Tacos of Texas

Mando Rayo: All right, here we go. What’s up Taco World? I’m Taco Journalist Mandore, and welcome to the Tacos Up Texas and Podcast Cinco. Five years produced by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX studios. And we’re back exploring taco culture in Texas through the eyes of the people in the Lone Star state.

Mando Rayo: So grab a station and ear tacos. And get ready for some moody, tasty taco conversations. Somebody hit me with a kuia bit.

Mando Rayo: There you go. Alright,

Speaker 2: here we go.

Mando Rayo: Very good. Very good. Today we’re live at Paprika A TX with the Tacos of Texas wrap party in Austin. In this bonus episode of Tacos of Texas, we talked to Margarito Mago Perez, owner of Paprika, A TX, on what it takes to go from a taco truck to full on brick and mortar ria.

Mando Rayo: We’ll also dig into what it means to stand up for our own community because of ice and immigration rates. Before we get started, I want to shout out our crew and collaborators, taco collaborators. Of course, Ms. Louis, Vanessa. Okay, so first of all, story, like a good tortilla. I mentioned this before, you’d need a solid story producer, and that’s Miss Louis right there,

Mando Rayo: Nick Worthen, El Sonic, that, that’s like we gave him that nickname. I don’t know if he likes it, but he’s our audio engineer. Dennis Burnett. Dennis Burnett is our creative producer. Uh, our, our intern for the season was my daughter Al.

Mando Rayo: And of course our KUT and KUTX studios partners, T New Thomas Nu, where you at? She’s around here somewhere. She’s the one that told you you can only get two tickets. And Elizabeth McQueen,

Mando Rayo: of course, DJ Beats by Grand Moreno. And of course the staff at Paprika.

Mando Rayo: Paprika. Woo. Alright, well let’s, let’s get into it. Margo, what’s the story behind paprika and how did your journey lead you here to this ria?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah, I think it’s, um, it’s a long story, but to keep it brief, it’s a story I think a lot of folks have heard. It’s, uh, it’s an immigrant story. Um, um.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Really, uh, we came to the United States looking for, I think, uh, like I said, a lot of folks, uh, a better, a better shot at life and having something that’s our own, uh, back in the mid nineties. And, um. Really, again, to keep it brief, just working cash, paying jobs. Um, Navi. Yeah. You

Mando Rayo: don’t have to keep it brief.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: We’re here, right? We’re here. We’re here. Yeah. Don’t keep it brief. Yeah. Just navigating what it means to be an immigrant, to be a Mexican and grow up in the Midwest in this country. And, um, again, because of. At the time, being undocumented, working in cash, paying jobs, and all the while loving food and, and loving eating because first and foremost, I love, I love to eat.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: So thank you folks for coming through. Uh, the hope is that. Any taco we share with you or anyone on any day is up to the standard and the quality that we want to eat. Because when we say we want to break bread with you, that’s, that’s really, that really comes from the bottom of our hearts and, um, we take a lot of pride in that.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: So, yeah. Uh, again, ended up working in kitchens and all the while not necessarily seeing myself or my people represented and wanting to do things a little differently, you know, especially in a city. Like Austin that has its, uh, presets of what a good restaurant or a good food truck is, you know, and having this, this, uh, this idea or this yearning for, for back home, for Mexico and, and seeing like, well, I know things do it, folks do it a little bit differently because I’ve, I’ve seen it, you know, haven’t experienced it, and I’ve heard the stories from my parents and, uh, and really, yeah, that’s what we’re, that’s what we’re after is, is carving out, um, a little.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Corner of comfort and solace and safety, that, that, uh, we can share some good bites with folks and Beautiful. And hopefully good.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. Yeah.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Look

Mando Rayo: closer. Uh, see, I think cia, I, I’m a lousy

Margarito “Mago” Perez: public speaker. That’s why I cook.

Mando Rayo: So love it. Love it.

