Tacos of Texas

In today’s episode of Tacos of Texas, we sit down with Reyna Vazquez, chef and co-founder of Veracruz All Natural to talk about her brand-new cookbook, Veracruz All Natural: Fresh Mexican Recipes from Our American Home. Reyna also shares her family’s journey, from crossing the border to the success of seven taco spots across Austin.

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.

Speaker 1 [00:00:00] Oh, well, we had quite a lot. It was even a joke that Marek and I had at the beginning when we were sitting there waiting for the customers, really without customers, doing nothing. And we joked and we said, hey, if we don’t make money selling tacos, we have to write a book about everything that’s going to happen to us in this time.

Mando Rayo [00:00:25] What’s up taco world, I’m taco journalist Mando Rayo and welcome to the Tacos of Texas podcast El Seis produced by Denny 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. So grab a torpia de maiz y mantequilla con un poquito de sal and get ready for some Tasty Taco Conversations. In today’s episode of Tacos of Texas, we sit down with Reyna Vázquez, chef and co-founder of Veracruz All Natural, to talk about her brand new cookbook, Veracrus All Natural Fresh Mexican Recipes from Our American Home. And the road from Aguas Naturales trailer to seven tacos pots across Austin. Que onda mi gente, Mando Rayo here, coming at you from Casita Rayo Granada. This season, we’re inviting you into my little casita, that’s right, into my own home. A place where semillas and tacos grow. Today’s guest is somebody I’ve known for a long time. We go way back, from the time our daughter Quetzal was still rumbling in the belly. She’s also seen this taco journalism thing of mine play out from the beginning. And I watch her build something the whole country eats now. So having Reyna here at my table with her name on a book, pues se siente super especial. The new book by sisters Reyna and Maritza Vazquez, titled Veracruz All Natural, Mexican Recipes from Our American Home, is a new take on Mexican-American cooking rooted in fresh produce of coastal Veracruce. This is a deeply personal book from the immigrant sisters who founded one of Austin’s most beloved restaurants and taco trucks. And you’re gonna get to know the real Veracruz. Long coastline, heavy on seafood, fresh herbs, tropical fruits, corn, beans, squash. So when y’all see vegetarian tacos on their menu and you think awesome tread, nah. For Reyna, that’s just how they cook back home.

Speaker 3 [00:03:02] .

Mando Rayo [00:03:09] It’s taco time, and now here’s a word from our sponsor. This episode is sponsored by People of the Parks, the official podcast of Austin Parks Foundation. Join host Katie and Susie as they explore the city’s nearly 400 parks, trails, and green spaces and discuss what goes into keeping them safe, clean, and accessible. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Reina Vasquez is the co-founder and chef behind Vera Cruz All Natural, the award-winning restaurant empire she built with her sister Maritza, home to some of the best breakfast tacos in Austin, Texas. And together, the two sisters are also the authors of a brand new cookbook, the Vera Cruz, All Natural Cookbook. And no to our listeners, this, we’re going to mix it up. So we’ll talk in English a little bit, but mostly in Spanish to get to deeper into the story of Reyna, right? So Reyna welcome to our casita. What do you think of my setup? I love it.

Speaker 1 [00:04:16] I love it. I’m in love with the pastel colors and all your decorations. Yes, super. Thank you for having me.

Mando Rayo [00:04:22] Y también hice una salsita.

Speaker 1 [00:04:24] I can’t wait to try it!

Mando Rayo [00:04:27] Well, welcome, welcome to the podcast, welcome home. Well, let’s start from the beginning. Of course. You are from Veracruz. Yes. Tell me a little bit about how it was when you were little and who was in the kitchen and how you learned to cook. Yes, of course. To people who don’t know much about Veracrus.

Speaker 1 [00:04:53] Of course. Well, my mom’s whole family is from Veracruz. We grew up in Veracrus in a very familiar environment. Maritza and I were always together. We are the best friends. Right now we have become partners and it has been super working with her. And yes, since we were little, my mother always had little businesses in her house. Food, poultry, butcher shop, barbeque.

