Tacos of Texas

Mando Rayo: What’s up Taco World? I’m Taco Journalist Mando Rayo, and welcome to the Tacos of Texas podcast, El Cinco, 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. So grab a caza and some osos and get ready for some moody, tasty taco conversations.

In today’s episode of Tacos of Texas, we’re talking a Grandpa Mexican barbecue with father and son Emilio and Javier Vargas, who started a weekend tradition that’s drawing crowds in Georgetown, Texas. Get in on the craze that’s turning caves across central Texas. Find out how that slow cooked lamb made the Mexican way in an outdoor above ground Poso.

And how it hits different barbacoa, slow cooked, cabrea cooked or steam in an underground poso or pit over hot coals for many hours. This traditional way of cooking is known worldwide from Africa and the Caribbean to Latin America in Mexico. The barbacoa style of cooking was further developed by the chichi mega people of Northern Mexico.

And I don’t know about you, but I grew up with it here in Teca. This kind of cooking, it’s not some rush, microwave moment, but an ancient ritual. The kind you feel and savor from the barba to the koala. Now I’ve seen a lot of ways to make barbacoa. When I pulled up to this little patch in Georgetown, Texas, I knew I was about to witness something special.

Emilio Vargas and his father, Javier Vargas, are doing something. Few people still do. And Grandpa Mexican barbecue is one of the rare spots in Texas using the traditional Mexican method of all night pit cooking. The magic happens inside an orno, a traditional above ground oven where wood and charcoal embers burn down for hours before the lamb is carefully layered in each cut, wrapped in mag.

By doing this, they’re bringing barbacoa back to its roots. What started as a family recipe from Algo Mexico passed down from Emilio Abuelo to his father is now feeding crowds with flavors that go back generations. Emilio could have taken a different path. He came to Texas as a team to play football, but here he is, backed by the fire, lifting the metal lids, revealing generations of tradition wrapped in leaves, dripping in Kme.

So come hungry, come early and come with respect. And don’t, this isn’t just one 92nd video and the story’s done. Of course not because what Emilio and his pops are doing out here, that’s, that’s legacy Igo style.

It is TACO time. And now here’s a word from our sponsor designated a national historic trail in 2000. The route traces. The footsteps of El Camino Dero. The railroad that once connected Mexico City to Santa Fe. Walk drive it, experience it. The El Paso mission Trail is more than a path. It’s a passage through time.

Come see where history lives. Only in El Paso. Gracias to our friends at visit El Paso for sponsoring this podcast episode. Follow visit El Paso on Instagram and Facebook at visit el Paso or on their website@visitelpaso.com.

Hello, my name is Emilio Vargas. We are at El Grandpa Mexican Barbecue in Georgetown, Texas.

Emilio, I’m so excited to finally come. Y’all like our viral sensation. Come on. Yeah. So glad to have you here, Mando. Uh, so, okay, so we are, I’m a big fan of Barba. Yes. Like the traditional style in the Poso. I dig my, in my backyard.

Just don’t tell the city. You know what I mean? Uh, but yeah. How did, um, what, what’s, okay, let’s start with like your specialties.

Yeah, man. I mean, our specialty is barbacoa, lamb, barbacoa, uh, if you’ve ever had lamb, you’ve never had lamb like this one, it is so good. 10 outta 10. And also lingua and conse.

Those are kind of like our best sellers. But we also have other dishes like beef head, uh, lamb head, lamb belly. Those are also good lamb sausage, jalapeno lamb, sausage taco. Oh wow. Everything is pretty good, man. But my favorite, my personal favorite barbacoa. Ah, and for, you know, just a little secret if you guys want to order by the pound or.

Uh, by the piece, you can do that. So my favorite piece of barbacoa is the ribs. The

Mando Rayo: ribs, really? Ribs are really good. Okay, nice, nice. So the traditional one is like, uh, the beef cheek, right? Beef cheek, like right. For when you think about Texas.

Emilio Vargaz: Mm-hmm.

Mando Rayo:  But, uh, from Mexico, your style is from Igo style, right?

Emilio Vargaz: Yeah, exactly. Or barbacoa algo style, which is like central part of Mexico, another part of Mexico. They’re used to beef. Right. And, uh, actually beef is like cheaper. So that’s why they like started doing just, just like beef to beef cheek and all that more readily accessible to, but barbacoa is a cooking style.

It’s not really a meat, you know? Right, right, right. So, so what is that cooking style? Yeah. So the cooking style of barbacoa in Mexico is traditionally underground cooking. Uh, the word barbacoa comes from this word, Mayan. Uh, a Mayan word is called barbacoa. And basically what it means is meat, cover with dirt.