Mando Rayo: Hashtag Rico. That’s right. That’s right. So, so your family, you know, you move here from the Midwest. Yeah. Via Mexico. And so why Austin and what made you stand out in Austin?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah. Um, I was running away from the US heading back to Mexico in Houston. And so I told my folks it was my, I was 16, I had just finished, uh, my junior year of high school, and I said, I want to go visit my T in Houston.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And I just want to go for the summer and see what it’s like somewhere else. I’ve been here my entire life. Um, but really inside I was like, I’m not coming back. I’m gonna go finish high school and then I’m gonna go to Mexico and explore, you know, what it means to, to live a life somewhere where I could feel a little more welcome.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah. Um, and yeah, I, I landed in Houston. And while finishing high school there, I started, I needed to pay for my stay for my apartment that I was sharing with, uh, four other folks, four other cooks in a one bedroom apartment. And I started, I came up with the idea to sell Tortas in school. So I started selling tortas to my classmates and the teachers, and that’s what I would do with my days.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: I’d go to school. Then I’d go to soccer practice, and then I go to Ana, Ana, um, and just get bolios, get, get the veggies and start cooking my ass off and, and making tortas and selling them at school. Um. Throughout that I had a tio here in Austin that invited me to visit for winter break, and he suckered me in by taking me to Zilker Park, Mount Bonne, the 360 bridge.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: That’s good. It’s around this time of the year, so it’s like the beautiful time that we have here in Austin where it’s not a million degrees and, and the weather’s nice and, and the folks were super friendly, so I found a lot of that. Um, small town charm that we had in the Midwest, um, while still being a bigger city with more access to things.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And it, and it felt like, okay, I can, I think I can make a living for myself here for a second until I figured things out. Because I was still, uh, very young and, and didn’t know what I was doing. I just wanted to play soccer. That’s all I wanted to do. I wanted to play, I wanted to play soccer, and I wanted to eat every day.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Nice. And so, yeah, I stayed here. So you

Mando Rayo: really had to switch from. The torta diet to

Margarito “Mago” Perez: the taco diet. Exactly. Yeah. And, and I mean, really the tortas just because it would, it would carry well, you know? Yeah. Versus having some tacos that are just satos by the end of the day. Yeah. Um. And to this day. That’s, that’s the mentality again with everything is, uh, I think that’s been one of the biggest challenges from going to a food truck into a brick and mortar Yeah.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Is that we want to make sure as we’re scaling, we are not doing it at the cost of quality and we’re staying true to ourselves. And we’re making sure that what we’re giving you folks is, again, something that we’re super proud of. But yeah, I landed in Austin, fell in love. Uh, I finished high school here. Uh, I met the love of my life and we’re now married like 10 years after that.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Ah, everybody. Ah, yeah. And yeah, I’ve been, I’ve been here now since, uh, 2011, 2012 here in Austin. Nice. Uh, I think, uh, I think just before or just as the pandemic started. I was in a head space where I wanted to get out of town and finish that move to Mexico. But, um, when the lockdown happened and I had just opened the food truck, uh, we opened in October of 2019.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: So we had like two months of quote unquote normalcy. Um, we would go to office parks and sell for. Two or three hours from 1130 to one 30. That was our lunch service. But my mother and I, my, my, we, we. We’re doing at the time, all the, all the prepping and all the cooking for it, we would work, um, around the clock, you know, around the clock.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: We were, we were at the commissary until 3:00 AM 4:00 AM get up at 7:00 AM and and go again for this very small window of time. Um, but moving a food truck has its own set of challenges, especially an old food truck like the one that I could afford. Right. Um, and again, everything was fresh, so, and, and is fresh.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Continues to be fresh. So we’re making ceviche every day. We’re making guacamole, we’re making chips and queso from scratch. Um, all these things that, that went into our menu at the time. And, um, yeah, we, like I said, got two months of working our tails off and then the pandemic hit that he said, and we had to, I think like a lot of you folks have heard, pivot and really step back and, and.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Assess and think about what our role was in this and, and whether, you know, we were gonna just continue the way we were going or if we could do something to help. And we decided that it wasn’t safe or, or reasonable to, to have lines of people and, and to go to bars anymore with the food truck. So we parked it outside of Amichi Ramen off Anderson Mill, um, and.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Ever since then, we, we really haven’t moved the truck much, but we’ve been very fortunate, you know, to have, at the time, if five people showed up in a day, I remember telling my wife, she’s an educator for, for years and years, and she would come and help me when she was done with school. I would remember jumping in joy and being like, we had five people at the truck today.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: I got, I got to make, I got to make tacos for five people. Right, right, right. Yeah. And, and still, you know, that’s, uh. That’s a big success for me. You know? ’cause even if it’s only five people that come through these doors, like we want to take care of them and, and, and break bread with them and, and make sure that, uh, we can connect that way.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And so, yeah, we’ve turned those five people into them telling maybe one or two of their friends and one or two of their family members. And over the years we’ve been very proud to. To keep the folks that eat with us coming back, you know, for, for one reason or another. For some folks it’s the food. For some folks it is the therapy from some folks.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: It’s the music, you know? It’s like,