Speaker 3 [00:05:22] But at home, right? Yes, at home.

Speaker 1 [00:05:25] Yes, at home. In Mexico, it’s very common to start a business in your home. So, we had to see my mom start almost all of our childhood. And part of that, when we were teenagers, was to help her in the kitchen.

Mando Rayo [00:05:42] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 [00:05:42] Making tortillas, salsa. What was the first thing? The first thing was always the tortillas. The tortillas right? Yes, I know how to make tortillas since I was 8 years old.

Mando Rayo [00:05:52] They’re all trying the other way now, okay.

Speaker 1 [00:05:53] Yes, and then the different types of sauces, and he also taught us how to make fresh water, and all that.

Mando Rayo [00:06:01] Todo rico, rico, y luego mucho pescado, cosas tropicales, vegetales, ¿verdad?

Speaker 1 [00:06:11] Yes, in Veracruz there is a lot of the part of the dough that are the antojitos, the empanadas, the panuchos, the picaditas, but there is also the part of the seafood, because it is Puerto. So yes, we have the Veracrusada fish that is on the cover, the shrimp, the cocktails, ceviches, aguachiles. So yes we have all that combination of food.

Mando Rayo [00:06:38] You’re putting water in my mouth!

Speaker 1 [00:06:42] It’s one of my favorite things, the aguachiles, the ceviches, I love them.

Mando Rayo [00:06:47] And then tell me when you came to Austin or to the United States and how you got here.

Speaker 1 [00:06:55] Of course. We immigrated to the United States in 1999. Before that, the first one to come was my brother. Then came my dad, then my mom, me and Marissa. It was little by little.

Mando Rayo [00:07:14] See you poquito a poquito.

Speaker 1 [00:07:15] Yes, of course. My brother was always very ambitious in that aspect. He didn’t like the life we had in Veracruz very much. He aspired much more. He wanted our family to be in a better place. And he decided at the age of 18 to move to the United States.

Mando Rayo [00:07:38] ¿Y cómo llegaron? ¿Cómo llegaron, yo sé que, como muchos inmigrantes, este, no más es, bueno, hay diferentes modos, ¿verdad? Sí. Pero, ¿y me puedes platicar poquito de cómo ustedes cruzaron?

Speaker 1 [00:07:53] Of course, we talk a lot about this story in the book, our story, because it was very impactful for us. For me, I crossed the border undocumented at 18 years old. I was 16 years old 16. Maricza was 19. So we were young. We didn’t really know what we were doing. We just knew that we were looking for a better life, a better opportunity for the family.

Mando Rayo [00:08:30] And then they came to Austin, in what year, and then they started working here, right?

Speaker 1 [00:08:38] Yes, we arrived in 1999 and I remember that the first week I didn’t leave my depa. I mean, I was super scared to even go to the store or go out because I didn´t really know the situation or how to move here. Just like my mom, so for a week we had to stay in the depa, locked up, like, with fear. Yes, with the fear. Because it was a totally different culture, the language. And the fear of being documented. After the week, my brother got me a job at the restaurant Chapala. Cesar Chavez. I wanted to work at Chapala, and Cesar was our first job there. I started there, and when Maritza arrived after me, she also started working at that restaurant, and that’s where our adventure began.

Mando Rayo [00:09:36] And then, yes, when they did, in English it was the jump, when they jumped to start a business.

Speaker 1 [00:09:46] Well, it really was after many years of working as a waitress. There came a time when I didn’t enjoy going to the restaurant anymore. It was like I was already 8 years old working in the restaurant and I aspired for something more.

Speaker 3 [00:10:05] See you guys tomorrow.