And basically what they do in Mexico is that they dig a hole under ground. Uh, and then they put like this type of like lid. Uh, in some regions they put some leaves and they put like a tarp and then they put dirt in it. Uh, basically the function of the dirt is to like keep this steam inside.

Yeah.

And um, yeah, of course.

It’s like an underground oven. Exactly. Like there’s no dirt inside the meat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nobody would like that. Yeah. One of our customers was like, oh, this. This is probably not the same because like, where’s the dirt? And my dad is like, oh, like if you had dirt in your meat, you would not. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Yeah. We’re not about to break any health code violations today. Right?

Yeah, no. And, and we were actually, uh, able to innovate, uh, and follow the rules because basically what the dirt does is just to like keep the steam inside. Right. And, uh, I mean, we have some fire ropes especially designed for that. So when we open the pits, you can see the steam and like we were able to like capture it.

Oh, nice. Nice. Well, what let’s, uh, let’s take a walk, uh, back to, uh, and shows that like the different kind of stations Yeah. That you prep, uh, the

barbacoa. Of course. Let’s do it. So our first station, it starts right here with the wood. A lot of, um, yeah. Barbacoa. Um, I don’t know, how do I say this? Basically, a lot of people think that barbacoa is like smoked because they’re used to like.

Texas style. Yeah. Barbecue. Right. And it’s actually a little different. We don’t really smoke our meat. Maybe just a little bit, but basically what we do is that we’re trying to get the, the coals, uh, of the meat, I mean of the, of the wood. Yeah. Oak. Right? Oak. Oak, yeah. Basically it’s, we’re trying to like make, make the wood like as the Ambers.

Right, right.

Yeah. Yeah. And I, I know it takes a long time once you seal it. I mean, you gotta let it cook for what,

14 hours? Yeah. Yeah. So basically our first pit cooks like 12 to 13 hours, and then the second pit cooks for like 14 hours, like overnight. Yeah. It’s a lot of work, but it’s like definitely worth it, for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Saturdays we work all day.

Mando Rayo: Yeah.

Yeah. Tell

me about the pits and how did you know? I’m used to the under, you know, in the ground pit, right? Yeah. Yeah. But yours is above ground.

Exactly. Yeah. I mean, basically it, it is the same function. We have it above the ground because that’s how we had it in Mexico.

Mm-hmm. And just so we don’t have to like bend over and like mm-hmm. It’s just more practical. Mm-hmm. But, uh, I mean it’s, it’s the same thing. Um, we use a special brick, it’s called um. Like a a a fire brick. Mm-hmm. Fire brick. Yeah. Yeah. Fire brick. And, um, basically it allows you to like cook at really hot temperatures.

Uh, each pit is like 3000 pounds. Wow. So they’re like really heavy. We had to like really design like specific trailers that can hold, uh, like a really. Really heavy pits. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, our pit is, I mean, our trailer is designed to like hold four, four, 3000 pound, uh, pits. Wow. Wow, wow. Yeah. Right now we only have two.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that’s, that’s good, right? Yeah. Uh, but you, you, so, you, so tell me about like how you started, right. Uh, this, uh, this idea, where did it come from? We’re in a big, we’re out here in Georgetown and, uh, you know, I see a lot of land, just open range, um, now. Yeah. How, how did you come to be

here?

Yeah, yeah. The story is actually really, really cool. Um, I came to the US I mean, I, me and my family grew up in Mexico. Uhhuh came to the US to just pursue a dream. I, I play American football and like, I always wanted to like come here and Uhhuh just play, pursue that, play college. And, uh, I was able to play right here at Georgetown High School.

I mean. Uh, in Georgetown, but at Eastview High School, Uhhuh. And, um, I also played in college, I played at UMHB, Mary Hard and Baylor in Belton. Nice. Really, really cool experience. I mean, our goal was never to like, make a business, never make, uh, foot trigger. Like that was not our idea. I just came here to like, play football and just have fun and like really pursue that.

Um, but I mean, I remember like working in like the food industry and working in these Mexican restaurants and my dad was, Hey, can you bring me some barbacoa? And I was like, yeah, but it’s not gonna be the same. Yeah. And uh, basically what my dad got, it was like beef that is probably like, you know, in the freezer for like, I don’t know how many days.

Yes. When he tries that he is like, this is just not the same. And I’m, and he used to get mad. Yeah, yeah. And I’m like, dad, I’m sorry. Like, these people don’t dunno what they’re doing. Yeah. Because like, every time in Mexico, I mean, uh, Mexico City is where like my, my dad grew up doing, um, the, I’m sorry, I think they’re calling me.

I don’t, I don’t know if it’s like on the mic. Okay. Sorry. Um,

so he grew up in Mexico City?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My, my dad grew up doing barbacoa in Mexico City and, uh, I mean, he was raised doing barbacoa like the, the right way. Uh, I think my grandpa, that’s why we call it a grandpa, because every time we went to, um, yeah, my grandpa’s house, we had like barbacoa, grandma’s, uh, birthday or any like, family event.