Mando Rayo: no, no, no. I love it. I love it. Who’s who here is gonna tell. Five of their friends. That’s right. You know,

Mando Rayo: you went from a taco truck now to a formal taqueria and you know, there’s no rice and beans. Right. There’s no side salad, there’s nothing like that. So it’s just like, you know, straight up tacos. Yep. And um, and salsas. And that’s it. So, I mean, at, at the core, that’s a traditional verda. So tell us a little bit about like why you chose that style and, and if, if, if there was one taco to really represent paprika, what would it be?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah. Yeah. So at the core, you know, you know, it’s, it’s nice to see folks, I think appreciating that now because it’s been an ongoing conversation that we’ve had for, you know, since we’ve existed where we want to be very intentional and, and very focused with what we’re doing. And so we’ve had to make a lot of changes to our menu in that sense.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: I, I think the first probably three years, you know, we still like a lot of folks. Struggled with that imposter syndrome and, and I heard someone say something along the lines of, of the best way to get rid of that is just by showing up and doing it day after day. And I, at some point it just clicked because it hasn’t been without, um, any pushback or any issues.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: You know, folks definitely come and say, where’s my, you know, before they even greet you, they’ll say, I’ll take, uh. Chips and salsa and a guac, you know, and it’s like, look, we, we love those things just as much as you do. It’s, it’s a part of why we, I mean,

Mando Rayo: you know, you could just go to Chewy’s, okay. Or you could come here.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: They, they’re, they’re phenomenal foods and, and we think we do them well, but you know, we want to, when we say we’re at Taqueria, we want to stay true to that in the sense that we want to show folks something that they may not. Notice somewhere else. You know, we’ve always, we’ve talked a lot about being the bridge between these two worlds that I’ve lived in my entire life, where like I can, I can speak English with you folks, but truly I’m more comfortable when I speak to my.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: To my folks, you know, and to my parents and, and speak in Spanish. And even though I may struggle now as I get older to remember like, it’s like the,

Margarito “Mago” Perez: you know, it’s like the love songs are just more romantic. The food is tastier. When, when you can, when you have this, this other set of tools and ultimately. It feels like when those worlds come closer together, we have a better time. Yeah. And, and so that’s been a part of it, right? Is trying to, to help bridge that.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And it may not be for my generation or the next, but the hope is that it plants that seed in people’s heads that I can interact with Mexican food and Mexican people and Mexican music, Mexican spaces in a way that’s not prescribed or that’s not, um, already. Maybe it’s not something I’ve seen. Mm-hmm. Um, but I can still interact and exist in these spaces and have a good time and, and have good food and, and yeah.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: So, yeah. Beautiful. And so the taco. What’s the taco?

