrami pizza, pastrami bagels, pastrami cream cheese and even pastrami tacos. The pop-ups birthed a religious following of pastrami worshippers who have since been anticipating Delirama’s debut.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I stopped by to chat with Caris at the funky, retro-inspired Solano Avenue restaurant, we kept getting interrupted by hopeful patrons who thought the deli was open. One listened intently as Caris described the initial menu before promising to return for lunch on opening day, saving notes on her phone’s calendar. Another gentleman just kept peering in longingly from the street. Between the two of them, I’d never seen so much eagerness to consume pastrami.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s the kind of gravity Delirama has. In just a few days, they’ll start serving their constellation of quirky, homestyle pastrami goodies like “the OG Sandwich”—beef pastrami (or a vegan version made with celery root) on rye, with Thousand Island dressing, gruyere cheese and coleslaw. The opening menu also includes a Hawaiian- and childhood-inspired “POG Juice” and fresh-baked bagels and bialys (a “cousin” of the bagel with an indentation in the middle that Delirama fills with caramelized onions and pastrami bits).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During my visit, Caris told me about the magic that goes into making pastrami—a laborious process that takes an average of 30 days—and his journey into the food industry over 15 years ago. He also hopped into the kitchen to make me one of his favorite dishes, the Reuben.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Pastrami] really is like a spiritual experience,” he told me while grilling fresh slices of meat to heavenly perfection. After one bite, I agreed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13917125\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13917125\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"pastrami being cooked on the grill in Delirama's kitchen, with slices of bread being toasted nearby\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1150-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “spiritual experience” being prepared by chef Cash Caris. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: It seems like you’ve had a long love affair with pastrami. When did that begin?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Laughs) We’ve definitely had a long affair. The first pastrami I remember eating as a kid was from those 10-cent packs at Lucky’s. You could get thin cured meats for real cheap. My grandma would always get one pack of pastrami and I would fry it in a pan. Then, when I worked at Togo’s later on, when I was probably like 16, I saw pastrami again. I ate pastrami there every day for free. It was completely different from what I knew. I just got interested and started tinkering at home with it. I never made it in a restaurant, though, because it’s very time-consuming. When I got older, I did a cross country trip with Anahita. I started to think about different types of cuisines I could do for a food pop-up. I thought about doing tacos, American food, fresh Italian pasta, burgers. I can make it all. But the one thing I realized that I had the strongest connection to was pastrami. I could live without any of the others, but I would never want to live without pastrami, rye bread and mustard. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your connection to the Bay Area, and how does your food reflect that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was born and raised in the South Bay; I’ve spent the largest portion of my life in San Jose. I love it, but it’s not a place for pastrami right now, unfortunately. That time is nearing though. It’s something I want to do—open more Deliramas.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As far as pastrami fitting into the food scene, the Bay is so food-centric, but pastrami itself doesn’t exist much here. The fact that it’s not here as much as I want it to be, that’s what gave us our purpose. The Bay needs pastrami. We are putting in the time and love to provide it. Certain communities already know about pastrami, but we want to spread it. Doing this with craft and originality, that’s what it deserves. I’ll never use injection or anything in the meat to speed up the process. It is owed the time and energy that it takes. It’s not easily done. To make 2,000 pounds of it and flip it and constantly check it and watch the temperatures. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, to be honest, but also the most rewarding. We want to integrate our California roots with the deli style of the East Coast.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s the most popular item that you’re bringing to your menu?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The OG [sandwich]. That’s the original, in California, in terms of pastrami. We use rye bread, Thousand Island dressing, coleslaw and gruyere cheese on pastrami. We also add “Dad’s mustard”—our house mustard. So many people have really gravitated towards it [at Pyro’s]. We’re giving them a peek into the [pastrami making] process and what goes into it. We’re not just ripping open a pack and steaming it and slicing it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I heard that you’re also planning to do pastrami tacos. I’m very intrigued.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have you had a Crunchy Taco Supreme at Taco Bell? It’s sort of like that, but not exactly. We take parts of the pastrami, those little bits and pieces that don’t go into the sandwich, and we cook it— adding aromatics and spices, lettuce, sour cream and shredded sharp cheddar. Nostalgia catches people’s eyes, so that’s why I mention Taco Bell. It also taps into my roots [as a Mexican American]. My family is from SoCal and the Bay, but my great great grandparents were from Mexico on my mom’s side. The tacos taste incredible, but we won’t add that to the menu until September. People have always been asking me to do tacos, so I think they’ll be popular.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13917127\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13917127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"a row of pastrami-topped bialys (a type of bagel) on a rack displayed for customers inside Delirama\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-1920x2880.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1090-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Freshly baked bialys with pastrami await at Delirama. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I recently kicked it with the \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916044/sucka-free-soul-the-vegan-hood-chefs-honor-southern-heritage-with-a-frisco-twist\">\u003cb>Vegan Hood Chefs\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>; I’m sure they’d be hyped to see your vegan options. Can you tell us how your vegan pastrami is made?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I used to live in Portland and was vegan. When we thought of Delirama, we knew we needed to have vegan options—at least 50% vegan and vegetarian on the menu—for the sake of the planet, the people. I didn’t want to use any soy or texturized protein. I wanted it all to be 100% plant-based and non-refined. Our vegan pastrami is made from celery root. It’s definitely a versatile root that is overlooked. We take the root, we brine it, smoke it, steam it. It’s chilled, then sliced super, super thin. It’s cooked al dente. We brine it again. It has this really great umami, smoky, salty savoriness. It makes for an amazing reuben sandwich. We throw it on our vegan rye, and our vegan Thousand Island sauce, get that all nice and melty with vegan cheese; it’s delicious. You feel good after it. A seitan is pure gluten and sodium. It’s like bread on bread. But this is fresh. You can never replace the meat fully, but it’s a delicious option and opens up the pastrami experience to people who wouldn’t expect to get something substantial at a deli. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where are your favorite delis in the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A really well-done deli that comes to mind is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oksdeli.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok’s Deli\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. They do everything from scratch and have extremely talented people working there. That’s up and coming for sure. It’s off Telegraph. They started as a pop-up as well. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s also \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.picnicrotisserie.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Picnic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It isn’t a deli though. It’s a woman-owned rotisserie. They make pastrami, too. They serve it on a baguette with coleslaw. Their pastrami is underrated. They have some of the best pastrami in the Bay. I don’t think people know about it, to be honest. They don’t blast it out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In San Francisco, we like the pastrami sandwich at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thelittleredwindow.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Little Red Window\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For nostalgia, we go to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://molinaridelisf.com/41085\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molinari\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for sandwiches. We’re also going to check out the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandwich_saint/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Saint Sandwich\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> shop next. We haven’t been yet, but we keep hearing great things about it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve operated successful pop-ups and now you’re about to open your first brick-and-mortar deli in a few days. How does it feel?\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>It’s emotional. We’re days away from opening and it almost doesn’t feel real. It’s here though, it’s gonna happen, but it’s still hard to believe. There have been a lot of roadblocks. We tried for a while to get a brick-and-mortar. We [previously] had another spot locked down, and it was ripped from underneath us. It was a local spot. We were paying back our [loans] and everything looked set, but it got sabotaged. If we didn’t find a new spot within 5 months, we wouldn’t have been able to survive. We had used up most of our capital. It was a scary feeling. To be here now is amazing. I’m confident in what we can do, and I have pure intentions with this brand and vision. It all happened for a reason. It was a blessing in disguise because we’re sitting here now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What early experiences have shaped your connection to the local food industry?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I was a teenager, I raised some money to go to the SF Academy of Arts for Motion Picture and Television Production. But I needed a job. I didn’t have much experience, but I found a weird posting about an Israeli caterer in Santa Clara. It was a strange place with a dark, dingy kitchen. The couple running it didn’t speak English. But it smelled good. I was introduced to foods I’ve never seen before. Different spices and aromas. It took me by surprise. They hired me on the spot. I just washed dishes at first. I was young and without experience; I had to earn everything. Two months into it, the owner’s wife came over. She pointed at two bags of onions that needed to be chopped. That’s how I got into the kitchen, and I just stayed there. I eventually moved to an assistant on the hot line and kept moving up. We only communicated with body language the entire time. It was bonding, but not much guidance was given. Then I had to make a choice one day: Do I stay in the kitchen or keep making films? I was barely scraping by, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about the kitchen. So I went all in.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13917129\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a tray of sliced pastrami in the kitchen of Delirama, waiting to be used for sandwiches, pizzas, and more\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_1136-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\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/deliramaofficial/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Delirama\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (1746 Solano Ave, Berkeley) opens on Monday, August 8. Service will begin at 7 am until 3 pm (or until sold out). They will open every Mon., Thu. & Fri. 7 am–3 pm and Sat. & Sun. 9 am–5 pm (or until sold out).\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Searching for Barbacoa: Underground Lessons From the Richmond Flea Market",
"headTitle": "Searching for Barbacoa: Underground Lessons From the Richmond Flea Market | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED’s \u003c/i>\u003c/em>BBQ in the Bay\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bbq\">series of stories\u003c/a> exploring the Bay Area’s multicultural barbecue scene. New installments will post every day from June 28–July 1. \u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you cruise to the ends of North Richmond—past the auto body garages, tire junkyards and glass repair shops—you’ll pass a threshold where the residential neighborhood suddenly shifts. In its place, a post-apocalyptic sprawl of industrial patches cram themselves between criss-crossing train tracks and the San Pablo Bay. RV encampments huddle beneath overpasses and the horizon is punctuated by a Chevron refinery spewing smoke into the atmosphere.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To most outsiders, it isn’t a destination point; as a local resident, I’ll admit there isn’t much reason to visit unless you’ve had your window bipped and need a cheap fix. But this outermost section of Contra Costa County is home to one of the largest immigrant Latinx populations in the Bay Area, where an amalgamation of mechanics, construction laborers, business owners, food vendors, elders, students and community workers represent generations of scrappy hustle and grit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On weekends, it’s where the Richmond Flea Market, or La Pulga, buzzes with merchants and wildly assorted products—second-hand power saws, bootleg Warriors merch, parakeets, knock-off Nikes and vintage cassette players—all sold at bargain prices. At this open-air hub for community gatherings and under-the-table transactions, you can snag a bicycle or stereo system, or both, in the parking lot, before you even enter the official grounds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet there’s more hidden behind all that concrete, steel and backdoor miscellany than meets the eye. This makeshift pueblo’s most enticing draw, which attracts customers from all over Northern California, isn’t what you might expect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This flea market’s secret sauce? Barbacoa.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In its simplest form, barbacoa is a style of indigenous barbecue derived from pre-Hispanic methods of slow-roasting lamb, goat, cow head, chicken or other proteins inside an earthy pit. Modern methods still retain the essence of the past: An oven is prepared by digging a hole, lining it with bricks and burning wood to heat the “horno” (furnace). The meat is then wrapped in leaves of maguey—a sturdy Mexican cactus—or banana leaves, and steamed with water. The entire setup is designed to funnel run-off juices from the meat that are later served as a delicious consomé. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915660\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915660\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A plate of barbacoa on the bone, with a bowl of consomé on the side.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbacoa with a side of consomé. The pit-roasting process is designed to funnel the juices of the meat in order to make this flavorful broth. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once the oven is covered with steel and dirt, the cooking occurs beneath the soil, slow-burning through the night until a pitmaster skillfully removes it all to be served fresh with \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tortillas. Regional interpretations vary across states like Chihuahua, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Oaxaca and Queretaro, and depending on who and where you get your barbacoa from, the accompanying sides might include adobo, garlic, stomach, tripe, onion, chile, salsa or nopales. The commonality is the slow-cook method—and the end result of a juicy, tender, pull-apart meat. Because of its laborious, old world demands, the truest versions of it aren’t easy to find north of the border.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bill Esparza is a Mexican American food writer who has dedicated his massive appetite to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://la.eater.com/22421212/california-barbacoa-mexican-tacos-los-angeles-bay-area-central-coast\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the pursuit of barbacoa across California. \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the phone, he tells me his innermost reflections on the elusive, hard-to-find dish: \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Barbacoa is] an ongoing thing. In a way, no one really understands the diversity of it. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes in the transnational exchange, people haven’t gone back or even been [to the original regions]. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some people have interpretations but have never been back themselves. There’s a whole process of how they prepare it, too, that gets changed because of legal codes and the challenges our communities have [here in California]. We still don’t really understand regional barbacoa.