Speaker 1 [00:10:05] Ah, yo viniendo de una familia de emprendedores, mi papá siempre tuvo su negocito también de mecánica y laminación y pintura. Mi mamá siempre pues su negocio. Entonces, como que eso ya venía en mí de que yo quiero ser mi propia jefa. Sí, ándale. Y creo que ya no estoy disfrutando lo que estoy haciendo y me voy a ventar, ¿no? A comprar una trailita y a empezar de cero, ¿No? Porque realmente no… At that time, I didn’t have any money to start a business. I just had what I had. Yes, yes, yes. But I knew it was time. It was time already. To really go to work in Chapala, although it sounds bad, but it’s like… Yes. It wasn’t the working environment. It was more like… I wanted to do something more.

Mando Rayo [00:10:55] See You

Speaker 1 [00:10:56] And the motivation was always my mom. My mom was cleaning houses at that time. But also, since she has asthma, she was also affecting the chemicals she used to clean the houses. So I saw her and said, I want a better life for my mom, I don’t want to clean houses anymore. I want to have a successful business so that my family may have a better opportunity.

Mando Rayo [00:11:25] He said no, enough, no more pine-salt. No more, but he loved it. The blue, the blue, what is it called? The blue one. Which?

Speaker 1 [00:11:32] Which one? Yes, I liked the purple one, I thought it was the purple. Yes, yes, yes. Yes, and I have that smell, but I told them. But I told them.

Mando Rayo [00:11:41] Sometimes you go to a taqueria and that’s what it smells like. Yes, it’s like no, no, not anymore. Like Mexico.

Speaker 1 [00:11:47] As a Mexican, you recognize that smell. But yes, that smell is super recognized. But yes. That was the motivation to start, to have mom in the mind that she wanted to leave.

Mando Rayo [00:12:02] Yes, and then they started with juices and natural waters, more or less.

Speaker 1 [00:12:09] Yes, we started a small toy shop. It was for the only thing we could afford. We had a blender, not even a commercial one, it was a home blender. We made the fresh water, the juices. He was still making the juice by hand, without anything electric, because he really couldn’t afford it. To buy the appropriate equipment to do it like that. So we started little by little. And little by little, I remember that a friend of mine arrived with a VitaMix blender, Mrs. Rosa Santis. She was one of our first customers and she realized how our situation was there. The homemade operation. And she arrived with the blender and the name.

Mando Rayo [00:13:00] He came with a blender as a professional, right?

Speaker 1 [00:13:02] And she didn’t give them away, and that day I was the happiest. But yes, there were a lot of people who helped us in the beginning. And you were one of them. Yes, me too. I remember. You were the first Veracruz-Honado client. Yes, no, no.

Mando Rayo [00:13:19] No, no, I know my wife too, when we were with Quetzal, she was still pregnant, and we always didn’t have the craving for water, yes, the fruits, do you remember? The fruits, go ahead, go, because I told my wife, oh, let’s go here, it’s a new place, a little place. And I told him, no, they’re going to sing to you, and then from there…

Speaker 1 [00:13:50] She was my best client. Seriously. Yes, right? Not only was she beautiful, but she was our best client too. Because we really didn’t have any clients.

Mando Rayo [00:14:01] Yes, yes. And then those first years, how did you do it? What were some of the battles you had?

Speaker 1 [00:14:10] Oh, well, we had a lot. It was even a joke that Marek and I had at the beginning when we were sitting there waiting for the customers, really without customers, without doing anything. And we joked and said, hey, if we don’t make money selling tacos, we have to write a book about everything that’s going to happen to us. In this time, and we just laughed, and now we have a book in our hands. But yes, there were many things. Because to start, to get permits, it was a bit complicated. Because we didn’t have the right documents to get the permits. We had to change the way. I remember that at the beginning we had to put the… The business in the name of my father, because we didn’t have papers, and it was a little easier in that respect. And things like that that we started to do in order to be able to carry it out. So, it wasn’t easy at the beginning, and I think the biggest challenge was not to sell in the first two years, you know? How to be there opening, doing all the operation, putting the hours from seven in the morning to nine at night. And we would buy, prepare, attend, all the operations. And we made $80 a day.

Mando Rayo [00:15:42] Si, si! Andale!