Mando Rayo: That’s, that’s a tough one because, uh, I’ll tell you my favorite. It wasn’t served today, though. I mean, who’d love their caritas taco today? And their ta right. And their taco. But god damn. That’s ero.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Ah, thank you. No, we again, we are constantly throwing it at the wall and trying to see like, can we do something differently with this?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Can we, we just. For us, a huge move is that we just changed our salt after six years of having the same salt. And I know it’s boring, but it’s, uh, it’s something that, it’s a privilege, it’s a, it’s a privilege right now that we can afford to spend a little bit more in our salt and we see it coming through now in our cooks.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Um, so every single taco has a very meaningful story for us. You know, it’s like. The thing, uh, was my mom’s recipe originally that she worked with my wife to show her how to make it, and then she took it and made it her own. The, the nos is, is a mage to Maita that makes the best GI sauces I’ve ever had anywhere.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Um, ours is like a less spicy version of it, you know, ’cause we’re still trying to meet, meet in the middle. Um, but really I think if I had to thanks a lot white people and, and, and all of them again, go back to being an immigrant and wanting to go back to Mexico and I’m just like seeing. Taco, I’m, I’m seeing, you know, I’m hearing about the GIS from the northern part of Mexico that we’re at, and I’m like, I really want to go.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: If I go, I can’t come back. Yeah. So I just start at home trying to cook these things and recreate the flavors going off of. What I’ve had from my wita, what I’ve had from my mom and my TIAs. And, and that’s again, where the story starts for, for all of these tacos. But if I had to choose one, I would say it’s the, it’s the trompo.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: It’s the, it’s the pastor. All right. It’s, uh, the past. It’s got a Saturdays only. Saturdays only. It’s, uh. Very much a labor of love. We, we started making it about five years ago. Um, I bought the Trompo when I started off and my mom told me that I was crazy because I had never worked in a Mexican kitchen. I had never made tacos where I don’t come from a family of restaurateurs.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Um, and I definitely had never used the Trompo, but I saw it at a used restaurant equipment store and I thought. I could learn how to use this and that would be really cool. And so we did, we started to build our little trompo and we didn’t know what we were doing. We still don’t know what we’re doing. Um, I have the, you’re doing a

Mando Rayo: good job by, by not knowing.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: I, I have the receipts I’ve taken. I take a picture most, now it’s a little harder, but I’ve been taking pictures every Saturday. Just to document. And our trompo was a little, like, it was upside down. It, it was like six pieces of meat that I sliced and

Mando Rayo: trompo. The first time you make it is always upside down, by the

Margarito “Mago” Perez: way.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yes. So it, it, it’s been a process, but I’m very proud of that one because it, it, um, I think encapsulates that of, you know, not being able to necessarily have whatever you want, whenever you want it or how you want it, but coming here. And taking the time out of your day to come on a Saturday, you know, and, and right now, maybe stand in line for a little bit.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah. But knowing that, hey, I’m coming here because maybe someone I trust. Told me, or I read somewhere that this is worthwhile and, and kind of taking that shot on us and, and, and then letting the tacos do the, do the speaking for themselves. So yeah, that’s a, that’s a special one for me.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. No, I love it.

Mando Rayo: I love it. And, you know, you mentioned something, uh, about going home and if I go home, I can’t come back. Right?

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Mando Rayo: And so that’s the idea around like, I think what a lot of people navigating today in 2025 with the immigration rates and the ice rates and how it’s affecting a lot of restaurant workers and you know, the fear that’s happening in our communities.

Mando Rayo: And what can we do, uh, to stand up? But, you know, um, you’re, you, you were out there. You were out there in the protest. Yes. You know, and so what drove you to, to get, put yourself out there? Because when you think about, you know, just people that are being affected, literally affected, whether you look brown or Mexican, it doesn’t matter.