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, barbacoa is whatever it needs to be for the people and context that produce it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915661\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Plates of blue corn tortilla tacos stacked on top of each other next to styrofoam containers of consomé.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbacoa tacos on handmade blue corn tortillas paired with big cups of consomé—a classic combination. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a Mexican American myself whose parents aren’t from a barbacoa region, I’ve never been able to fully grasp what constitutes barbacoa. Sure, I’ve eaten it at roadside stands in pueblos during family trips around Mexico. But it’s as multitudinous as the people who prepare it. And the more I studied up on the dish, the clearer it became that the most essential aspect of barbacoa is to actually cook the meat underground as part of a traditional process—and that’s not something you’ll casually find in the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Bill Esparza\"]“[Barbacoa is] an ongoing thing. In a way, no one really understands the diversity of it.”[/pullquote]In the United States, however, the amount of labor, patience, equipment and expertise required to prepare barbacoa in this way can be difficult to come by—especially here in the Bay Area, a region more known for internet algorithms and self-driving cars than working-class, backyard throwdowns. Finding the right person with the ability and willingness to do it requires a certain dedication and insider knowledge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After days on the hunt, I finally came close.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Family Tradition\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Euphoria doesn’t have a flavor. But if it did, it would taste like slow-cooked barbacoa de borrego, stuffed into the earth’s hot belly and wrapped in maguey stalks to be steamed overnight and devoured at sunrise with an accompaniment of handmade tortillas, pancita and consomé—served by the hands of a pitmaster who oversees each sweat-producing step of the process. I imagine it would tingle with smoke and succulence and a slickened age-old philosophy of indigenous utilitarianism repurposed into the 21st century.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I wouldn’t know about that in California, though. Not exactly.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the span of two weeks, I went from restaurant to restaurant, corner to corner, along Richmond’s “El Viente Tres”—23rd Avenue—in search of this specialized, pit-birthed barbacoa. But more often than not, the meal I ate was prepared in a conventional oven or kitchen steamer. It’s easier, quicker and more cost-efficient to ditch the traditional rigors for these modernized methods. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A signboard for El Chaparro, a barbacoa stand in the flea market.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign advertising the barbacoa at El Chaparro, one of several barbacoa stands at the flea market. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Along this journey, I met Pablo “El Chaparro” Perez, owner of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://el-chaparro-barbacoa-original.negocio.site/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Restaurant El Chaparro\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on 23rd, which serves “barbacoa estilo Hidalgo” each day of the week. Saturdays and Sundays, he also posts up at two of the most frequented food stands inside La Pulga. In the words of a patron at one of his flea market locations, “Chaparro’s barbacoa is my favorite.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although El Chaparro’s Hidalgo-style tacos de barbacoa are flavor-soaked—literally dripping with fatty oils and generous squeezes of lime—they aren’t cooked in the earth, as I’d hoped. As delicious as his kitchen-prepared barbacoa was, it was also yet another reminder of how much of a dying art true backyard barbacoa is.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After searching, I found at least one person at the flea market who’s practicing the old style of barbacoa—a construction worker from Hidalgo named Omar Mejia.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“To make [barbacoa] in a pot is very different,” says Mejia, who runs a barbacoa joint in the same aisle as El Chaparro.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/barbacoa_mejia/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Barbacoa Mejia\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is a weekend-exclusive eatery at the Richmond Flea Market—with limited pop-up services privately available. Mejia proudly operates on nearly 70 years of family tradition that can be traced back to his grandfather, father, brothers and cousins in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, where they continue to serve locals their original recipes. In Mejia tradition, barbacoa is an art form, and the paintbrush is a slow-scorching flame.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915663\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915663\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Alondra Montaño and Omar Mejia pose for a portrait in front of their barbacoa stand.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alondra Montaño and Omar Mejia run the Barbacoa Mejia stand at the Richmond flea market every weekend. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After talking to Mejia, I finally understood why many people consider barbacoa to be the true root of barbecue as we know it in the United States today. In fact, the word “barbecue” itself originates from native Taínos (now Puerto Rico) word, though “barbacoa” initially did not refer to roasting meats over a fire. Instead, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-46887091#:~:text=En%20ta%C3%ADno%2C%20%22barbacoa%22%20se,ser%20alcanzada%20por%20los%20animales.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">barbacoa itself was a contraption developed to suspend meat above ground\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, out of reach from other carnivores. Eventually, with the arrival of the Spanish and the colonization of more groups, the vocabulary was applied to cooking methods used by other indigenous people, such as the Aztecs, and evolved into its contemporary state. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since then, barbacoa has transformed across time and locations as a lifeblood for many. Over centuries, it has slow-wandered over boundaries on the backs of immigrants who’ve traversed la frontera to pursue higher-paying careers in an ever-expanding global economy—while still yearning for the nostalgia of their past. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way Mejia practices it, you can see the direct lineage of barbecue’s everlasting tradition of “pitmasters”: Long before there were \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915489/gstacks-smokers-barbecue-welder-american-made\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">elaborate smokers to prepare smackin’ ribs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, there was barbacoa simmering inside literal pits.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915659\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915659\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A plate of barbacoa, white on one side, red on the other, on a rainbow striped tablecloth.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbacoa Mejia’s red and white barbacoa can both be purchased by the pound. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Eating barbacoa steamed in a pot] is like eating a steak from a pan rather than an outdoor grill with coals. You lose that smokiness,” he says about substitute versions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a sleepy American Canyon suburb, Mejia has converted a sliver of his backyard into a living memory of—and tribute to—his faraway home in Tulancingo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There, he serves his family’s pancita blanca (cleaned-out tripe with onion, garlic and chile piquin) plus consomé (a bone-in lamb broth with rice, garbanzo and spices) to go with the showstopping pit-roasted lamb (and on occasion or by request \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://la.eater.com/22536605/ximbo-chicken-barbacoa-hidalgo-style-east-bay-sf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">an even rarer version of barbacoa known as ximbó\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which uses whole chickens). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\"]“Long before there were elaborate smokers to prepare smackin’ ribs, there was barbacoa simmering inside literal pits.”[/pullquote]Mejia prepares everything himself, or with the extra hands of his family—a college-aged son and daughter—just as he was taught as a young adult by his elders. It’s a lineage he hopes to carry forward, despite being 2,243 miles from Hidalgo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He starts by preparing the pit one night in advance, stoking the flames for up to six hours before layering meat, maguey and a cluster\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">of seasoned ingredients that are carefully positioned to drip into a flavorful consomé. It’s a labor of love—and one that can sometimes yield poor results if mishandled.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can undercook the meat,” he tells me. “It doesn’t matter if you leave it there for three or more consecutive days and nights. If you aren’t heating it properly, it will remain raw in the middle.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915666\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915666\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Barbacoa Mejia, señoras make blue corn tortillas by hand a few feet from families celebrating over all varieties of plates. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With over 15 years of experience preparing pit-style barbacoa in the United States (and a lifetime of exposure as a family apprentice in Mexico), Mejia doesn’t worry about undercooking his lamb anymore. But it’s still a demanding, days-long task, especially for a man who works at construction sites in the morning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a typical day, he gets up before 7 am to check on his cooking. Once it looks and smells finished to his liking, he pulls it out to be served or packaged for immediate delivery. Every order starts from scratch, requiring at least a week’s advance notice to gather everything needed. Though slow to prepare, the finished product moves fast from hand to mouth to gut.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a freshness you can taste in the flavor,” says Mejia. “Nothing is frozen. It’s all handled by us, directly from our ranch. We do everything ourselves. It’s a family labor.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is where I’ll admit my biggest failure, dear reader: I was never able to see or experience the full process with Mejia. Our schedules never synced, and by the time he was ready to host me, I was boarding a plane to Mexico to visit my own family below the border. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Missing out on this Mejia family tradition makes me want to dig my own pit and crawl inside of it. And when I emerge, I hope I’ll appreciate what barbacoa is truly all about.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915667\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"People walk past a flea market taco stand.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Barbacoa Mejia’s setup in the Richmond flea market, which buzzes with merchants and wildly assorted products each weekend. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paradise Awaits\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thankfully, the flea market was my saving grace, a sanctuary where I could get blessed by the holy taste of barbacoa. As Esparza wrote in his account of his epic quest across California, “Richmond’s La Pulga is a barbacoa lover’s dream.” Though none of it is prepared by pit-roast, in part due to coding regulations, there are comparable variations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13915581,arts_13915387,arts_13915312' label='More BBQ']As part of his weekend menu, Mejia prepares the meats in a custom-made brick and clay oven that mimics the earth-buried flavor without the time-consuming labor of digging an actual hole in the earth. It’s a method that saves him time during his busiest days, while still allowing him to produce the quantity (and quality) of dishes needed for his high-demand business.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I ate a few barbacoa tacos at his DIY bistro. It’s a worthwhile experience in itself: You’ll see señoras making blue corn tortillas by hand a few feet from where you dine while families celebrate over all varieties of plates. Other patrons simply line up to order pounds of barbacoa for the road. And you certainly can’t miss the deliciously aromatic consomé.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Besides Mejia and El Chaparro, there are more barbacoa stands like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/tacosytortas.carlos\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tacos Y Tortas Carlos\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The popularity of each vendor is a testament to this veritable barbacoa belt that has taken root at the Richmond-based market.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915662\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915662\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A diner in an Oakland A's jersey sits in front of a spread of blue corn tortilla tacos and all of their accompaniments, including a plate of onions, lime and cilantro.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A diner sits down to a plate of tacos at Barbacoa Mejia. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I got the legit meat sweats after that barbacoa trip,” Esparza, the Los Angeles-based food journalist, says of his own visit to the flea market. “I was shivering, sweating. That was from all the meat we ate.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If a barbacoa expert who uses his literal gut to survey the many profiles of barbacoa is calling the Richmond Flea Market one of the most formidable barbacoa epicenters in all of America, I believe him. More importantly, his words are reflected by the many locals who return each week, in many cases buying pounds of barbacoa to take home with them. For these folks, it’s the closest connection they have to the culinary traditions, flavors and memories of a faraway home. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If that’s not the highest form of barbecue’s sustenance, what is?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alan Chazaro is a food reporter at KQED. He’s the author of three poetry collections and currently adjuncts at the University of San Francisco. He’s a fan of bichons frises, the Golden State Warriors and BB-8 in Star Wars.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED’s \u003c/i>\u003c/em>BBQ in the Bay\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bbq\">series of stories\u003c/a> exploring the Bay Area’s multicultural barbecue scene. New installments will post every day from June 28–July 1. \u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>f you cruise to the ends of North Richmond—past the auto body garages, tire junkyards and glass repair shops—you’ll pass a threshold where the residential neighborhood suddenly shifts. In its place, a post-apocalyptic sprawl of industrial patches cram themselves between criss-crossing train tracks and the San Pablo Bay. RV encampments huddle beneath overpasses and the horizon is punctuated by a Chevron refinery spewing smoke into the atmosphere.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To most outsiders, it isn’t a destination point; as a local resident, I’ll admit there isn’t much reason to visit unless you’ve had your window bipped and need a cheap fix. But this outermost section of Contra Costa County is home to one of the largest immigrant Latinx populations in the Bay Area, where an amalgamation of mechanics, construction laborers, business owners, food vendors, elders, students and community workers represent generations of scrappy hustle and grit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On weekends, it’s where the Richmond Flea Market, or La Pulga, buzzes with merchants and wildly assorted products—second-hand power saws, bootleg Warriors merch, parakeets, knock-off Nikes and vintage cassette players—all sold at bargain prices. At this open-air hub for community gatherings and under-the-table transactions, you can snag a bicycle or stereo system, or both, in the parking lot, before you even enter the official grounds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet there’s more hidden behind all that concrete, steel and backdoor miscellany than meets the eye. This makeshift pueblo’s most enticing draw, which attracts customers from all over Northern California, isn’t what you might expect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This flea market’s secret sauce? Barbacoa.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In its simplest form, barbacoa is a style of indigenous barbecue derived from pre-Hispanic methods of slow-roasting lamb, goat, cow head, chicken or other proteins inside an earthy pit. Modern methods still retain the essence of the past: An oven is prepared by digging a hole, lining it with bricks and burning wood to heat the “horno” (furnace). The meat is then wrapped in leaves of maguey—a sturdy Mexican cactus—or banana leaves, and steamed with water. The entire setup is designed to funnel run-off juices from the meat that are later served as a delicious consomé. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915660\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915660\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A plate of barbacoa on the bone, with a bowl of consomé on the side.