Speaker 1 [00:15:44] So for two years we didn’t get paid. We really had to have a job in the morning and another one in the afternoon, and vice versa, in the beginning. I was the first one to tell Marissa, you know what? I’m going to have to leave the other job to focus on the business, and we started to do a little bit better in the third year, and we did a little better.

Mando Rayo [00:16:10] Andale, andale. Si. Y luego cuando era cuando comenzaron a cocinar los tacos y los diferentes platillos también? Cuando era cuando ya al fin comenzó a reconocer a la gente, la comunidad, a ustedes? Y cuando se lanzó al nivel nacional? Si. Si.

Speaker 1 [00:16:36] Well, it was after the third year. I remember that Austin Chronicle wrote an article about our tortas. I remember it was the first article where Veracruz appeared and that really helped us a lot because people started to come and try it. By then we already had a more extensive menu, which was the menu of… Tacos de desayuno, de lonche y teníamos tortas, me acuerdo, tortas de pierna, que fue de lo que habló Austin Crónico en el artículo, y eso nos ayudó enormemente. Tú nos ayudabas bastante porque en ese tiempo nosotros no, social media no era una cosa, no era tanto, era más como artículos y creo que tú fuiste uno de los primeros que empezaste.

Mando Rayo [00:17:28] I have a video, I have video that I went to your truck and there you were, super hot, I think it’s still on YouTube.

Speaker 3 [00:17:41] Hahaha

Mando Rayo [00:17:43] We’re going to have to put it in part of this episode. With the migas, I agree. Yes, with the miga, go ahead. You can talk about that taco, the migaz. When you started selling it, what did you think? Was it just another taco or how did it come about?

Speaker 1 [00:18:07] Realmente, o sea, empezamos con la línea de tacos de desayuno, pero al estilo mamá, como nos acordábamos que no los hacía mi mamá. Y este, y el de migas, mamá nos los hacia con huevo y las tortilla chips que les quedaba del otro, del día anterior y el choricito, y así nos hacía las migas con lo que había quedado en el refri, ¿no? Entonces de eso nos acordábamos cuando llegamos a Estados Unidos. Y empecé a trabajar en el Chapala y empezamos a probar diferentes tipos de migas aquí en acá. Era totalmente diferente el sabor, entonces extrañábamos ese crunch de la tortilla chips y así, ciertas cositas, la salsita picosa y así. Entonces, cuando creamos nuestro menú de comida, dijimos, bueno, vamos a vamos a poner un taco de miga, pero un taco de miguas que nos recuerde más. To what we grew up eating at home and we began to fry our chips tortillas and make the tortillas made by hand. I don’t know if you remember that we took out our molcajete with the molcaje sauce. Oh yes, they put it outside.

Mando Rayo [00:19:22] That’s how people served each other.

Speaker 1 [00:19:23] Exactly, so all those little things, I think people really liked the homemade touch that really didn’t exist in many places at that time.

Mando Rayo [00:19:35] Si, si. Y luego llego el South by Southwest, llego la Rachel Ray y otros como celebrity chefs y todo eso, ¿verdad?

Speaker 1 [00:19:47] Yes, the voice began to run and I remember that when we opened the second location that was in Waller and 6th Street, there was the hotspot to be during the festival of music. So, no, it was going very well, super tired, but it was full of people and a lot of chefs arrived. All over the world, and the voice began to run, and so it was like Veracruz, little by little we got to know each other by their voices.

Mando Rayo [00:20:22] And this is the TACOS DE MIGAS, the super star, right?

Speaker 1 [00:20:27] Yes, we didn’t know that it was going to be the superstar, but it turned out to be a very popular taco on our menu, to this day it is the one that sells the most.

Mando Rayo [00:20:37] Si, wow, wow. Y lo… Bueno, si aqui comes Los tacos mañaneros Desayuno Siempre hay carne, pero esas no tienen carne.

Speaker 1 [00:20:50] No, estos no tienen carne. Le puedes agregar tostino o chorizo, pero ya es…

Mando Rayo [00:20:56] Ya llega tu gusto no?