They were like, let’s make barbacoa. So it was like a very like traditional thing that we carry in, in, in our family, Uhhuh. Um, so yeah, when my dad tries barbacoa and it’s not the same, he kinda like gets offended, you know? So, uh, I was like, dad, like we should just do it. Like, yeah, because like, we know how to do it.

I mean, he grew up doing it since he was like eight years old. Mm-hmm. They had like a business over there in Mexico City. Uh, and yeah, I mean, I was like, we can just do it for our friends, for our family. Like, yeah, I mean, why not? And um. We, we had a, a friend in common, his name is Keith Shefield Uhhuh. And uh, basically we pitched him the idea because we used to live in like, some apartments, so we didn’t have land.

We had like no idea like where to do it.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

 Emilio Vargaz: And we kinda like told him like, we just wanna do like, kind of like a barbecue pit. Right, right, right. Similar, but uh, and he was like, yeah, yeah, of course. Uh, our, our goal was never to make a business. Yeah. He was just to like, make the best barbecue for our friends, for our family, so like they can try it.

And uh, Keith was like, just an awesome friend. Yeah. He was like, yeah, right now he’s one of our partners and Okay, he’s a great person. Um, long story short, he said yes. And, uh, people, our friends, our family, they were like, wow. This is so good. I’ve never had like tacos like this. Or maybe like, there’s some people that like, have tasted that from Mexico and there’s like years that like they don’t have a bite like that.

And when they have it, I remember there was like five to six years that I don’t like try like real barbacoa and the first barbacoa that we did. Wow. Yeah. So special. Take you back home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just feel like that is just something about food. Yeah. That like, it, it really takes you back home and like you can just create this like amazing experiences and, um, we don’t only want to do that with like food, but also with like our, our hospitality.

Yeah. That, you know, people feel like, hey, you can come here and, you know, feel like you’re at home. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s cool. We really careful people. That’s cool.

Yeah. And then you started with a, like the, as you enter, I saw one of the pits on the, on the right side. Uh, under

the shed. Yeah. Yeah. Basically we started in that pit.

Me and my dad built it. Uhhuh, um. And Yeah. Without knowing what we were doing, we were just like, I guess this is ’cause like we don’t really have construction experience and all that. Yeah. Uh, but I mean, we were able to do it and, uh, I mean, it, it turned out good, but we came to find out that, I mean, we’re not allowed to like do them like that.

 : Yeah.

 Emilio Vargaz: Because I mean, if you do a pit like that, you have to have like restaurant permits, like brick and mortar and all these things that Yeah. I mean, we’re just a family trying to make barbacoa, you know? Yeah. Uh, and like actually when we started, we started with just like a, an electric grill, uh, just flipping tortillas in one pan.

Oh wow. And like just a little table, like started small. You gotta, you gotta

start somewhere, right?

Yeah. Yeah. We started like that and, um, I mean, the city were like really helpful. They gave us all the rules and like how to like, build it. Okay. As soon as we found out, like we couldn’t do it like that, we like shut down for like six months and, uh.

Uh, but you

already had a long line even before then. No.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we’re like so thankful and honestly, like, I just wanna give glory to God because like, this is just a small family thing that by the grace and by his hand, we’re able to, you know. Yeah. It’s beautiful. Like, yeah. Uh, I mean, I, I, we never thought we were gonna be famous.

We never thought we were like, and that was not even the goal. Like our goal was just to like, uh, make it the best tacos for our family and for our friends.

That’s funny. That’s great. That’s great. And now you have two pits in a trailer. As we walk into this large 40 foot trailer, you can see two large brick oven pits, circular and massive in size.

From the edges of the metal coverage, you can actually see some steam rising up. Perfect. For a hot day in Texas. All right. I think, I think we’re ready for the, to uncover the pits. No. Okay. Let’s do it. All right. Let’s do it. I think we’re ready. Emilio invites everyone to come inside the steaming trailer for the uncovering of the barbacoa pits.

If anybody speaks English, I’m gonna be the translator. My dad’s gonna do it in Spanish and I’m gonna translate. Okay? We’re gonna give you guys like the whole pitch of how we do everything. Okay?

Okay, Gracia.

So we just wanna say thank you so much for being here. Thank you. To be here with El Grandpa Barbacoa. We wanna show you guys how we do the barbacoa. This a pre-Hispanic dish, uh, really just with a bunch of traditional and flavor. And you guys are gonna get to see something

Ambian es.My spouse is okay. Basically he is saying that, um, the traditional one is underground. This one we had to put it above in a trailer just because we wanted to follow the rules being compliant, but the flavor is still the same. The meat is covered with mag leaves. You guys are gonna see is this cactus plant that is very special. H
He’s saying that the word barbacoa comes from this, uh, root word from um, uh, the Mayan culture, which basically means meat covered with dirt.