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56954_007_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbacoa with a side of consomé. The pit-roasting process is designed to funnel the juices of the meat in order to make this flavorful broth. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once the oven is covered with steel and dirt, the cooking occurs beneath the soil, slow-burning through the night until a pitmaster skillfully removes it all to be served fresh with \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tortillas. Regional interpretations vary across states like Chihuahua, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Oaxaca and Queretaro, and depending on who and where you get your barbacoa from, the accompanying sides might include adobo, garlic, stomach, tripe, onion, chile, salsa or nopales. The commonality is the slow-cook method—and the end result of a juicy, tender, pull-apart meat. Because of its laborious, old world demands, the truest versions of it aren’t easy to find north of the border.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bill Esparza is a Mexican American food writer who has dedicated his massive appetite to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://la.eater.com/22421212/california-barbacoa-mexican-tacos-los-angeles-bay-area-central-coast\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the pursuit of barbacoa across California. \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the phone, he tells me his innermost reflections on the elusive, hard-to-find dish: \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Barbacoa is] an ongoing thing. In a way, no one really understands the diversity of it. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes in the transnational exchange, people haven’t gone back or even been [to the original regions]. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some people have interpretations but have never been back themselves. There’s a whole process of how they prepare it, too, that gets changed because of legal codes and the challenges our communities have [here in California]. We still don’t really understand regional barbacoa.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, barbacoa is whatever it needs to be for the people and context that produce it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915661\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Plates of blue corn tortilla tacos stacked on top of each other next to styrofoam containers of consomé.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56955_011_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbacoa tacos on handmade blue corn tortillas paired with big cups of consomé—a classic combination. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a Mexican American myself whose parents aren’t from a barbacoa region, I’ve never been able to fully grasp what constitutes barbacoa. Sure, I’ve eaten it at roadside stands in pueblos during family trips around Mexico. But it’s as multitudinous as the people who prepare it. And the more I studied up on the dish, the clearer it became that the most essential aspect of barbacoa is to actually cook the meat underground as part of a traditional process—and that’s not something you’ll casually find in the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the United States, however, the amount of labor, patience, equipment and expertise required to prepare barbacoa in this way can be difficult to come by—especially here in the Bay Area, a region more known for internet algorithms and self-driving cars than working-class, backyard throwdowns. Finding the right person with the ability and willingness to do it requires a certain dedication and insider knowledge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After days on the hunt, I finally came close.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Family Tradition\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Euphoria doesn’t have a flavor. But if it did, it would taste like slow-cooked barbacoa de borrego, stuffed into the earth’s hot belly and wrapped in maguey stalks to be steamed overnight and devoured at sunrise with an accompaniment of handmade tortillas, pancita and consomé—served by the hands of a pitmaster who oversees each sweat-producing step of the process. I imagine it would tingle with smoke and succulence and a slickened age-old philosophy of indigenous utilitarianism repurposed into the 21st century.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I wouldn’t know about that in California, though. Not exactly.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the span of two weeks, I went from restaurant to restaurant, corner to corner, along Richmond’s “El Viente Tres”—23rd Avenue—in search of this specialized, pit-birthed barbacoa. But more often than not, the meal I ate was prepared in a conventional oven or kitchen steamer. It’s easier, quicker and more cost-efficient to ditch the traditional rigors for these modernized methods. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A signboard for El Chaparro, a barbacoa stand in the flea market.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56976_031_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign advertising the barbacoa at El Chaparro, one of several barbacoa stands at the flea market. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Along this journey, I met Pablo “El Chaparro” Perez, owner of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://el-chaparro-barbacoa-original.negocio.site/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Restaurant El Chaparro\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on 23rd, which serves “barbacoa estilo Hidalgo” each day of the week. Saturdays and Sundays, he also posts up at two of the most frequented food stands inside La Pulga. In the words of a patron at one of his flea market locations, “Chaparro’s barbacoa is my favorite.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although El Chaparro’s Hidalgo-style tacos de barbacoa are flavor-soaked—literally dripping with fatty oils and generous squeezes of lime—they aren’t cooked in the earth, as I’d hoped. As delicious as his kitchen-prepared barbacoa was, it was also yet another reminder of how much of a dying art true backyard barbacoa is.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After searching, I found at least one person at the flea market who’s practicing the old style of barbacoa—a construction worker from Hidalgo named Omar Mejia.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“To make [barbacoa] in a pot is very different,” says Mejia, who runs a barbacoa joint in the same aisle as El Chaparro.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/barbacoa_mejia/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Barbacoa Mejia\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is a weekend-exclusive eatery at the Richmond Flea Market—with limited pop-up services privately available. Mejia proudly operates on nearly 70 years of family tradition that can be traced back to his grandfather, father, brothers and cousins in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, where they continue to serve locals their original recipes. In Mejia tradition, barbacoa is an art form, and the paintbrush is a slow-scorching flame.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915663\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915663\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Alondra Montaño and Omar Mejia pose for a portrait in front of their barbacoa stand.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56961_015_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alondra Montaño and Omar Mejia run the Barbacoa Mejia stand at the Richmond flea market every weekend. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After talking to Mejia, I finally understood why many people consider barbacoa to be the true root of barbecue as we know it in the United States today. In fact, the word “barbecue” itself originates from native Taínos (now Puerto Rico) word, though “barbacoa” initially did not refer to roasting meats over a fire. Instead, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-46887091#:~:text=En%20ta%C3%ADno%2C%20%22barbacoa%22%20se,ser%20alcanzada%20por%20los%20animales.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">barbacoa itself was a contraption developed to suspend meat above ground\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, out of reach from other carnivores. Eventually, with the arrival of the Spanish and the colonization of more groups, the vocabulary was applied to cooking methods used by other indigenous people, such as the Aztecs, and evolved into its contemporary state. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since then, barbacoa has transformed across time and locations as a lifeblood for many. Over centuries, it has slow-wandered over boundaries on the backs of immigrants who’ve traversed la frontera to pursue higher-paying careers in an ever-expanding global economy—while still yearning for the nostalgia of their past. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way Mejia practices it, you can see the direct lineage of barbecue’s everlasting tradition of “pitmasters”: Long before there were \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915489/gstacks-smokers-barbecue-welder-american-made\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">elaborate smokers to prepare smackin’ ribs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, there was barbacoa simmering inside literal pits.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915659\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915659\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A plate of barbacoa, white on one side, red on the other, on a rainbow striped tablecloth.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56948_003_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbacoa Mejia’s red and white barbacoa can both be purchased by the pound. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Eating barbacoa steamed in a pot] is like eating a steak from a pan rather than an outdoor grill with coals. You lose that smokiness,” he says about substitute versions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a sleepy American Canyon suburb, Mejia has converted a sliver of his backyard into a living memory of—and tribute to—his faraway home in Tulancingo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There, he serves his family’s pancita blanca (cleaned-out tripe with onion, garlic and chile piquin) plus consomé (a bone-in lamb broth with rice, garbanzo and spices) to go with the showstopping pit-roasted lamb (and on occasion or by request \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://la.eater.com/22536605/ximbo-chicken-barbacoa-hidalgo-style-east-bay-sf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">an even rarer version of barbacoa known as ximbó\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which uses whole chickens). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Mejia prepares everything himself, or with the extra hands of his family—a college-aged son and daughter—just as he was taught as a young adult by his elders. It’s a lineage he hopes to carry forward, despite being 2,243 miles from Hidalgo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He starts by preparing the pit one night in advance, stoking the flames for up to six hours before layering meat, maguey and a cluster\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">of seasoned ingredients that are carefully positioned to drip into a flavorful consomé. It’s a labor of love—and one that can sometimes yield poor results if mishandled.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can undercook the meat,” he tells me. “It doesn’t matter if you leave it there for three or more consecutive days and nights. If you aren’t heating it properly, it will remain raw in the middle.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915666\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915666\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56972_027_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Barbacoa Mejia, señoras make blue corn tortillas by hand a few feet from families celebrating over all varieties of plates. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With over 15 years of experience preparing pit-style barbacoa in the United States (and a lifetime of exposure as a family apprentice in Mexico), Mejia doesn’t worry about undercooking his lamb anymore. But it’s still a demanding, days-long task, especially for a man who works at construction sites in the morning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a typical day, he gets up before 7 am to check on his cooking. Once it looks and smells finished to his liking, he pulls it out to be served or packaged for immediate delivery. Every order starts from scratch, requiring at least a week’s advance notice to gather everything needed. Though slow to prepare, the finished product moves fast from hand to mouth to gut.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a freshness you can taste in the flavor,” says Mejia. “Nothing is frozen. It’s all handled by us, directly from our ranch. We do everything ourselves. It’s a family labor.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is where I’ll admit my biggest failure, dear reader: I was never able to see or experience the full process with Mejia. Our schedules never synced, and by the time he was ready to host me, I was boarding a plane to Mexico to visit my own family below the border. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Missing out on this Mejia family tradition makes me want to dig my own pit and crawl inside of it. And when I emerge, I hope I’ll appreciate what barbacoa is truly all about.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915667\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"People walk past a flea market taco stand.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56973_028_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Barbacoa Mejia’s setup in the Richmond flea market, which buzzes with merchants and wildly assorted products each weekend. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paradise Awaits\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thankfully, the flea market was my saving grace, a sanctuary where I could get blessed by the holy taste of barbacoa. As Esparza wrote in his account of his epic quest across California, “Richmond’s La Pulga is a barbacoa lover’s dream.” Though none of it is prepared by pit-roast, in part due to coding regulations, there are comparable variations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As part of his weekend menu, Mejia prepares the meats in a custom-made brick and clay oven that mimics the earth-buried flavor without the time-consuming labor of digging an actual hole in the earth. It’s a method that saves him time during his busiest days, while still allowing him to produce the quantity (and quality) of dishes needed for his high-demand business.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I ate a few barbacoa tacos at his DIY bistro. It’s a worthwhile experience in itself: You’ll see señoras making blue corn tortillas by hand a few feet from where you dine while families celebrate over all varieties of plates. Other patrons simply line up to order pounds of barbacoa for the road. And you certainly can’t miss the deliciously aromatic consomé.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Besides Mejia and El Chaparro, there are more barbacoa stands like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/tacosytortas.carlos\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tacos Y Tortas Carlos\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The popularity of each vendor is a testament to this veritable barbacoa belt that has taken root at the Richmond-based market.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915662\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915662\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A diner in an Oakland A's jersey sits in front of a spread of blue corn tortilla tacos and all of their accompaniments, including a plate of onions, lime and cilantro.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/RS56957_012_KQEDArts_RichmondBarbacoa_06262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A diner sits down to a plate of tacos at Barbacoa Mejia. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I got the legit meat sweats after that barbacoa trip,” Esparza, the Los Angeles-based food journalist, says of his own visit to the flea market. “I was shivering, sweating. That was from all the meat we ate.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If a barbacoa expert who uses his literal gut to survey the many profiles of barbacoa is calling the Richmond Flea Market one of the most formidable barbacoa epicenters in all of America, I believe him. More importantly, his words are reflected by the many locals who return each week, in many cases buying pounds of barbacoa to take home with them. For these folks, it’s the closest connection they have to the culinary traditions, flavors and memories of a faraway home. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If that’s not the highest form of barbecue’s sustenance, what is?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alan Chazaro is a food reporter at KQED. He’s the author of three poetry collections and currently adjuncts at the University of San Francisco. He’s a fan of bichons frises, the Golden State Warriors and BB-8 in Star Wars.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "gumbo-tacos-and-oxtail-birria-feed-the-people-at-this-word-of-mouth-pop-up",
"title": "Gumbo Tacos and Oxtail Birria Feed the People at This Word-of-Mouth Pop-Up in Oakland",