Speaker 1 [00:20:58] But it is always the focus of Veracruz when we open, since we opened, was to offer something a little more healthy.

Mando Rayo [00:21:08] Más saludable.

Speaker 1 [00:21:10] More material, more healthy, have a little more options of that type, right? And well, yes, when creating the menu, well, the amigas taco, we said, well … In other words, it doesn’t have to have meat so that it tastes good, it just needs a good sauce, good tortillas. I mean, we went to the basics. Yes, yes. Because really, if you see the ingredients, they are in the book. The truth is, they aren’t ingredients … Wow, they’re basic, but it does have a lot to do with the technique and the ingredients you use. The recipe for your salsa, you know that we love spicy salsa. Yes, yes, yes! So, at that time it was a risk that we took because we went to certain places and we tasted it, and I think the most spicy salsa that they gave me was ranchera with serrano. But when we said, well, we’re going to put the creamy jalapeño and the tree one, Maris said, but are they going to like it? Are they going crazy? I don’t know what Maris was worried about. But we said the two of us, no, well we risk it. Well, that’s how you eat it. In Chile, in Chile they are going to go crazy and that’s it. And no, the tree one is my favorite right now, it’s the most spicy one. I know, I know. And you know that the cremosa jalapeño too, I mean you love it, right? I don’t know, you love it, don’t you?

Mando Rayo [00:22:38] Yes, but for me too, Chile de Arbol.

Speaker 1 [00:22:41] Si, haciendo de mis favoritos

Mando Rayo [00:22:43] Sí, y luego bueno, y ya, bueno, me estás contando la historia de, ah, pues, tal vez un libro un día, siempre, siempre era la idea o nomás te estaban en chiste o…

Speaker 1 [00:22:58] It was just a joke. I mean, when were we going to think about writing a book?

Mando Rayo [00:23:03] But you already have the recipe. Tell me, tell me how you and Maritza and the family were, well, it’s time for a book. What are we going to do?

Speaker 1 [00:23:17] Yes, well, it really happened differently, because I remember that I received a call from our representative and he proposed to us to write a book about Veracruz Sol Natural. Really, we always joked, but I mean, from that to really think about starting to do it was a very different thing. And when she put it there, we said, well, I think it’s the right time, why not, let’s do it. And we said yes, and I started developing the recipes with my mom, and some of mine, little by little. I mean, it’s taken years to write this book because of the same reason, because we’re not writing a book. You know, it was like we started writing it when the opportunity to do it came. Entonces viniendo de una familia mexicana o mi familia que nosotros cocinamos todo por tiento nada pesamos

Mando Rayo [00:24:21] Oh, yes, yes. And imagine my mom. A touch of this. A break of … Yes.

Speaker 1 [00:24:27] Yes, there’s the cross, and the leaves, and you try it and that’s it. If it lacks salt, you add it. You never weigh anything or measure anything. So I think that was the biggest challenge for me. When I developed the recipes, it was with my mom, because sometimes we had everything, and we were already halfway through the recipe, and suddenly I turned around. Y ya le había echado no sé qué, no sé cuánto, y no lo habíamos medido ni pesado, entonces ya no podía, yo tenía que volverlo a hacer otra vez, porque las recetas tienen que ser exactas, ¿no?

Speaker 3 [00:25:04] Safe.

Speaker 1 [00:25:05] And things like that, but it was fun at the same time.

Mando Rayo [00:25:07] Sí, sí. Y luego hay muchas recetas que no todo tiene tiene carne esa más ingredientes de como de vegetales y naturales, ¿verdad?

Speaker 1 [00:25:22] Yes, it has a section, I mean, we have different chapters and we have the chapter of breakfast, we have a chapter of vegetarian, of vegetables, of soups, of something sweet, we have, I don’t know, of drinks, so we have there a bit of everything, we also have meats, we do have a little bit of it all.

