10,000 TACOS®

It that time of year! If you look around you, almost everywhere you go, you will see festive lights, crowds gathering at Christmas parks, packed ice rinks, and, of course, tons of suckers, I mean, people at shopping malls. Yes, the holiday season is in full swing!   But there is another season that is in full swing. A type of activity that involves tons of minutes of prep time. Perhaps tons of pai...

When I think of Mexican sports and athletes, I think of golfer Lorena Ochoa or boxer great Laura Serrano. Speaking of boxers, I think of Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez. I also think of the relationship Mexicans have with their futbol (soccer) greats. I don't ever think of winter sports when it comes to Mexico and its athletes.     Today on the show, we speak to Regina Martinez. She is attem...

Today, we not only get to talk tacos, we also get to talk barbecue and where the two intersect. Today we speak to Joe Zavala from Zavala's Barbecue. Zavala's Barbecue is in Grand Prairie, Texas. It's owned by Christan and pitmaster Joe Zavala. Zavala's, the barbecue joint, began as a backyard pop-up before moving into a brick-and-mortar in 2019. It's been a hit ever since, finally gaining the este...

Today on the show we bring you someone who studies TACOS, specifically the culture and food. As we've said before, "Tacos are bigger than us." Perhaps no one knows this better than Steven Alvarez. A poet and professor at St. John's University in Queens, New York, Dr. Alvarez hails from the small mining town of Safford in southeastern Arizona.     Alvarez is a literacy scholar who walks the line th...

Today on the show we speak to Ali Khan, a native of St. Louis. Ali Khan has been in food writing and showbusiness for a long-o time. He went to film school at USC. He's written for L.A. Taco. And he got his big break in 2015 with the Cooking Channel series Cheap Eats. The show ran for five seasons and visited almost 60 cities in 40 states. Ali is currently the host of the Spring Baking Challenge o...

Tacos In Verse   This week's guest infuses culture, food–which is culture—and Spanglish in inspiring ways. His work has appeared in chapbooks, anthologies, and the streets of San Antonio. He's traveled the country to perform his work, including, most recently, Louisville, KY, where he won a haiku contest. He is the host of the Sunday open mic at Dakota Ice House in San Antonio, a native of Texas'...

Today's show is a special one. We're going to talk about one of Jose's articles, specifically, his review of The Mexican, a fancy new restaurant in Dallas, specializing in—wait for it, yes, you guessed it—Mexican food.   But not just any Mexican food: Overpriced Mexican food with commodity tortillas and a $250 margarita named after a famous revolutionary. That revolutionary was Pancho Villa.   The...

Today on the show, José and I welcome Martha Niño, a Silicon Valley veteran who has a good story to tell. It's a story I'm very familiar with. Beneath the Silicon Valley lies the Santa Clara Valley, which really should be called TACO VALLEY. When I first met Martha, I referred to her as my Silicon Valley twin.  Martha's story is one of cracking the code - making it past a barrier. A barrier that g...

There is something magical about combining ingredients to make a delicious plate. It's like creating a work of art with every meal. And, just like an artist, you can use different seasonings to create different flavors. For me though, the magic comes from watching others add a healthy dash of pepper, a muscle-memory pinch of salt, or blind handful of oregano to make magical plates. To watch others...

On this episode we talk with Jason Stanford, former chief of communication and community engagement for the Mayor of Austin, Steve Adler. We speak to him about the Great Breakfast Taco War, the book he co-authored, Forget the Alamo, and other taco wars. We begin with José telling us how Texans take everything personally. Especially as it relates to food. That character trait or flaw, whatever you'...

In our previous episode, we touched on the history of Cinco de Mayo. We also spoke a little more on the French and their ambitions to help, you know, Racistas del Sur, we mean the Confederacy. We also touched on the way some people celebrate this day, and dress up like a Mexican.   This week, we're discussing how to best celebrate Cinco de Mayo, how to celebrate the commemoration of the pivotal ba...

The nineteenth century was a year of almost constant war for Mexico. One of those wars was against the French who invaded the country because Mexico's president, Benito Juarez, refused to pay its debts to France. Secretly, though, the French dreamt of expanding their empire, installing a puppet ruler, and then marching northward to assist the Confederacy in the Civil War.   Before that was possibl...