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"headTitle": "Gumbo Tacos and Oxtail Birria Feed the People at This Word-of-Mouth Pop-Up in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a weekly conversation with Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary culture through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You won’t find any tasteless gimmicks at YumBobYum’s Taco Tuesday pop-up inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smokinwoodsbbq.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Smokin Woods BBQ\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on Telegraph Ave. in Oakland. Instead, you’ll find a neighborhood of folks converging over daps, playful shit talking and life-giving doses of habanero shrimp.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Each week, the Black-owned barbecue joint becomes a makeshift taqueria operated by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yumbobyum/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chef Bob\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (real name Gibran Garcia) and his staff of helpers who feed Oaklanders plates of his Southern Creole, Jamaican and Mexican remixes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ll feel jubilant while filling up on jerk chicken tacos—made with harmonizing notes of smoked spices, sweet tang and Red Stripe-marinated pollo piled over two chewy tortillas. With a full bar available, you might order a round of dark Mexican lagers and a shot of tequila to go with it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the real showstopper is the gumbo taco, which Garcia prepares using his family’s Creole roux recipe and includes shrimp, crab, chicken, rice and a variety of slow-simmered veggies. It’s the only spot in the Bay where the magic of a gumbo pot gets strained then poured into an edible corn vessel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s not this chef’s only claim to fame, though. The dude offers an array of other out-the-trunk specials, including his original oxtail birria tacos with consomé (made with whole oxtails that he chops and stews for 5 hours), elote popper fritters and fried cheese quesadillas that come with your choice of protein—I recommend the vegan soyrizo to balance out the carne you’ll be sure to consume your body weight in during your stay. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/Cah_RhsPjz2/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’re unaccustomed to the combination of a grilled flour tortilla with an outer layer of crunchy double-fried cheese, the gooey warmth of additional melted cheeses inside and a dash of red salsa on top, it’s a peak nirvana I’d argue no traditional quesadilla can achieve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With enough clout to attract regular customers from as far away as Sacramento, this really is that spot—a word-of-mouth function with a lively sports bar atmosphere, where homies gather to hold space and joy despite all of life’s stressors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And Chef Bob is just getting started. Eventually, he plans on selling his own gumbo seasoning, as well as a homestyle carne asada rub and an all-purpose spice. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s what he has to say as an underground king of the Bay Area’s gumbo game.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: How did you become interested in culinary arts?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I started off cooking at home with my mom. Food is big in my family, so my mom taught me her grandmother’s recipes from Louisiana—Creole style cooking. Later, my first actual job was at Cheeseboard Pizza Collective in North Berkeley. I got fired because I was a high school kid who didn’t take it seriously; a few no shows and no calls and they kicked me out. Then, about 8 years ago, I started cooking my family’s gumbo—a two-pot gumbo—during Christmas. That was a big step for me. I was in college studying film at the time, and food was in my life but not really a serious passion yet. I worked at Raleigh’s on Telegraph [for a few years] and learned a lot. Then, I worked at Smokin Woods BBQ. During the pandemic, I wanted to make more money so that’s when I started selling plates from my house and it kicked off. I still work [at Smokin Woods] as a line cook on Wednesdays through Fridays.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913599\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913599\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"The chef, Gibran Garcia, holds a food tray of freshly made gumbo tacos while standing in the kitchen, with two cooks behind him\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1920x2880.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Bob holding his gumbo taco creation, with a side of roux. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where does your name Bob (or YumBobYum) come from?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s just a nickname I came up with out of nowhere in high school and it stuck. People just know me as that. When I got into cooking more seriously, I added the “chef” part because I felt like I deserved it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What inspired you to combine elements of Southern cuisine and Caribbean flavors with Mexican food here in the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was born in Berkeley. My dad lived in Oakland. My mom’s side is Black Creole from Louisiana, where I learned how to cook. My dad’s side is Black and Filipino. My dad was actually born in the Philippines and moved here as a young kid. A lot of what I cook is what I like about the Bay’s food scene. It’s a giant melting pot. There are so many different mixtures of people from different backgrounds. You can Yelp any random country’s type of food and cuisine and find a place within a short drive of where you live. I like to do that. I always eat all types of food. Brazilian, Peruvian, Sengalese. That’s the Bay. I grew up going to taco trucks and taquerias. My dad used to live in the 40s in East Oakland, and my friend’s mom used to always make us Mexican food. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13913201,arts_13896380']People assume [my food is] just gonna be the same Creole or Cajun twist, but it’s not just that. It’s my personal twist. I just like to make things that I enjoy eating myself. Like the oxtail, that’s Jamaican. I’ve never been to Jamaica, but I just love the food. I make things up. Anytime I debut a new menu item, it’s a great experience for me. I have a new menu item for this week, which is a chicken flauta. I usually get inspiration from elsewhere, but the flauta idea was just like, I haven’t had a flauta in hella long and we just fixed the deep fryer so I wanted to test that out. I had the ingredients and just made one from scratch on the spot. Usually what I end up doing if I have down time on my break is I’ll just make things for my coworkers or bartenders to try. I said fuck it, why not. I’ve never made a flauta.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where do you go to find good gumbo, oxtail and birria around here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really eat gumbo unless it’s made at home with my family. There are so many things that can go wrong, and I’m accustomed to the way we make it. Oxtail in the Bay is one of the hardest things to find, too. It’s just hard to find a place where the consistency is solid. There’s a truck by Lake Merritt that serves oxtails. I forget the name, but it’s the best I’ve had out here over the years. As far as birria, my favorite place started as a pop-up called La Santa Torta in Jack London. It’s one of the few birrias where I don’t need the consomé. I could just straight-up eat the birria by itself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are the struggles and challenges you’ve experienced in the Bay Area’s food industry as an independent foodmaker?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of places don’t have soul anymore in the Bay. With gentrification, it’s hard to keep authentic places going. Some pop-ups will lose their space because rent went up, or because people in the area didn’t catch on quick enough and their finances didn’t last. We lose out on some good food for that reason. That sucks to see.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CW6kcvqBkWe/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yumbobyum/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">YumBobYum’s\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> pop-up is every Tuesday, 5 to 10 pm at 4307 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a weekly conversation with Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary culture through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You won’t find any tasteless gimmicks at YumBobYum’s Taco Tuesday pop-up inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smokinwoodsbbq.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Smokin Woods BBQ\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on Telegraph Ave. in Oakland. Instead, you’ll find a neighborhood of folks converging over daps, playful shit talking and life-giving doses of habanero shrimp.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Each week, the Black-owned barbecue joint becomes a makeshift taqueria operated by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yumbobyum/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chef Bob\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (real name Gibran Garcia) and his staff of helpers who feed Oaklanders plates of his Southern Creole, Jamaican and Mexican remixes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ll feel jubilant while filling up on jerk chicken tacos—made with harmonizing notes of smoked spices, sweet tang and Red Stripe-marinated pollo piled over two chewy tortillas. With a full bar available, you might order a round of dark Mexican lagers and a shot of tequila to go with it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the real showstopper is the gumbo taco, which Garcia prepares using his family’s Creole roux recipe and includes shrimp, crab, chicken, rice and a variety of slow-simmered veggies. It’s the only spot in the Bay where the magic of a gumbo pot gets strained then poured into an edible corn vessel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s not this chef’s only claim to fame, though. The dude offers an array of other out-the-trunk specials, including his original oxtail birria tacos with consomé (made with whole oxtails that he chops and stews for 5 hours), elote popper fritters and fried cheese quesadillas that come with your choice of protein—I recommend the vegan soyrizo to balance out the carne you’ll be sure to consume your body weight in during your stay. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’re unaccustomed to the combination of a grilled flour tortilla with an outer layer of crunchy double-fried cheese, the gooey warmth of additional melted cheeses inside and a dash of red salsa on top, it’s a peak nirvana I’d argue no traditional quesadilla can achieve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With enough clout to attract regular customers from as far away as Sacramento, this really is that spot—a word-of-mouth function with a lively sports bar atmosphere, where homies gather to hold space and joy despite all of life’s stressors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And Chef Bob is just getting started. Eventually, he plans on selling his own gumbo seasoning, as well as a homestyle carne asada rub and an all-purpose spice. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s what he has to say as an underground king of the Bay Area’s gumbo game.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: How did you become interested in culinary arts?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I started off cooking at home with my mom. Food is big in my family, so my mom taught me her grandmother’s recipes from Louisiana—Creole style cooking. Later, my first actual job was at Cheeseboard Pizza Collective in North Berkeley. I got fired because I was a high school kid who didn’t take it seriously; a few no shows and no calls and they kicked me out. Then, about 8 years ago, I started cooking my family’s gumbo—a two-pot gumbo—during Christmas. That was a big step for me. I was in college studying film at the time, and food was in my life but not really a serious passion yet. I worked at Raleigh’s on Telegraph [for a few years] and learned a lot. Then, I worked at Smokin Woods BBQ. During the pandemic, I wanted to make more money so that’s when I started selling plates from my house and it kicked off. I still work [at Smokin Woods] as a line cook on Wednesdays through Fridays.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913599\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913599\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"The chef, Gibran Garcia, holds a food tray of freshly made gumbo tacos while standing in the kitchen, with two cooks behind him\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-1920x2880.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/chefbob_bob-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Bob holding his gumbo taco creation, with a side of roux. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where does your name Bob (or YumBobYum) come from?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s just a nickname I came up with out of nowhere in high school and it stuck. People just know me as that. When I got into cooking more seriously, I added the “chef” part because I felt like I deserved it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What inspired you to combine elements of Southern cuisine and Caribbean flavors with Mexican food here in the Bay?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was born in Berkeley. My dad lived in Oakland. My mom’s side is Black Creole from Louisiana, where I learned how to cook. My dad’s side is Black and Filipino. My dad was actually born in the Philippines and moved here as a young kid. A lot of what I cook is what I like about the Bay’s food scene. It’s a giant melting pot. There are so many different mixtures of people from different backgrounds. You can Yelp any random country’s type of food and cuisine and find a place within a short drive of where you live. I like to do that. I always eat all types of food. Brazilian, Peruvian, Sengalese. That’s the Bay. I grew up going to taco trucks and taquerias. My dad used to live in the 40s in East Oakland, and my friend’s mom used to always make us Mexican food. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>People assume [my food is] just gonna be the same Creole or Cajun twist, but it’s not just that. It’s my personal twist. I just like to make things that I enjoy eating myself. Like the oxtail, that’s Jamaican. I’ve never been to Jamaica, but I just love the food. I make things up. Anytime I debut a new menu item, it’s a great experience for me. I have a new menu item for this week, which is a chicken flauta. I usually get inspiration from elsewhere, but the flauta idea was just like, I haven’t had a flauta in hella long and we just fixed the deep fryer so I wanted to test that out. I had the ingredients and just made one from scratch on the spot. Usually what I end up doing if I have down time on my break is I’ll just make things for my coworkers or bartenders to try. I said fuck it, why not. I’ve never made a flauta.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where do you go to find good gumbo, oxtail and birria around here?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really eat gumbo unless it’s made at home with my family. There are so many things that can go wrong, and I’m accustomed to the way we make it. Oxtail in the Bay is one of the hardest things to find, too. It’s just hard to find a place where the consistency is solid. There’s a truck by Lake Merritt that serves oxtails. I forget the name, but it’s the best I’ve had out here over the years. As far as birria, my favorite place started as a pop-up called La Santa Torta in Jack London. It’s one of the few birrias where I don’t need the consomé. I could just straight-up eat the birria by itself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are the struggles and challenges you’ve experienced in the Bay Area’s food industry as an independent foodmaker?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of places don’t have soul anymore in the Bay. With gentrification, it’s hard to keep authentic places going. Some pop-ups will lose their space because rent went up, or because people in the area didn’t catch on quick enough and their finances didn’t last. We lose out on some good food for that reason. That sucks to see.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "This Vegan Carnicería Wants to Be the Latinx Answer to Impossible Foods",