Mando Rayo [00:25:46] And what are, if you want, oh well, two questions. One, your favorite recipe, and one, like, as if someone is just starting to cook.

Speaker 1 [00:25:59] Aha, sí. Bueno, pues para alguien que está empezando a cocinar totalmente, o sea los frijolitos, refritos o los fríjoles de la olla. Tengo una receta que apenas hice hace dos días. Otra vez después de que escribí el libro y que dije, ay, esto es tan simple pero es tan rico, son los friholes de olla con leche de coco y con hojas Santa.

Mando Rayo [00:26:27] Uh-oh, Hassan.

Speaker 1 [00:26:27] Si, en vez de echarle pasote, le tiro hoja santa y ahorita que estén temporadas la hoja santa, es fácil, le tiras unas cuatro hojitas ahí a la olla de hoja santa. Y le da un sabor espectacular. Eso es algo muy fácil de hacer, realmente no te toma mucho tiempo y son pocos ingredientes. Los frijoles refritos, las tortillitas. Si, ahí viene lo más básico.

Mando Rayo [00:26:50] Que le hace la leche de coco? Que es diferente.

Speaker 1 [00:26:54] Yes, it’s different. It gives a creamy taste to the beans, which I like. I really like the food too. After the Mexican food, my favorite is the Thai food. So that’s why I like to cook a lot with coconut milk too. There is a recipe for some steamed eggs, like the Mexican one, with coconut, which gives it a very rich flavor. So, yes, it only gives an extra layer of flavor and creaminess to the beans. And my favorite in the book, I would say, would be the shrimp in chipotle.

Speaker 3 [00:27:35] Okay.

Speaker 1 [00:27:35] Yo crecí comiendo mucho marisco, al igual que vegetales, pero para mí el marisco y en específico este platillo, como que me da nostalgia, porque era lo que comía yo cuando estaba pasando por un mal momento. Era como mi comfort food, de que ok, nos se metieron a robar a nuestra casa, ok, vamos a preparar camarones de chipotlados y vamos a comer.

Mando Rayo [00:28:01] Y ya iban a comer, iban toca la cuba, camaron camaron, camarón a la vista

Speaker 1 [00:28:13] I’m not very happy, but that’s one of my favorites. Yes, with all the skin and all the head. And you know me.

Mando Rayo [00:28:25] Me gustas mi toque, mi sazón, ¿qué recomiendas para mí?

Speaker 1 [00:28:33] Well, there I have the recipe for the carnitas, I’m not saying I’m going to compete with you because I already know that your carnitas are very delicious. I put the carnita there too, well, I don’t know, what would you like to see?

Mando Rayo [00:28:49] Well, I like the sauces, the meat, the tropical ingredients

Speaker 1 [00:28:58] Yes, yes, yes.

Mando Rayo [00:28:59] Uh-huh.

Speaker 1 [00:29:00] Yes, do you like chili water? Yes, chili water. Because I put a recipe for a creamy piquín sauce. No, not creamy piqueen, that’s one. But the one with citrus piquin. Ok. You can prepare that. I mean, you guys who like to cultivate your own chilies. The piquine chilies, you see that sometimes they come out a lot. What I do is a super easy sauce to make. I mean it’s a lemon base. A little bit of orange, a little honey, the chili peppers that have a lot of garlic and salt. But when you have that sauce base, you can add whatever you want. You can add shrimp, you can make a chili water type, you can put fish, or whatever you like. I feel like you’re going to like this one a lot, because it’s practical, it’s something you already have at home.

Mando Rayo [00:29:53] Perfect, perfect. Well, when you started, you just wanted to launch your business, the touch of your mother and the family, and you have already had many successes, right? ¿Y cómo piensas eso de, como si otras mujeres… Because when we talk about Mexican cuisine, there are times, there are machistas issues that, well, women are not going to do this, and the men, the taqueros always, always give them recognition, and women don’t. Uh-huh. And how do you feel about that? And what does another woman who wants to launch her restaurant or a business.