Mando Rayo: What, and you have a business, what, what drove you to say, you know what, I’m gonna go out there and protest y

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah, I think you touched on it. Um, just this lifelong journey of, of, uh, what’s going on right now for a lot of us is too familiar. It’s, it’s not anything new, it’s just, uh, it’s just. Really heightened right now, you know?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: So it’s been, uh, it’s been really tough to navigate that and process that where, uh, again, I’m very fortunate that I fell in love. You know, I never, I was that kid that said they were never gonna get married, and we got married and. Even though it’s been a difficult process because of the current administration, I was able to get my residency and you know, it, it’s just dumb luck that I am allowed to be here.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: You know, up at when I opened paprika, I was undocumented. Um, the first year, two years that I worked it, I was undocumented. And so, um, as you start to see this all just. Bubbling up. You know, for me it’s something that I’ve never, uh, never been, never been okay with, you know, and, and it’s something that we’ve tried to use the little platform that we have here, um, to keep saying and encourage other folks to say that like.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: I think I saw it on someone’s shirt, you know, that like no human being is illegal. Yeah. You know, these very simple, very, you know, to me just common sense, um, beliefs, but that unfortunately are still not accepted by folks, you know? And so, uh, growing up in the Midwest, that was something I dealt with a lot, you know, is that like.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Oftentimes my friends would say, well, you’re one of the good ones, you know, well, you, you took the time to learn English. And it’s like, well, no, I, I was very privileged and very fortunate that I grew up around you. But, uh, at the same time, like, I still love tacos. I still love speaking Spanish. You know, and it’s like you were having a good time with me before you realized this, this one piece about me, you know, that I, that I also had no say in, you know, I was born in Mexico again by.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Dumb luck. And, and I’m very grateful for that. But, uh, but yeah, I think what drove me to go protest is exactly that, that we, uh, I thought that was the foundation of what makes this country so great to me, is that you can, uh, use your voice to speak up for or against something that you believe in or don’t believe in, you know?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And, and, and so that’s exactly what my wife and I. We’re doing. Um, we actually, and, and, and there was an

Mando Rayo: altercation and, and you, you ended up being arrested?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yes. Uh, we were violently arrested. It’s, it’s something that is still, uh, very heavy for us. It’s something that definitely set us back. This all took place.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: At a moment where we’ve now signed the lease on this space, we’re getting busier on the food truck. Um, we are trying to figure out what this means because again, none of neither one of us has experience in this world or has any real money to show or anything to fall back on. Um, so we are trying to figure this out ourselves.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And then, uh, I will never forget that we actually, in this room that we’re at right now. Um, we had our little pop-up tables as we were working on the space and we took some of the boxes from the product that we had and ’cause we’re still prepping for the food truck, we busted out our markers and we wrote our cardboard signs, you know, that said, Amos, you know, we’re here and, and we’re not going anywhere.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And so we finished up, I think we got in here around. Eight or nine that Monday. And usually we’re here until around eight or nine when we don’t have service and we’re just prepping. And that day, I remember around five, we’re like, we gotta go, we gotta be downtown. We didn’t know much about it, but we knew that folks were gonna be, uh, protesting at the Capitol.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And so we’re like, this is a very simple, peaceful way of, of showing solidarity and, and, and, uh, showing support. And yeah, we showed up and. As the night went, you know, um, things started to go go south. Um, we started to be frankly harassed, you know, by, uh, by the agencies there. And then, um, we were told to disperse, at which point, um, everyone starts running and then we were entrapped and.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: They tackled my wife. You know, I won’t get into detail ’cause it, it is something that’s still very much traumatic, but they tackled my wife and I just remember, um, my mind going blank. You know, having a fear of like, I am not this, this. This is a person that I love and, and I’m, I’m not gonna allow anything to happen to her.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: So I just remember jumping on top of her and hugging her, at which point I had, you know, four officers on me grabbing me by the head and bashing my face into the street. I had, uh, my forehead busted open. I was concussed. We, I’ve never taken days off of work or called in sick. And I thought I could keep going after this.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: And only afterward of being in here and going through the motions that I realized, like for two months I wasn’t myself, I was moving slower. And I was like, people are coming in and I’m so used to remembering everyone’s name, remembering everyone’s order, and I’m like, I’m really struggling to even to move my body right now and, and gather my thoughts and, and, uh, yeah, I think, um, I think it’s something that.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: That, um, while it will never leave us at the same time, it’s very small compared to what other folks are going through right now here and, and in other parts of the world, you know, um, we are very fortunate still to still have our lives to, to now have our health to still, despite that get the RIA opened and to now have folks.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Coming through, you know, you folks are here today, so it’s like we’re very, I, I still am very grateful and I feel very fortunate and, uh, I think it could be a lot worse. And, and that’s what doesn’t sit well with me is that there’s still folks that are being, yeah. Targeted and, and attacked. And there’s communities that are being destroyed and, and families that are being destroyed, you know?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: So, no, I