"headTitle": "This Vegan Carnicería Wants to Be the Latinx Answer to Impossible Foods | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the future that Raul Medina imagines, not only will America have a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/09/02/492390405/-memeoftheweek-taco-trucks-on-every-corner\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">taco truck on every corner\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, but all of those trucks will also offer a full slate of vegan meats. Carnitas, carne asada, chicharrón—each taco a delicious miracle crafted out of tofu skins and dehydrated soy chips. And the supplier of these stellar faux meats? Naturally that would be Medina himself, whose vegan carnicería, Taqueria La Venganza, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Cult-favorite-vegan-Mexican-pop-up-is-opening-a-16530555.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">opened in Oakland earlier this year\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to be the Impossible Foods—the Beyond Meat—of the Mexican meat world,” Medina says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a bold ambition for a chef whose entire operation, at the moment, is based inside a small downtown Oakland bodega. Just a couple of months in, La Venganza has already garnered a reputation for serving the best vegan tacos in town. But Medina has his sights set much higher: He doesn’t want to be known as just a taquero. He wants to be the guy up the supply chain who makes your favorite taquero \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">want\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to offer a vegan option—who makes meats that are delicious enough, and profitable enough, that every taqueria in the country will want to use them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In short, Medina wants \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">his\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> vegan carne asada—not Impossible’s or Beyond’s—to be the one that goes national. And in the process, he hopes to strike a blow for smaller, less corporatized and more Latinx-centric businesses. “I don’t want them to do ‘Beyond Asada’ or ‘Impossible Asada,’ and then suddenly we’re eating some other corporate shit.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13910278\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13910278\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Chef Raul Medina presses a tortilla by hand.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-2048x1280.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-1920x1200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After launching his pop-up in Berkeley six years ago, Medina made a name for himself when La Venganza won the title for best taco in all of Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Raul Medina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ten or 20 years ago, vegans like Medina could scarcely have imagined a time when “plant-based meat” would be seen as the trendiest, most lucrative sector in food—the subject of dozens of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/impossible-burger-fake-meat\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">breathless reviews\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/opinion/climate-change-meatless-meat.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">earnest thinkpieces\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. These days, you can buy an Impossible Burger at Burger King. You can find the patties in the freezer aisle of your local Walmart or Target.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For me, veganism was always punk rock,” Raul Medina says of his early days of meat abstention. “You were looked upon as a weirdo. Like, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">what the fuck are you doing\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, he says, companies like Beyond and Impossible have helped take veganism to the masses. But their proliferation has also led to a certain homogeneity in the vegan food scene. The national fast food chains sell the same faux meat patties that customers might shell out $20 for at their favorite boutique pop-up. For the most part, vegan chefs aren’t even bothering to experiment with their own personalized take on an old-school black bean burger anymore. “I don’t care how much you say, ‘Oh, I make it taste different. I season it differently,’” Medina says. “It tastes the same to me everywhere I go.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\"]“At the end of the day, that’s the vision—to have a vegan carnicería in every major city and have it supply the meats to every taco truck on every corner.”[/pullquote]Medina doesn’t deny that the Impossible Burger tastes good, and he acknowledges that any reduction in meat consumption that comes as these companies become more mainstream is a net positive. But for him, veganism was always about more than just protecting animals. It was also about all of the other systemic abuses that were endemic to the industrial meat complex—the way the workers in the slaughterhouses were treated, for instance. In his past career, Medina worked at an immigration law firm, and he says he saw firsthand how the big poultry plants would bus in workers from Mexico and “literally deport them after the season’s done.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Medina questions whether the big plant-based meat companies are set up so differently, even if they’re applying a “green bandage” to the food system. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Is that the same situation that’s going to go on with soy and wheat and coconut oil? I’m not blind to consumerism and capitalism,” he says. “I know what happens when something becomes popular. There are ways that they’re going to try to cut down costs. Who are we getting to work the fields? Are we paying them more, or are just paying them what the fuck we need to pay them?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13910280\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13910280\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A styrofoam container with three tacos, rice, and beans.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plate from La Venganza’s collaboration with L.A.’s Taco Vega. \u003ccite>(Raul Medina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indeed, part of what motivated Medina to really push the Taqueria La Venganza brand and extend its reach was hearing the news that Beyond Meat was working on a (\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/22827004/taco-bell-beyond-meat-carne-asada-test-canceled-plant-based-fast-food\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">thus far unsuccessful\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">) vegan carne asada for Taco Bell. La Venganza’s attempts at global expansion have seen more modest success thus far: In addition to his own taqueria, Medina also supplies vegan meats for Oakland’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-el-cruzero-oakland\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taqueria El Cruzero\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and he recently ran a collaboration with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CakmlXcP5u0/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taco Vega\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a vegan taqueria in Los Angeles, with an eye toward opening his second location down in L.A. Toward that end, he’s actively looking for \u003ca href=\"https://wefunder.com/venganzafoods/\">investors\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In comparison to the food tech giants, Medina says his supply chain is relatively straightforward and analog. For his carne asada, for instance, he imports dehydrated soy chips from Taiwan and seasons them with various spices (including Vietnamese rice powder) to emulate the smoky, slightly burnt effect you get when a nice piece of skirt steak hits the grill.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Who’s getting rich off of that? Me, a Taiwanese company and whatever Mexican just sold you the taco,” Medina says. “I want Mexican people making money off of my products. At the end of the day, that’s the vision—to have a vegan carnicería in every major city and have it supply the meats to every taco truck on every corner.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\"]“It opened people’s eyes to be like, ‘This guy is making Mexican food vegan, but it tastes like my mom made it.’ … You didn’t have to ask for something with a stupid name. What you were used to is what you got.”[/pullquote]Of course, none of these plans would have much hope for success if the tacos themselves didn’t taste good. For Medina, basing his first carnicería in the East Bay marks something of a homecoming: La Venganza first burst onto the vegan food scene six years ago as a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/faux-meat-keeps-it-real-at-the-butchers-son-and-taqueria-la-venganza-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">popular Berkeley pop-up\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The chef went on to make a name for himself in Los Angeles, where in short order La Venganza was tapped to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://chooseveg.com/blog/6-vegan-food-vendors-at-coachella-that-will/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sell tacos at Coachella\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and then—its biggest break—won L.A. Taco’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lataco.com/taco-madness-2018/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Taco Madness” competition\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for the coveted title of best taco in all of Los Angeles in 2018.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s L.A. It’s Mexicans,” Medina says of the street cred that the victory gave his business. In many ways, it also set off a whole new wave of vegan taquerias in Los Angeles and beyond. What set La Venganza apart from much of the previous generation of vegan tacos was that, apart from whatever textural magic Medina was able to work out of yuba and other soy and wheat gluten products, the chef’s approach was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/faux-meat-keeps-it-real-at-the-butchers-son-and-taqueria-la-venganza-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fundamentally nostalgic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, meant to capture everything that people loved about getting tacos at an old-school taqueria—just without the meat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13910279\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13910279\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Vegan carne asada with all the fixings on a flour tortilla, ready to get rolled into a burrito.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-2048x1280.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-1920x1200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The burritos at Taqueria La Venganza weigh two pounds. \u003ccite>(Raul Medina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It opened people’s eyes to be like, ‘This guy is making Mexican food vegan, but it tastes like my mom made it.’ Before that it was, ‘This person is putting kale and roasted potato in my taco, what the fuck is this?’” Medina says. “Finally you saw something that was asada. You didn’t have to ask for something with a stupid name. What you were used to is what you got.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13908103,arts_13906738,arts_13895209']At La Venganza’s downtown Oakland storefront, Medina makes the tortillas by hand. The taqueria offers a streamlined menu of greatest hits: carnitas, chicharrón, carne asada fries and cauliflower al pastor. It sometimes offers, as a special, vegan versions of less mainstream cuts, like beef cheek or lengua, but it also sells giant burritos that weigh two pounds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And though Medina is dubious of the prospect of companies like Impossible and Beyond bringing vegan food to the masses, that is what he aspires to do, too, at the end of the day—to be, as he puts it, a “regular-ass taqueria,” and to bring his vegan meats to other regular-ass taquerias. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s not like I’m using Calabrian chilies, or adding amaranth or ancestral ingredients,” Medina says. “Fuck all that shit. I’m putting in what your mom used to put in. There isn’t meat in it, but it tastes just like you remember.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thevegantaqueria/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taqueria La Venganza\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is open Thursday through Saturday, 1–7pm at 597 15th St. in Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Oakland's Taqueria La Venganza is hoping to bring its vegan carne asada to the national stage.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n the future that Raul Medina imagines, not only will America have a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/09/02/492390405/-memeoftheweek-taco-trucks-on-every-corner\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">taco truck on every corner\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, but all of those trucks will also offer a full slate of vegan meats. Carnitas, carne asada, chicharrón—each taco a delicious miracle crafted out of tofu skins and dehydrated soy chips. And the supplier of these stellar faux meats? Naturally that would be Medina himself, whose vegan carnicería, Taqueria La Venganza, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Cult-favorite-vegan-Mexican-pop-up-is-opening-a-16530555.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">opened in Oakland earlier this year\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to be the Impossible Foods—the Beyond Meat—of the Mexican meat world,” Medina says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a bold ambition for a chef whose entire operation, at the moment, is based inside a small downtown Oakland bodega. Just a couple of months in, La Venganza has already garnered a reputation for serving the best vegan tacos in town. But Medina has his sights set much higher: He doesn’t want to be known as just a taquero. He wants to be the guy up the supply chain who makes your favorite taquero \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">want\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to offer a vegan option—who makes meats that are delicious enough, and profitable enough, that every taqueria in the country will want to use them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In short, Medina wants \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">his\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> vegan carne asada—not Impossible’s or Beyond’s—to be the one that goes national. And in the process, he hopes to strike a blow for smaller, less corporatized and more Latinx-centric businesses. “I don’t want them to do ‘Beyond Asada’ or ‘Impossible Asada,’ and then suddenly we’re eating some other corporate shit.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13910278\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13910278\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Chef Raul Medina presses a tortilla by hand.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-2048x1280.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_raul-1920x1200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After launching his pop-up in Berkeley six years ago, Medina made a name for himself when La Venganza won the title for best taco in all of Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Raul Medina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ten or 20 years ago, vegans like Medina could scarcely have imagined a time when “plant-based meat” would be seen as the trendiest, most lucrative sector in food—the subject of dozens of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/impossible-burger-fake-meat\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">breathless reviews\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/opinion/climate-change-meatless-meat.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">earnest thinkpieces\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. These days, you can buy an Impossible Burger at Burger King. You can find the patties in the freezer aisle of your local Walmart or Target.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For me, veganism was always punk rock,” Raul Medina says of his early days of meat abstention. “You were looked upon as a weirdo. Like, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">what the fuck are you doing\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, he says, companies like Beyond and Impossible have helped take veganism to the masses. But their proliferation has also led to a certain homogeneity in the vegan food scene. The national fast food chains sell the same faux meat patties that customers might shell out $20 for at their favorite boutique pop-up. For the most part, vegan chefs aren’t even bothering to experiment with their own personalized take on an old-school black bean burger anymore. “I don’t care how much you say, ‘Oh, I make it taste different. I season it differently,’” Medina says. “It tastes the same to me everywhere I go.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "“At the end of the day, that’s the vision—to have a vegan carnicería in every major city and have it supply the meats to every taco truck on every corner.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Medina doesn’t deny that the Impossible Burger tastes good, and he acknowledges that any reduction in meat consumption that comes as these companies become more mainstream is a net positive. But for him, veganism was always about more than just protecting animals. It was also about all of the other systemic abuses that were endemic to the industrial meat complex—the way the workers in the slaughterhouses were treated, for instance. In his past career, Medina worked at an immigration law firm, and he says he saw firsthand how the big poultry plants would bus in workers from Mexico and “literally deport them after the season’s done.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Medina questions whether the big plant-based meat companies are set up so differently, even if they’re applying a “green bandage” to the food system. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Is that the same situation that’s going to go on with soy and wheat and coconut oil? I’m not blind to consumerism and capitalism,” he says. “I know what happens when something becomes popular. There are ways that they’re going to try to cut down costs. Who are we getting to work the fields? Are we paying them more, or are just paying them what the fuck we need to pay them?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13910280\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13910280\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A styrofoam container with three tacos, rice, and beans.