Speaker 1 [00:30:53] Yes, yes. Look, that topic does come to me a lot because I’ll tell you a story. When we just arrived in Austin, I remember that my mom was looking for a job in the kitchen. Because she was coming from running her own business and knowing how to cook so well, she said, well, I want to start working in the cuisine. It makes sense for me. So, but nobody gave him work in the kitchen. I mean, we’re talking about 1999 in Austin, right? It was very different now. So, at that time, I couldn’t find work in a kitchen. He had to go through the other route of cleaning houses, right, which was more or less the only thing that was possible to do at that point. So, that was, I mean… I’m disappointed in that, because I come from Mexico, where the kitchens are run by women. Really, the fountains, the little fountain, I know that the taqueria, at night or very late, is run by men, they are taqueros, right? But the economic kitchens, the small fountaines, in the market, the woman who is running the kitchen is always a woman. So, for me, that was very different from what I was used to. So, when we opened the business, our goal was to hire more women like us. To give them the opportunity to create jobs, but for women as well, so that we feel included and connected in that aspect.

Mando Rayo [00:32:41] Yes, and then you can see it. You can see when we go to Fonda, to La Mezca, to one of the trucks, yes, you can see it, and people love it too.

Speaker 1 [00:32:56] Sí, y pues sí porque pues recuerdo que pues los únicos trabajos que por decir a mí se me ofrecían en ese entonces era de mesera o en frente a la casa.

Speaker 3 [00:33:06] Mm-hmm

Speaker 1 [00:33:07] You’re young, you look good, and it shouldn’t be the case because your appearance shouldn’t dictate what you can or can’t do.

Speaker 3 [00:33:17] I love you.

Speaker 1 [00:33:17] No, so now that I think about it, I say, wow, if I had hired my mom to cook in those kitchens, it would have been a success, because those dishes are so delicious.

Mando Rayo [00:33:30] I know, I know.

Speaker 1 [00:33:33] Pero, pero sí.

Mando Rayo [00:33:33] Yes, and then right now, well, there are many things that are happening with immigration and how are you seeing things with your workers and workers and what do you say to someone who also wants to be in this country and also launch their businesses in these moments that we are in?

Speaker 1 [00:34:03] Yes, I would tell them that wanting is being able to do it. Everything starts with knowing what you want, with really wanting to do something, because I understand that there is fear. I had it at the beginning. I said, but will I be able to get permission? There are many questions in the air, but I also knew for sure that I no longer wanted to be working for someone else and no longer want to be in the place where I was. Entonces I would say, first, take the decision to do it, and right now there are many resources, there is a lot of help. I think that right now it is different from when I arrived, for example, so I would tell them to continue their dream, that they really continue, that it is not easy because sometimes we do romanticize the fact of undertaking a lot, and it looks beautiful and that, that’s why I say … Make sure that’s what you want, because if you want it, you’re going to go for it. If not, if you’re really half-doubting, or yes, no, yes, or no, maybe, I mean, it’s not going to be worth so much sacrifice that it takes to open a place, right? Because if it’s a lot of time sacrificed, it is a lot work, it takes a lot to knock on doors. It’s a lot like doing a lot of things so that one can be more or less successful, right? So, but yes, you can. I mean, we are a clear example of starting a business from the bottom. And right now, where we have reached, thank God, we have advanced through the years. We have been in the business for 18 years. Wow. A little bit more locations and that. I mean, really, the fruit is there. And when we see it, we say, okay, is all this worth it?

Speaker 3 [00:36:06] No.

Speaker 1 [00:36:07] Although, for me, success, well, it depends on each person what success is for you and for me. For me, the success is to see everything that has been sacrificed and be okay with it. And be happy with all that. Despite all that, I am happy. I mean, success really doesn’t have to do with being the author of a book, having so many locations. Realmente es. To have fulfilled my dream and to be well with all the sacrifice that has been done and to have been well with that.

Mando Rayo [00:36:42] Sí, pues muchas felicitaciones.

Speaker 1 [00:36:45] Gracias.