Is a burrito a taco?  In this new season, we tackle this question. I know the answer, but 10,000 TACOS now has a new voice as of this moment. And this voice has a different answer to mine.  We take this moment to introduce you to José Ralat. He is the author of American Tacos, A History and Guide. As the first of his kind, José is also the Taco Editor for the Texas Monthly.  We are excited to have...

Growing up in East San Jose, hearing the phrase "Neighborhood Watch" had a different meaning. It meant watching out for one another. Yet in some cases, it meant watching out for the cops.    Today on the show, we take you back to my college days when a FACO commented why he thought crime was high in the area where I grew up. His comment led me to explain what Neighborhood Watch means in Eastside S...

The announcement of the International Taco Council with discussion following.   Panelists Isidro Salas is a proud son of a taquero and host of the 10,000 Tacos podcast. José R.  Ralat is the Texas Monthly taco editor and author of American Tacos: A History and Guide . Serena Maria Daniels is the Detroit-based editor-in-chief of Tostada magazine and the president of the International Taco Council....

What do we mean by a soft-shell fallacy? It's a phrase used to describe tortillas and therefor tacos. And for many years it's gone unchecked. Today on the show we give you our take as to why it's a fallacy. Soft and shell are two contradicting terms. Yet not much is made of it. Simply put, tortillas are called tortillas and tacos are called tacos. There is really no need for translation. Why is th...

Panelists: Andrea Aliseda is a Tijuana-born journalist living in Los Angeles. Andrés M. Garza is a culinary anthropologist, chef, and the owner of Neighborhood Molino tortilleria in McAllen, a Texas border city in the Rio Grande Valley. Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman is a first-generation Tejana and the executive chef of José in Dallas. Emmanuel Chavez is a chef and co-owner of Tatemó, a pop-up and mo...

Who here likes being challenged? It's rarely a good time to be critiqued or challenged.  Today on the show, I want to tell you about a time when my (older)  brother stepped in and corrected a mistake I was about to make. A possible mistake as it came to serving our customers burritos made the correct way.  It's a time that helped change my outlook on how burritos should be made and how it was esse...

In this bonus episode, we update you on our move to Colorado. I also come to this moment in my podcast journey to see what my "WHY" is. I'm passionate about tacos and the culture. But what I'm more passionate about is the word TAQUERO. I believe the word TAQUERO should be elevated to that of Executive Chef. No disrespect, but I feel a taquero is more than just a taquero. Join us on this bonus epis...

Do you remember when you learned to brush your teeth? Do you remember who taught you how to tie your shoelaces? If you're as old as me, that may take you a while to recall those things. But the truth is that perhaps those are the little things that we forget, and as life goes on, our brains do those little things for us automatically.    But how important is that? And, how important are the other...

Imagine being able to get credit to buy as much food as you can from a taco truck. Imagine not having a credit limit. Also, imagine not having to have a background run on you to get this credit. If you cannot imagine a world where this exists, then you may want to listen to this episode. My father used to have a notebook in the taco truck. We would often refer to it as La Libreta. This notebook ha...

What does a street (avenue) and wearing a mask have in common?   McCreery Ave is a street in East San Jose that we used to use to get to that infamous corner to sell tacos every weekend. And because it was narrow, having to pull to the side to let incoming cars go through helped me see that being considerate was such an important part of making a living.     Download this episode to get a differen...

Welcome to our fourth season of 10,000 Tacos! While we were away, we lost a sail of our podcast. Juan Salas, my father, took his last breath on May 12, 2020. This podcast is about him, my mother, and my siblings. This podcast is a collection of stories and experiences around how growing up in a taco truck shaped the wonderful life I have today.    This podcast is a tribute to them, my parents.   ...

How do you flip tortillas? For me, it's always been normal to flip tortillas with my bare hands. I've always thought that flipping tortillas with tongs, or any other device (a forklift) is not normal. But somehow, I've got it flipped. Today on this episode I tell you why I think it is normal. And how and why it's important to flip tortillas with your bare hands. I guess people play it safe by usin...

Today's episode originally published in JUNE 2018. It's also my father's birthday. So today we take some time to look back at the connections that brought my siblings and I to this country. We go back to a time when I went to a World Cup match with my dad. The year was 1994. It was a special time because - not only was I celebrating my dad's birthday – I also was in attendance while the US Nationa...