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_tacovega-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plate from La Venganza’s collaboration with L.A.’s Taco Vega. \u003ccite>(Raul Medina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indeed, part of what motivated Medina to really push the Taqueria La Venganza brand and extend its reach was hearing the news that Beyond Meat was working on a (\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/22827004/taco-bell-beyond-meat-carne-asada-test-canceled-plant-based-fast-food\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">thus far unsuccessful\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">) vegan carne asada for Taco Bell. La Venganza’s attempts at global expansion have seen more modest success thus far: In addition to his own taqueria, Medina also supplies vegan meats for Oakland’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-el-cruzero-oakland\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taqueria El Cruzero\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and he recently ran a collaboration with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CakmlXcP5u0/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taco Vega\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a vegan taqueria in Los Angeles, with an eye toward opening his second location down in L.A. Toward that end, he’s actively looking for \u003ca href=\"https://wefunder.com/venganzafoods/\">investors\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In comparison to the food tech giants, Medina says his supply chain is relatively straightforward and analog. For his carne asada, for instance, he imports dehydrated soy chips from Taiwan and seasons them with various spices (including Vietnamese rice powder) to emulate the smoky, slightly burnt effect you get when a nice piece of skirt steak hits the grill.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Who’s getting rich off of that? Me, a Taiwanese company and whatever Mexican just sold you the taco,” Medina says. “I want Mexican people making money off of my products. At the end of the day, that’s the vision—to have a vegan carnicería in every major city and have it supply the meats to every taco truck on every corner.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "“It opened people’s eyes to be like, ‘This guy is making Mexican food vegan, but it tastes like my mom made it.’ … You didn’t have to ask for something with a stupid name. What you were used to is what you got.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Of course, none of these plans would have much hope for success if the tacos themselves didn’t taste good. For Medina, basing his first carnicería in the East Bay marks something of a homecoming: La Venganza first burst onto the vegan food scene six years ago as a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/faux-meat-keeps-it-real-at-the-butchers-son-and-taqueria-la-venganza-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">popular Berkeley pop-up\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The chef went on to make a name for himself in Los Angeles, where in short order La Venganza was tapped to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://chooseveg.com/blog/6-vegan-food-vendors-at-coachella-that-will/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sell tacos at Coachella\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and then—its biggest break—won L.A. Taco’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lataco.com/taco-madness-2018/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Taco Madness” competition\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for the coveted title of best taco in all of Los Angeles in 2018.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s L.A. It’s Mexicans,” Medina says of the street cred that the victory gave his business. In many ways, it also set off a whole new wave of vegan taquerias in Los Angeles and beyond. What set La Venganza apart from much of the previous generation of vegan tacos was that, apart from whatever textural magic Medina was able to work out of yuba and other soy and wheat gluten products, the chef’s approach was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/faux-meat-keeps-it-real-at-the-butchers-son-and-taqueria-la-venganza-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fundamentally nostalgic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, meant to capture everything that people loved about getting tacos at an old-school taqueria—just without the meat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13910279\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13910279\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Vegan carne asada with all the fixings on a flour tortilla, ready to get rolled into a burrito.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-2048x1280.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/venganza_burrito-1920x1200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The burritos at Taqueria La Venganza weigh two pounds. \u003ccite>(Raul Medina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It opened people’s eyes to be like, ‘This guy is making Mexican food vegan, but it tastes like my mom made it.’ Before that it was, ‘This person is putting kale and roasted potato in my taco, what the fuck is this?’” Medina says. “Finally you saw something that was asada. You didn’t have to ask for something with a stupid name. What you were used to is what you got.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At La Venganza’s downtown Oakland storefront, Medina makes the tortillas by hand. The taqueria offers a streamlined menu of greatest hits: carnitas, chicharrón, carne asada fries and cauliflower al pastor. It sometimes offers, as a special, vegan versions of less mainstream cuts, like beef cheek or lengua, but it also sells giant burritos that weigh two pounds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And though Medina is dubious of the prospect of companies like Impossible and Beyond bringing vegan food to the masses, that is what he aspires to do, too, at the end of the day—to be, as he puts it, a “regular-ass taqueria,” and to bring his vegan meats to other regular-ass taquerias. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s not like I’m using Calabrian chilies, or adding amaranth or ancestral ingredients,” Medina says. “Fuck all that shit. I’m putting in what your mom used to put in. There isn’t meat in it, but it tastes just like you remember.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\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/thevegantaqueria/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taqueria La Venganza\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is open Thursday through Saturday, 1–7pm at 597 15th St. in Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "One of the East Bay’s Best Taquerias Is Coming to San Rafael",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marin County doesn’t exactly have a reputation for being one of the Bay Area’s premier taco destinations. (Some might even call certain stretches of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11307601/why-is-marin-county-so-white\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">wealthy, predominantly white\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> county a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/10/14/21515020/quesabirria-tacos-marin-county-richmond-san-rafael\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">taco \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">desert\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of sorts.) But no longer: Later this year, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.tacoseltucan.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">El Tucán\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, one of the East Bay’s very best taquerias, will open a new outpost on the San Rafael waterfront that’s larger and even more ambitious than its original Richmond location. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like the original El Tucán, tacos at the new spot—called El Tucán Tacos and Beer—will feature all the hallmarks of the Tijuana style: handmade tortillas, a dollop of guacamole on every taco and, most importantly, meats that have been grilled over fire. The idea is for customers at the new taqueria to be able to enjoy some of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theluketsai/status/1433962298717081605\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tastiest carne asada in the Bay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on the waterfront deck, cold beer or michelada in hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to co-owner Alfredo Padilla, El Tucán Tacos and Beer should open in December or January, in the space previously occupied by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pier15RestaurantandBar/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pier 15\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a San Rafael institution that closed in the early months of the pandemic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When El Tucán \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/12/5/20994943/tacos-el-tucan-tijuana-carne-asada-quesatacos-richmond\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">first burst onto Richmond’s much-vaunted Mexican food scene\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> two years ago, the taqueria’s biggest point of distinction was its focus on Tijuana-style tacos—a rarity in the Bay Area. It was, and remains, one of a very small number of taquerias in the East Bay that grills its meats over fire instead of just on a flat-top. Its quesatacos, whose tortillas are gilded with a thin layer of brown, crispy cheese, can go toe to toe with any taco in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13903361\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13903361\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three tacos, topped with guacamole and crispy cheese, on a paper plate.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">El Tucán’s calling card is its Tijuana-style quesatacos. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The restaurant immediately drew long lines at all times of day and, according to Padilla, maintained its popularity even through the worst of the pandemic. “Being mostly a takeout restaurant helped us stay busy,” Padilla says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When business did slow down during the very first month of shelter in place, that gave Padilla and his taqueros time to experiment with their menu a bit. For the first time, they started selling \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/11/21/20937687/el-garage-quesabirria-birria-taco-richmond-instagram\">quesabirria\u003c/a>—the cheesy, red-tinged birria tacos that are the Bay Area taco scene’s most famous Tijuana import—along with other “red tacos” prepared in the same style. They also added a well-griddled version of a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theluketsai/status/1433962298717081605\">California burrito\u003c/a>, that deliciously fry-stuffed SoCal classic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13903363\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1536px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13903363\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant with \"El Tucán Tacos and Beer\" signage.' width=\"1536\" height=\"2304\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the former Pier 15 space in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood. \u003ccite>(Tony Tamayo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of those new additions will be on the menu at the San Rafael restaurant, which is a joint venture between Padilla, his brother Edgar and a third partner, Victor Ceja. The new El Tucán is located in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, in what Padilla acknowledges is a bit of a weird location, “literally in the middle of an industrial area” surrounded by car dealerships. It’s one of the only restaurants that he’s aware of in the immediate vicinity. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the neighborhood also has its share of perks. The Canal neighborhood is the heart of Marin County’s working class Latino and Mexican American community, much of which lives in the sprawl of apartment complexes just a few blocks away from the restaurant. There is, in this part of San Rafael, a built-in audience for superlative tacos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meanwhile, Padilla is excited about the space itself, which at 2,000 square feet is much larger than the Richmond location. This will be Padilla’s first sit-down restaurant, with indoor seating available in the bar area and dining room, with an additional 40 seats out back on the deck facing the water. Along the side of the building, there will be a little taco window for customers who want to grab their food to go. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13899700,arts_13896221,arts_13895488']The larger space will give Padilla the chance to flesh out the menu a bit. Most excitingly, there will be Baja-style fried fish and fried shrimp tacos—another iconic category of Baja California foods that’s rarely done well here in the Bay. Unlike the Richmond taqueria, the new restaurant has a liquor license and plans to offer a dozen beers on tap, so it’ll also add some bar bites to the menu, such as chicken wings served with housemade salsa—like Buffalo wings with a Mexican twist, Padilla says. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The restaurant will also serve five kinds of margaritas and five different micheladas, with both cocktails available as a flight.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Padilla, part of the reason he felt confident about the San Rafael expansion is that he often gets customers who drive across the bridge to Richmond from the North Bay just to eat at El Tucán—because of the lack of “good, authentic tacos” in the area, they tell him. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think people are going to like the style that we have,” Padilla says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">El Tucán Tacos and Beer will open in December or January at 15 Harbor Street in San Rafael. Check El Tucán’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoseltucan/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> page for updates.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marin County doesn’t exactly have a reputation for being one of the Bay Area’s premier taco destinations. (Some might even call certain stretches of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11307601/why-is-marin-county-so-white\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">wealthy, predominantly white\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> county a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/10/14/21515020/quesabirria-tacos-marin-county-richmond-san-rafael\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">taco \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">desert\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of sorts.) But no longer: Later this year, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.tacoseltucan.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">El Tucán\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, one of the East Bay’s very best taquerias, will open a new outpost on the San Rafael waterfront that’s larger and even more ambitious than its original Richmond location. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like the original El Tucán, tacos at the new spot—called El Tucán Tacos and Beer—will feature all the hallmarks of the Tijuana style: handmade tortillas, a dollop of guacamole on every taco and, most importantly, meats that have been grilled over fire. The idea is for customers at the new taqueria to be able to enjoy some of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theluketsai/status/1433962298717081605\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tastiest carne asada in the Bay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on the waterfront deck, cold beer or michelada in hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to co-owner Alfredo Padilla, El Tucán Tacos and Beer should open in December or January, in the space previously occupied by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pier15RestaurantandBar/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pier 15\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a San Rafael institution that closed in the early months of the pandemic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When El Tucán \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/12/5/20994943/tacos-el-tucan-tijuana-carne-asada-quesatacos-richmond\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">first burst onto Richmond’s much-vaunted Mexican food scene\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> two years ago, the taqueria’s biggest point of distinction was its focus on Tijuana-style tacos—a rarity in the Bay Area. It was, and remains, one of a very small number of taquerias in the East Bay that grills its meats over fire instead of just on a flat-top. Its quesatacos, whose tortillas are gilded with a thin layer of brown, crispy cheese, can go toe to toe with any taco in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13903361\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13903361\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three tacos, topped with guacamole and crispy cheese, on a paper plate.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/eltucan_quesatacos_luketsai-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">El Tucán’s calling card is its Tijuana-style quesatacos. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The restaurant immediately drew long lines at all times of day and, according to Padilla, maintained its popularity even through the worst of the pandemic. “Being mostly a takeout restaurant helped us stay busy,” Padilla says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When business did slow down during the very first month of shelter in place, that gave Padilla and his taqueros time to experiment with their menu a bit. For the first time, they started selling \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/11/21/20937687/el-garage-quesabirria-birria-taco-richmond-instagram\">quesabirria\u003c/a>—the cheesy, red-tinged birria tacos that are the Bay Area taco scene’s most famous Tijuana import—along with other “red tacos” prepared in the same style. They also added a well-griddled version of a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theluketsai/status/1433962298717081605\">California burrito\u003c/a>, that deliciously fry-stuffed SoCal classic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13903363\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1536px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13903363\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant with \"El Tucán Tacos and Beer\" signage.' width=\"1536\" height=\"2304\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/IMG_0017-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the former Pier 15 space in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood. \u003ccite>(Tony Tamayo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of those new additions will be on the menu at the San Rafael restaurant, which is a joint venture between Padilla, his brother Edgar and a third partner, Victor Ceja. The new El Tucán is located in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, in what Padilla acknowledges is a bit of a weird location, “literally in the middle of an industrial area” surrounded by car dealerships. It’s one of the only restaurants that he’s aware of in the immediate vicinity. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the neighborhood also has its share of perks. The Canal neighborhood is the heart of Marin County’s working class Latino and Mexican American community, much of which lives in the sprawl of apartment complexes just a few blocks away from the restaurant. There is, in this part of San Rafael, a built-in audience for superlative tacos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meanwhile, Padilla is excited about the space itself, which at 2,000 square feet is much larger than the Richmond location. This will be Padilla’s first sit-down restaurant, with indoor seating available in the bar area and dining room, with an additional 40 seats out back on the deck facing the water. Along the side of the building, there will be a little taco window for customers who want to grab their food to go. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The larger space will give Padilla the chance to flesh out the menu a bit. Most excitingly, there will be Baja-style fried fish and fried shrimp tacos—another iconic category of Baja California foods that’s rarely done well here in the Bay. Unlike the Richmond taqueria, the new restaurant has a liquor license and plans to offer a dozen beers on tap, so it’ll also add some bar bites to the menu, such as chicken wings served with housemade salsa—like Buffalo wings with a Mexican twist, Padilla says. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The restaurant will also serve five kinds of margaritas and five different micheladas, with both cocktails available as a flight.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Padilla, part of the reason he felt confident about the San Rafael expansion is that he often gets customers who drive across the bridge to Richmond from the North Bay just to eat at El Tucán—because of the lack of “good, authentic tacos” in the area, they tell him. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think people are going to like the style that we have,” Padilla says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">El Tucán Tacos and Beer will open in December or January at 15 Harbor Street in San Rafael. Check El Tucán’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoseltucan/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> page for updates.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "molcaxitl-kitchen-taco-stand-outer-sunset-indigenous-mexican-food",
"title": "A New Taco Stand Is Bringing Indigenous Flavors to the Outer Sunset",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]B[/dropcap]y 7:30am on Sundays, Nomar Ramirez is already bringing food to the people. To wake up half-asleep shoppers at the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sunsetmercantilesf.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Ramirez’s taco stand, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://molcaxitl.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molcaxitl Kitchen\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, plays hip hop and cumbia. And, even more invigorating, it slings bold, pre-colonial Mexican flavors rarely found in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molcaxitl’s tacos are colorful: green, pink, red and brown all visible through the steam rising from hot, freshly pressed blue tortillas. But it’s the decadent turkey mole dripping from the tortilla that catches the eye—a nod to the wild turkeys that were eaten by Mexico’s Indigenous peoples before European colonizers brought chicken to the continent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“You don’t eat mole in a taco,” Ramirez says of customers’ typical response to the dish. “People don’t understand that the Indigenous diet looked like this.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Ramirez, cooking dishes like those mole tacos is healing. The 22-year-old college student at San Francisco State says it’s the least he can do to make San Francisco more like home. The tacos also reflect the core mission for Molcaxitl, which has made a splash in the ten months since it opened with its focus on Mexican foods that have Indigenous influences, many of them listed on the menu by their proper Indigenous names.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez identifies as Chicano, a term for U.S.-born Mexican Americans first popularized in the 1940s by Los Angeles-based Mexican Americans, who embraced an Indigenous Nahuatl word that described their Aztec homeland. The activist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/1970-02-06/who-is-a-chicano-and-what-is-it-the-chicanos-want\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ruben Salazar famously defined a Chicano as a Mexican American with a “non-Anglo vision of himself\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez, for his part, leans into that activist, political aspect of his Chicano identity. For him, creating space in the San Francisco food scene for Chicanos like himself means a good deal of at-times-awkward pioneering. It means making the movement more inclusive of what it means to be Mexican and Indigenous, and opening up a dialogue through food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900202\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Gloved hands holding a takeout container with a single taco inside.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1829\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-2048x1463.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-1920x1371.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Nomar Ramirez shows off one of his indigenous-influenced tacos. \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Born in Pasadena, Ramirez grew up in South Central Los Angeles. He remembers eating tacos at midnight with friends at one of what felt like two billion taquerias. For the past four years, though, he has found himself in a much less overtly Mexican area: the Outer Sunset.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Food was not always an obvious career option for the former engineering major. But when Ramirez was growing up in Los Angeles as the oldest of three siblings, cooking was always integral. Sincronizadas, a sandwich-style quesadilla consisting of two tortillas jammed with ham, bacon and Valentina hot sauce, was a particular favorite. “I’d make this preteen, greasy grub,” Ramirez laughs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The women in his life taught him a lot, Ramirez says. In high school, he even spent a day at his aunt’s San Bernardino ranch fully processing a chicken from slaughter to platter. As a college student in San Francisco, he would have loved to work in a restaurant kitchen, but without a resume in cooking—and with COVID hobbling the economy—no employers were interested. Instead, Ramirez side-hustled his van into a moving business and started doing cooking tutorials on Instagram Live.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While helping Sunset Mercantile co-founder Angie Petitt-Taylor move last year, Ramirez discovered \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sunsetmercantilesf.com/about/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">she was opening a new farmers market on 37th Avenue.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It wound up being just the opportunity he’d been looking for. By this time, he had become a business major, but even before graduating he’d already gotten his business license for Molcaxitl Kitchen. In October, he bought a tent and started selling tacos every Sunday. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A Tool for Social Change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the same time, Ramirez’s classes at SF State were teaching him about what it meant to be Indigenous in California. He sent for a genetic tracing kit from “23 and Me.” The results said he was 40 percent Native American.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That’s when I realized ‘Oh, I’m Native American,’” Ramirez says. “I had never felt connected as this Chicano kid from L.A.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A sense of validation mingled with the perennial identity crisis that often afflicts mixed and displaced people. For Ramirez, it all pointed toward the plate. He saw that creating food with a reverence for Indigenous people could not only be edifying for his own sense of self, but that it could also serve as a tool for social change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I live in the Sunset and I’m dried out of all that Mexican shit that I grew up with,” Ramirez says. “Five years ago I wouldn’t have even thought my own family was Native. I want to bring fluidity to being Mexican.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900203\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1693px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900203\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Nomar Ramirez serves up a box of tacos at his farmers market stand in the Outer Sunset\" width=\"1693\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg 1693w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-800x1210.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1020x1542.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-160x242.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-768x1161.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1016x1536.jpg 1016w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1354x2048.jpg 1354w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1920x2903.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1693px) 100vw, 1693px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Molcaxitl founder Nomar Ramirez serves up a box of tacos. \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every little detail about the taco stand is part of Ramirez’s effort to create space—to recreate the feeling of stepping into a Mexican grocery store. The feeling of cleaning the sauce off your plate with a tortilla (which Molcaxitl makes on the spot). The feeling of home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez says, “I’m half Mexican. I’m half American. But I want that space to be a feeling of unity.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toward that end, he also launched a live event called “To Be Latino,” held on Tuesday nights in the same location as the Outer Sunset Mercantile. Local businesses like La Reina Bakery and Mixcoatl Arts and Crafts, have a chance to showcase the beauty of Mexican cultura. Musicians like \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chris “L7” Cuadrado keep it lively.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a Mexican who looks not even a little bit Mexican, I had a hard time not hyping Nomar up throughout our conversation. His work means the world to a multiethnic multi-hyphenate like myself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The food, meanwhile, speaks for itself. The produce is sourced from local farmers on Saturdays for the food Molcaxitl sells on Sunday. The corn for the tortillas is heirloom blue, shipped from Mexico. The nectarine pico de gallo goes hard—it’s made with red onion, firm tomatoes and nectarines from Ponce Farms. “You can go up this block and buy from the people who grew this,” Ramirez says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez likes to tell customers that plant-based food is the future, just \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.alternet.org/2017/07/traditional-indigenous-mexican-food-among-worlds-healthiest-its-misunderstood-us/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">as it was in Mexico in the past\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, during pre-colonial times, before European colonizers introduced so much meat into the local diet. And he’s happy to push those vegetable-forward dishes along in the Outer Sunset.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The chiles gueros, named for the light color of the pepper, really struck me. My brain anticipated chile rellenos, but instead I was served crisp, fresh peppers with coarse sea salt sprinkled on top. In another dish, a tamarind, cumin and pecan salsa\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">worked to bring out the flavor in the squash flower. The dish was affordable, abundantly floral and frankly genius.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The squash flower is super Mexican,” Ramirez says. “The zucchini is indigenous to North America. It’s used a lot in quesadillas, roasted with cheese. It’s big L.A. stuff, plus the Mexican roots.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900204\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1693px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900204\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Ladling broth over a plate of turkey birria\" width=\"1693\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg 1693w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-800x1210.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1020x1542.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-160x242.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-768x1161.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1016x1536.jpg 1016w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1354x2048.jpg 1354w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1920x2903.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1693px) 100vw, 1693px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ladling broth over Molcaxitl’s totolin, or turkey birria. \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s received all kinds of reactions to his food. Some white people treat it as exotic. Some Mexican folks raise their eyebrows at those turkey mole tacos (\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pocchuc-restaurant.com/menu\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">though Ramirez is not the first San Francisco spot to serve the traditional Indigenous dish\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They’re judgmental,” Ramirez says. “I’ve overheard people say ‘Nah, I want real Mexican food.’ They don’t speak to me like I’m Mexican.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s found that fellow Chicanos, on the other hand, are more open. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Magaly Ramirez (no relation) joined the Molcaxitl team as soon as a job for a tortilla maker popped up on Instagram. She had frequented the new farmers market during the pandemic and was drawn in by Molcaxitl’s vegan options and its delicious horchata. “It’s funny because it’s just kids under a tent,” she says. “They’re all 20-year-olds.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a first-generation Mexican American from Los Angeles, she was inspired by how the food stall had brought its own particular take on Mexican cuisine to the Outer Sunset. “There’s always this push and pull of being Americanized and being in touch with your own culture,” Magaly says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dontaye Ball, owner and founder of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gumbosocial/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gumbo Social\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is another fan. As the vice president of the Bayview Merchant Association, he gave Ramirez feedback on his ideas when he was first setting up his farmers market booth. Recently, coming off a 45-day vegan cleanse, the first thing he ate was Molcaxitl’s turkey mole. “Slow-braised in a fantastic mole,” Ball says. “Hit all the right notes.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Xitlali Soto Ryan is another follower who found the Sunset Mercantile through Instagram. As a Latina and the daughter of artists, she finds the ambiance of Ramirez’s stall familiar: all of the colors, the flowers and the Jarritos on the table. She loves a drink made with cherries and tunas, a cactus fruit similar to dragon fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I know the importance of having to support your people,” Soto Ryan says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Sharing the Vision\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez says he enjoys being on the street. If Molcaxitl were to go brick and mortar, however, he would want the food to feel fancier than it does right now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID=arts_13899700,arts_13896221 label='More Mexican Food']“We’re trying to bring respect to Latino culture,” Ramirez says. “These recipes are complicated. Meanwhile, it’s France and Italy that get so much reverence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says connecting with nature is key. “I would hope that people see Indigeneity as being a caretaker of the environment,” he says. “There’s a spiritual connection to that food. You are born from this dirt. It sustains you, and you sustain it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And he wants to expand to other farmers markets to share his vision of what it means to connect with the farm-to-plate movement in this critical way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900207\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900207\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"The menu board for Molcaxitl set up in front of the Outer Sunset farmers market stand\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Molcaxitl’s menu features Indigenous words like totolin (turkey) and ayotli (zucchini). \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Magaly Ramirez, the tortilla maker, says she’s still grappling with her own sense of identity. “I can never consider myself an Indigenous person,” she says. “Our food doesn’t follow the exact same practices. We use a propane stove. It’s more of an homage.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the business’s 22-year-old founder, threading that needle of authenticity and acculturation is a day-by-day practice. Whether or not he’ll turn Molcaxitl Kitchen into a full-time career after graduation is still up in the air.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m just figuring this shit out,” Ramirez says. “I’ve never even worked in a restaurant.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molcaxitl Kitchen is open Sundays from 9am to 3pm on Sundays and Tuesdays from 3pm to 7pm.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Molcaxitl has made a splash with its turkey mole tacos and its strong sense of Chicano and Indigenous identity.",