Mando Rayo: agree. I agree. And I think when you think about what’s happening, you know, out in our communities, uh, you know, people that are there to, in a sense, protect people that live here, um, they’re emboldened to be aggressive and violent towards people that look a certain way. And so, um. So it’s, it’s hard.

Mando Rayo: Yeah, it’s hard. And then the, the, the trauma that goes afterwards that you kind of, it’s lingering there. You know what I mean?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah, no, you, you said it exactly right. I think, uh, again, it’s, it’s, it’s an animosity or it’s a feeling. It, it’s a hatred that I think a lot of us have felt, but it, it’s all, at least since I was a child, it always feels like it has been more masked.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: You know, you had to draw the line somewhere. Whereas now, like you said, folks are being emboldened to, yeah. Say it out loud, and not only that, but are incentivized, you know, to, for example, you mentioned ice. You know, you’re incentivized to apply to agencies like this and, and, and go out without any real training and start arresting folks, kidnapping folks, you know, attack people and no accountability with zero accountability or, or training or credibility.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: You know, and, and, and no, uh, up until now, no repercussions really. So I, I don’t know. Um, how it stops or how it gets better, you know, again, that’s, that’s been a lifelong journey I think, for myself and a lot of folks. And so, um, 33 years in now, I was hoping that we’d be in a better place, but this feels like a big, a big step back, you know, so.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Well,

Mando Rayo: I think, like, you know, you said, I dunno how it stops or how it gets better, it’s, it takes people like us. Yeah. People here that can say something. Yeah. And they can stand up, you know, for, for people that are, that have gone through something that, that you’re going through. But also, uh, our communities are going through a lot of this.

Mando Rayo: And then, so, so it has to go beyond, oh, I’m just gonna support the business of, uh, buying a taco. But it has to be more like, how do we stand up exactly for each other and show up for each other, you know what I mean?

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah. I, I agree. I, I, uh, a million times. Perf prefer someone to use, use their voice, use their platform, use, you know, whatever it may be, the privileges that they have to, to, to help bridge that gap.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah. Then, then to come through here, you know, you don’t need to buy food from us. That’s, that’s great and we appreciate that. But really, I think, uh, I think that’s the bigger, that’s the bigger issue right now is that there’s, there’s people that are being.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Yeah.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: You know,

Mando Rayo: marginalized and, and, yeah.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Continue to be marginalized. Yeah. And so I, I think, uh, you know, part of us thinking about like, okay, um. Th these are the current things that are happening. They’ve been happening, right? But now, today, you really see it, you see it on, on the every day. And so I think it’s important for us to really kind of, uh, like I said, you know, show up and support, you know, taros like mago and businesses, small businesses that are going through a, a lot of fear, I would say.

Mando Rayo: Um, and yeah, and, and you know, like oftentimes, you know, uh, if you’re new to the podcast, you know that. We talk about tacos, but we also talk about the important, relevant issues that are so connected to us. So you can’t eat a taco without understanding the culture and the people and the community issues and so, you know.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Um.

Mando Rayo: So with that going through, obviously, you know what we, at least what I can do is give, give you this platform, right? Yeah. And then, and then showcase your story and figure out how do we move forward. And so how are you moving forward and, and what’s next for, uh, well, to be honest, I, you’ve, have you been open for a month?