Mando Rayo [00:36:46] Felicitaciones por el libro y todos los éxitos y todos los tacos. Gracias.

Speaker 1 [00:36:54] Let me know what you think of the salsa, because the book is about salsa, it shows that without salsa there is no salsa.

Mando Rayo [00:37:04] No. No hay comida.

Speaker 1 [00:37:06] So, each dish is around a sauce.

Mando Rayo [00:37:12] Perfecto, perfecto. Ah, mira, aquí está. Ah sí. Es la que quería guardar. Ok. Pues bueno, Reina, muchas gracias por estar en el podcast.

Speaker 1 [00:37:22] No, gracias a ti por invitarme y pues, Maritza.

Mando Rayo [00:37:26] Si tambien, si

Speaker 1 [00:37:28] Well, I’m telling you, from you, I couldn’t be here, but really, well, it’s in your heart.

Mando Rayo [00:37:33] It’s here. It’s right here with us.

Speaker 1 [00:37:36] Here it is. Thanks for inviting me.

Mando Rayo [00:37:38] Andale, gracias. Gracias. OK. What a fun conversation and if you know, you’re not a Spanish speaker or a pocho like me Dig into it dig into the story. There’s lots of like apps to translate the The conversation it was great. It was really good. I kind of want to do a quick recap, you know around how they started not only Raina but Maritza and her mom and her family and how they came over to the United States, undocumented, at the age of 16 years old, working in a restaurant in East Austin, and then finally making the jump to creating their own little agua stand and juice stand. And then came the tacos. And you know, for them, it was all about like, going back home, what are the flavors of home? And that’s Veracruz, right? So just like they’re… Their book, Veracruz All Natural. We know them, we love them. And just digging into Reyna’s story, for me, brought just a lot of joy because of not only her hard work and perseverance, but as well as everything that they went through, everything that went to create their businesses from nothing, no investments. It was just them and their family recipes. And now they’ve had a lot success. And as well as being open about their immigration story. I think that’s super important. And one of the reasons why the interview was in Spanish was so other people that are Spanish dominant, Spanish speaking can understand her story and what they went through and they can be inspired by that. So I love that, I love the whole conversation around her family history and the story, how they got to Austin. And in a sense following their passions and their dreams and now they have a cookbook and it’s pretty amazing and they left one for me right here. So I’m gonna dabble, my first dabble is gonna be maybe some salsas. So i just want to say thank you Reina for being on the show, thank you Maritza, thank to Lee, thankyou to their mom and thank you for nourishing Austin for all these years And of course, you know, definitely shout out to them for their first cookbook. So check out the Veracruz All Natural Cookbook. The Last Sweet Bite when Ward changes the menu by Michael Shake. And that you have to pick up, great stories. And Asian Smoke, Thai and Southeast Asian barbecue from the Curry Boys out of San Antonio. So shout out those cookbook authors. This has been the Tacos of Texas podcast developed and produced by Identity Productions. If you enjoyed today’s episode and are craving more taco content, go to our website at www.identity.productions. Or follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube at IdentityProductions and United Tacos Of America. This is your host, Mando El Taco Journalist Rayo. Vamos a los tacos! In the next próximo, Tacos of Texas, Jalal Tacos, a Mexican, a Muslim, and a rancher walk into a taqueria. What happens when Jalal meets a taco truck? Let’s find out with Chef John Escamilla from Vecinos Tacos and his most loyal customer and advocate of the Austin Muslim community, Ahmed Imad.

Louisa Van Assche  [00:41:26] The Tacos of Texas podcast is presented by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX Studios. Our host and producer is Mando, el taco journalist Rayo. Our audio is mixed by Nicholas Worden. Our video production is taken care of by Dennis Burnett. Our wonderful interns are Quetzal and Diego Rayo, and our story and line producer is me, Luisa Min Van Asse. Music was created by Peligrosa in Austin, Texas. And King Benny Productions located in the Quinto Barrio of Houston.

This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.