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"title": "A New Taco Stand Is Bringing Indigenous Flavors to the Outer Sunset | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">B\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>y 7:30am on Sundays, Nomar Ramirez is already bringing food to the people. To wake up half-asleep shoppers at the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sunsetmercantilesf.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Ramirez’s taco stand, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://molcaxitl.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molcaxitl Kitchen\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, plays hip hop and cumbia. And, even more invigorating, it slings bold, pre-colonial Mexican flavors rarely found in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molcaxitl’s tacos are colorful: green, pink, red and brown all visible through the steam rising from hot, freshly pressed blue tortillas. But it’s the decadent turkey mole dripping from the tortilla that catches the eye—a nod to the wild turkeys that were eaten by Mexico’s Indigenous peoples before European colonizers brought chicken to the continent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“You don’t eat mole in a taco,” Ramirez says of customers’ typical response to the dish. “People don’t understand that the Indigenous diet looked like this.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Ramirez, cooking dishes like those mole tacos is healing. The 22-year-old college student at San Francisco State says it’s the least he can do to make San Francisco more like home. The tacos also reflect the core mission for Molcaxitl, which has made a splash in the ten months since it opened with its focus on Mexican foods that have Indigenous influences, many of them listed on the menu by their proper Indigenous names.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez identifies as Chicano, a term for U.S.-born Mexican Americans first popularized in the 1940s by Los Angeles-based Mexican Americans, who embraced an Indigenous Nahuatl word that described their Aztec homeland. The activist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/1970-02-06/who-is-a-chicano-and-what-is-it-the-chicanos-want\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ruben Salazar famously defined a Chicano as a Mexican American with a “non-Anglo vision of himself\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez, for his part, leans into that activist, political aspect of his Chicano identity. For him, creating space in the San Francisco food scene for Chicanos like himself means a good deal of at-times-awkward pioneering. It means making the movement more inclusive of what it means to be Mexican and Indigenous, and opening up a dialogue through food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900202\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Gloved hands holding a takeout container with a single taco inside.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1829\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-2048x1463.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_taco-plate_RickyRyanSilva-1920x1371.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Nomar Ramirez shows off one of his indigenous-influenced tacos. \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Born in Pasadena, Ramirez grew up in South Central Los Angeles. He remembers eating tacos at midnight with friends at one of what felt like two billion taquerias. For the past four years, though, he has found himself in a much less overtly Mexican area: the Outer Sunset.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Food was not always an obvious career option for the former engineering major. But when Ramirez was growing up in Los Angeles as the oldest of three siblings, cooking was always integral. Sincronizadas, a sandwich-style quesadilla consisting of two tortillas jammed with ham, bacon and Valentina hot sauce, was a particular favorite. “I’d make this preteen, greasy grub,” Ramirez laughs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The women in his life taught him a lot, Ramirez says. In high school, he even spent a day at his aunt’s San Bernardino ranch fully processing a chicken from slaughter to platter. As a college student in San Francisco, he would have loved to work in a restaurant kitchen, but without a resume in cooking—and with COVID hobbling the economy—no employers were interested. Instead, Ramirez side-hustled his van into a moving business and started doing cooking tutorials on Instagram Live.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While helping Sunset Mercantile co-founder Angie Petitt-Taylor move last year, Ramirez discovered \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sunsetmercantilesf.com/about/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">she was opening a new farmers market on 37th Avenue.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It wound up being just the opportunity he’d been looking for. By this time, he had become a business major, but even before graduating he’d already gotten his business license for Molcaxitl Kitchen. In October, he bought a tent and started selling tacos every Sunday. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A Tool for Social Change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the same time, Ramirez’s classes at SF State were teaching him about what it meant to be Indigenous in California. He sent for a genetic tracing kit from “23 and Me.” The results said he was 40 percent Native American.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That’s when I realized ‘Oh, I’m Native American,’” Ramirez says. “I had never felt connected as this Chicano kid from L.A.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A sense of validation mingled with the perennial identity crisis that often afflicts mixed and displaced people. For Ramirez, it all pointed toward the plate. He saw that creating food with a reverence for Indigenous people could not only be edifying for his own sense of self, but that it could also serve as a tool for social change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I live in the Sunset and I’m dried out of all that Mexican shit that I grew up with,” Ramirez says. “Five years ago I wouldn’t have even thought my own family was Native. I want to bring fluidity to being Mexican.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900203\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1693px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900203\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Nomar Ramirez serves up a box of tacos at his farmers market stand in the Outer Sunset\" width=\"1693\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg 1693w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-800x1210.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1020x1542.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-160x242.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-768x1161.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1016x1536.jpg 1016w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1354x2048.jpg 1354w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl_Nomar_RickyRyanSilva-1920x2903.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1693px) 100vw, 1693px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Molcaxitl founder Nomar Ramirez serves up a box of tacos. \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every little detail about the taco stand is part of Ramirez’s effort to create space—to recreate the feeling of stepping into a Mexican grocery store. The feeling of cleaning the sauce off your plate with a tortilla (which Molcaxitl makes on the spot). The feeling of home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez says, “I’m half Mexican. I’m half American. But I want that space to be a feeling of unity.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toward that end, he also launched a live event called “To Be Latino,” held on Tuesday nights in the same location as the Outer Sunset Mercantile. Local businesses like La Reina Bakery and Mixcoatl Arts and Crafts, have a chance to showcase the beauty of Mexican cultura. Musicians like \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chris “L7” Cuadrado keep it lively.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a Mexican who looks not even a little bit Mexican, I had a hard time not hyping Nomar up throughout our conversation. His work means the world to a multiethnic multi-hyphenate like myself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The food, meanwhile, speaks for itself. The produce is sourced from local farmers on Saturdays for the food Molcaxitl sells on Sunday. The corn for the tortillas is heirloom blue, shipped from Mexico. The nectarine pico de gallo goes hard—it’s made with red onion, firm tomatoes and nectarines from Ponce Farms. “You can go up this block and buy from the people who grew this,” Ramirez says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez likes to tell customers that plant-based food is the future, just \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.alternet.org/2017/07/traditional-indigenous-mexican-food-among-worlds-healthiest-its-misunderstood-us/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">as it was in Mexico in the past\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, during pre-colonial times, before European colonizers introduced so much meat into the local diet. And he’s happy to push those vegetable-forward dishes along in the Outer Sunset.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The chiles gueros, named for the light color of the pepper, really struck me. My brain anticipated chile rellenos, but instead I was served crisp, fresh peppers with coarse sea salt sprinkled on top. In another dish, a tamarind, cumin and pecan salsa\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">worked to bring out the flavor in the squash flower. The dish was affordable, abundantly floral and frankly genius.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The squash flower is super Mexican,” Ramirez says. “The zucchini is indigenous to North America. It’s used a lot in quesadillas, roasted with cheese. It’s big L.A. stuff, plus the Mexican roots.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900204\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1693px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900204\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Ladling broth over a plate of turkey birria\" width=\"1693\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-scaled.jpg 1693w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-800x1210.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1020x1542.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-160x242.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-768x1161.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1016x1536.jpg 1016w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1354x2048.jpg 1354w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Molcaxitl-Totolin_RickyRyanSilva-1920x2903.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1693px) 100vw, 1693px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ladling broth over Molcaxitl’s totolin, or turkey birria. \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s received all kinds of reactions to his food. Some white people treat it as exotic. Some Mexican folks raise their eyebrows at those turkey mole tacos (\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pocchuc-restaurant.com/menu\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">though Ramirez is not the first San Francisco spot to serve the traditional Indigenous dish\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They’re judgmental,” Ramirez says. “I’ve overheard people say ‘Nah, I want real Mexican food.’ They don’t speak to me like I’m Mexican.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s found that fellow Chicanos, on the other hand, are more open. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Magaly Ramirez (no relation) joined the Molcaxitl team as soon as a job for a tortilla maker popped up on Instagram. She had frequented the new farmers market during the pandemic and was drawn in by Molcaxitl’s vegan options and its delicious horchata. “It’s funny because it’s just kids under a tent,” she says. “They’re all 20-year-olds.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a first-generation Mexican American from Los Angeles, she was inspired by how the food stall had brought its own particular take on Mexican cuisine to the Outer Sunset. “There’s always this push and pull of being Americanized and being in touch with your own culture,” Magaly says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dontaye Ball, owner and founder of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gumbosocial/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gumbo Social\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is another fan. As the vice president of the Bayview Merchant Association, he gave Ramirez feedback on his ideas when he was first setting up his farmers market booth. Recently, coming off a 45-day vegan cleanse, the first thing he ate was Molcaxitl’s turkey mole. “Slow-braised in a fantastic mole,” Ball says. “Hit all the right notes.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Xitlali Soto Ryan is another follower who found the Sunset Mercantile through Instagram. As a Latina and the daughter of artists, she finds the ambiance of Ramirez’s stall familiar: all of the colors, the flowers and the Jarritos on the table. She loves a drink made with cherries and tunas, a cactus fruit similar to dragon fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I know the importance of having to support your people,” Soto Ryan says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Sharing the Vision\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ramirez says he enjoys being on the street. If Molcaxitl were to go brick and mortar, however, he would want the food to feel fancier than it does right now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We’re trying to bring respect to Latino culture,” Ramirez says. “These recipes are complicated. Meanwhile, it’s France and Italy that get so much reverence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says connecting with nature is key. “I would hope that people see Indigeneity as being a caretaker of the environment,” he says. “There’s a spiritual connection to that food. You are born from this dirt. It sustains you, and you sustain it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And he wants to expand to other farmers markets to share his vision of what it means to connect with the farm-to-plate movement in this critical way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900207\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900207\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"The menu board for Molcaxitl set up in front of the Outer Sunset farmers market stand\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/molcaxitl_menu_rickyryansilva-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Molcaxitl’s menu features Indigenous words like totolin (turkey) and ayotli (zucchini). \u003ccite>(Ricky Ryan Silva)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Magaly Ramirez, the tortilla maker, says she’s still grappling with her own sense of identity. “I can never consider myself an Indigenous person,” she says. “Our food doesn’t follow the exact same practices. We use a propane stove. It’s more of an homage.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the business’s 22-year-old founder, threading that needle of authenticity and acculturation is a day-by-day practice. Whether or not he’ll turn Molcaxitl Kitchen into a full-time career after graduation is still up in the air.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m just figuring this shit out,” Ramirez says. “I’ve never even worked in a restaurant.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molcaxitl Kitchen is open Sundays from 9am to 3pm on Sundays and Tuesdays from 3pm to 7pm.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"order": 9
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"order": 15
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 18
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
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"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
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"meta": {
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"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 11
},
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"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
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"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
"subscribe": {
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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