Mando Rayo: Yes. Uh, just a little bit

Margarito “Mago” Perez: over a month. I think this was our second week.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Can you believe that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Yeah, no, and, and I’m, I’m very grateful again for you folks coming through. I’m very grateful for you for sharing this platform. I apologize. ’cause like I said, I’m, I’m terribly anxious.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: I’m a lousy speaker, but, uh, but I still think, you know,

Mando Rayo: hopefully a good soccer player. Yeah.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Not good enough to go professional, but. But I, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s, I think it matters, you know, it, it seems small, but even just leaving here, you know, and, and maybe talking to that friend of yours and, and, and maybe speaking up, you know, when you hear someone spewing rhetoric or, or doing something that is, is rooted in hatred or ignorance and saying, you know what, like maybe let’s, let’s stop and, and, and really think about, uh.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: What we’re talking about here, because we’re talking about human lives, you know, that, that are just like you and I and, and, and, uh, with no real say with on, on where you’re born, you know? And so I think as far as. What’s next? You know, um, very much from a legal standpoint. We still have court cases that we’re navigating, but ultimately for me, um, what has kept me here in, instead of running away from Austin and instead of running away from the United States, because at this point it’s very easy for me to.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: You know, throw it away and say, I’m going to Mexico. I don’t want to be bothered. Um, I just wanna enjoy the food and, and live my life. I, I, I think what keeps me here is knowing that there are other folks that maybe don’t have, maybe can’t make that decision or, or aren’t able to use their voice in, in that way.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Um, and trying to carve out, uh. A space, a platform, or an avenue for them to, to do that, you know, and to know that they are represented here and that they do matter, you know? And, and, and so I think right now just existing, you know, paprika existing as a RIA for, for six years now and, and going into this space, like we get folks all the time that question the validity or the authenticity, you know, without knowing anything about.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: Us or, or our story, you know? And, and it’s not just, it’s just not, it’s not just Mexico and Mexicans, you know, we have friends here that are from Venezuela, you know, we have, we we’re, we really, we really believe that just by showing up and, and, and doing what we do. Um, and then folks like yourselves taking note of that and, and partaking in that.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: It’s a, it’s a m victory, you know, it’s a small victory, but it’s a victory to just, just exist because that’s very much what it feels, um, like a lot of folks don’t want, you know, it’s for folks like myself to exist in this country. And, and so just really the phrase existence is resistance. Is, is where, for me, at least, where I move forward right now is by doing everything I can to, uh, um, to show that.

Margarito “Mago” Perez: We’re worthwhile. You belong. We belong. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful. Just as much as the next guy, so, yes. Beautiful. Give it up. Thank you.

Mando Rayo: So, um. You came for the tacos and maybe you learned a little bit, right? So thank you so much. Uh, everyone please give it up for Mago Marto Perez

Mando Rayo: Mago. My go, my go, my

Speaker 2: go, my go.

Mando Rayo: Tacos, baratos. All right. Now I’m gonna do my closeout. So thank you. Well, first of all, thank you everybody for coming out, you know, today to celebrate our, our wrap party. And just for us it’s, it’s important to. Sal not only celebrate, but come together as a community, right? So, uh, if you had a good taco today, come back.

Mando Rayo: If you met somebody today, stay in touch. If you haven’t met a new person, connect with each other. You know, and we, we do everything. The, like I said, you know, I always said is the, the, the taco tastes better when you know the story, right? So this has been the Tacos of Texas podcast developed and produced by identity productions.

Mando Rayo: If you enjoy today’s episodes and are craving more taco content. Go to our website at Identity Productions or follows on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube at Identity Productions and United Tacos of America. This is your host, Mando El Taco, journalist Rao Bamo Tacos.

Louisa Van Assche: The Tacos of Texas podcast is presented by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX studios. Our host and producer is Mando. Our audio is. Mixed by Nicholas Weden. Our story producer is me, Louisa Van, and our creative producer is Dennis Burnett. Music was created by Palosa in Austin, Texas, and King Benny Productions located in the Quinto Barrio of Houston.