Listen
This interview in this episode of TOT originally aired on the Texas Standard in June, 2015. The following excerpt comes from the Texas Standard article that originally featured the interview heard in this episode.
You’ve seen the headlines this month: “America’s Egg Shortage Threatens Austin’s Breakfast Taco Supply”,“Austin Restaurants Respond To National Egg Crisis”. But – wait a minute. We need to think through this clearly. Deep breaths. Not having eggs in your tacos isn’t a tragedy; this is an opportunity to branch out of your comfort zone. That’s what Mando Rayo says – he’s the author of a book called “Austin Breakfast Tacos.” He stopped by the Texas Standard to put us at ease.
Tacos of Texas is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
The full transcript of this episode of Tacos of Texas is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Mando Rayo: Hey, this is Mando Rayo from the Tacos of Texas. We’re busy cooking up season seis, but in the meantime, here’s a segment from my interview on the Texas Standard. You can hear me every month talking about tacos and taco culture and get ready for a seis premiering on August, 2026. The Tacos Of Texas is produced by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX Studios. Listen on KUT.org. Or wherever you get your podcasts.
David Brown: This is The Texas Standard, I’m David Brown. As you may have heard, we here at The Standard, well, like the rest of Texas, we are of two minds when it comes to the breakfast taco. See, some of us call it breakfast taco, some of call it a breakfast burrito, all right? But in the interest of peace and harmony, we’re going to move through the following segment with breakfast taco as the agreed upon object of our affection, the subject of our discussion. Let’s begin with some headlines from around the country, shall we? America’s egg shortage threatens Austin’s breakfast taco supply. Austin restaurants respond to national egg crisis. Now, wait a minute. We need to think through this clearly, don’t we? Not having eggs in your tacos isn’t a tragedy. This is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to branch out of your comfort zone. At least that’s what Mando Reyes says. He wrote the book on tacos, a book called Breakfast Tacos in Austin, and he’s working on his second manifesto as well, The Tacos of Texas.
Mando Rayo: Yeah, that’s right. It’s the national food of Texas. It is the national-
David Brown: Welcome to the studio!
Mando Rayo: Yeah, thanks for having me.
David Brown: So now I’ve heard some places around town are charging extra for egg tacos. Is that true?
Mando Rayo: Um, yes, that is true. They’re charging just a little bit extra, uh, delivery fee of the egg from the check-in as well as limiting their hours of operation for breakfast, where it is a tragedy when you’re in Austin. Cause in Austin, if you wake up at seven in the morning at two in the afternoon or five o’clock, you need your breakfast.
David Brown: Yeah, absolutely. So so do you pay extra for an egg taco or do you just go for something else?
Mando Rayo: Um, you know, um, I don’t pay extra because I know where to go. I have a, you now, insider scoop, but you know the breakfast taco, you know, Mexicans been eating tacos since, you know, before Texas was Texas. And breakfast taco not only comes with eggs.
David Brown: Okay, so I have seen egg and what is it? What do they call potatoes in Spanish?
Mando Rayo: Papas. Papas, right. Paparantieras, usually.
David Brown: Okay. Yeah. So I’ve seen, I’ve seen eggs and, and papas. I’ve seen the, um, uh, barbacoa. I’ve seen the bean and, uh cheese variety. Yep. Um, what else? I mean, especially for vegetarians among it. I mean what, what is it that you recommend people try out if we’re going to explore during this age of, uh egg shortages.
Mando Rayo: Anything outside of eggs, you can have barbacoa, picadillo, right? With, you know, kind of ground beef with potatoes and some pico de gallo mixed in like that with some spices, lots of pepper, carne guisada, you know, so stewed meat and a gravy. And that’s.
David Brown: Cactus would you go yeah?
Mando Rayo: Yeah, yeah, usually you can but that goes really well with eggs. It’s a cactus and egg taco. Oh, that’s interesting So what about avocado? Yeah, no you can have an an avocado and bean taco. That’s and it was just a little bit of cheese. It was delicious
David Brown: OK, now you’ll have to excuse me because I’m getting some tweets here. And yes, I have to share some of that. OK, OK. We are hearing from some folks in Austin who say it is not a breakfast taco. If you don’t have.
Mando Rayo: He laughs in your face i i laugh in your face uh abuelitas have been making uh breakfast tacos uh without eggs as soon as that part of frijoles was done refried With a little bit of butter, that’s a breakfast taco.
David Brown: Mando Rayo is the author of Austin Breakfast Tacos and the forthcoming book, The Tacos of Texas. That’s fall 2016. Thank you very much for coming in and speaking with us. Thank you.
Mando Rayo: You can find Talkers of Texas on KUT.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