So, yeah, he’s saying that in Mexico, basically that what they do is that they cover the pits with like some tarps and things like that, and they put the dirt inside. Uh, I mean, not inside a, above the, the tarp, uh, basically the dirt, uh, it, it works for like the steam to stay, stay inside. And we use these ropes that is the same function, so we don’t use there.

So we’re about to open. And then this is the Magee leaf, and basically we’re opening the pit right here that is like a flower. The way that we put the leaves, uh, this leaf has a special juice inside and is what marinades really Mexican. And I’m gonna put a light so y’all can see it. So we’re gonna show you guys the pieces and how the meat falls apart.

Mando Rayo: Okay.

And right there where we, where we have the consummate, we have our, our beef tongues and we have the whole head of the, of the beef. So yeah. And the meat just falls apart. Yeah, the cabe is right there. Okay.

Mando Rayo:  : So I see that. Um,

Mando Rayo: okay, so you just uncovered it. You got the Magee leaves. Uh, the first le layer is Lamb. Lamb, right?

: Yes. Yes, sir.

And, um, how fresh are the lambs?

Mando Rayo:  Oh, yeah, the lambs are like really, really fresh. Uh, basically my dad was saying that like Tuesdays, they were Tuesday and Wednesday they were processed and uh, yeah, they’re not even like a week old that me.

Emilio Vargaz: Yeah.

Yeah. And then, and then underneath, uh, what, what are we,

Mando Rayo:  what’s underneath the lamb?

Yeah. Basically underneath, we have a huge pot, which is the consummate, uh, all the juices of the Magee and, uh, the meat, it just, it just drips. It’s like, it’s like broad. Mm-hmm. Um, and it’s, it’s really good right there.

Inside the, the consummate, we have our beef tongue and we have our beef head, and the meat just falls apart. Nice. Nice. Yeah. And then you have a, a, a less in between to to, uh, to make, to separate it. Exactly. But, but the juices. The juices flow all the way down, right? Yes, sir. Yes sir. Yeah. Yeah.

Just to make sure like the meat doesn’t go and, uh, make sure we kind of like Yeah. It doesn’t filter in. So yeah. Right now I’m taking all the meat out and then what we do is we get rid of the leaves. Yeah. And then we get to the cons. Me.

Mando Rayo:  So when you think about barbacoa, especially here in Texas, you see a lot of foil being, foil being used as well as, uh, burlap sacks. Yeah. But you obviously, you all have this above ground, uh, fire brick pit, uh, with Magee leaves.

Yes. So tell tell us why, why you use, uh, the leaves from the Magee plant.

Emilio Vargaz: Yeah. I mean, the maga the barbacoa that we know how to make the, that we sell barbacoa, the magee is a key ingredient. I think that it, that was some, that was one of the challenges when we. Uh, we’re thinking of making barbacoa because right here in Texas it’s really hard to get this plant.

And my dad was like, I’m not gonna make barbacoa if I don’t have this plant. Yeah. Because that is the specialty of our barbacoa. Yeah. So he was like, if we don’t have my GA, might as well not do barbacoa. It’s not gonna be the same. Yeah. So this is a key ingredient. This is a non-negotiable. Uh, we use it because, just think of like aloe vera, how it has like juice inside.

This plant also has juice and basically you guys are gonna see it later when we do the barba cloth for tomorrow. Um, we cook the, the plants first. It’s not that we just put them fresh. Right, right. But when we’re working the pits, we also work the plants. And um, what we do is when they get really hot, we pop them uhhuh and when we pop them, we just like.

Go like this and we crack them. Yeah. Jack crack ’em in half. Yeah. Crack them in half. And they, when we cook them and then we pop them, uh, then it liberates this juice that very next to me

be, uh, you know, we are here, you’re showing us, but you’re also invited your guests to come and look at the pits. Why, why, why do you do that?

Yeah. I mean, we just wanna, you know, give them the whole experience of like, you know, what you’re eating is not just a taco, but you are eating something that has been, you know, really taking care of, with like, a lot of work and love and passion. Uh, I mean, this is the result of like 14 hours of work.

That’s why we only open, uh, two days a week because it, it is really hard, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It’s a lot of labor. Saturday we work all, yeah. Saturdays we work all day. Uh, and once the meet is done, like it is gone. Yeah. It’s not like we can just, you know. Yeah. Uh, make more in like two or three hours. Yeah, yeah.

No, yeah. Yeah. It takes a whole day. Yeah. So it’s a, it’s a whole experience that we really want to just give our, our customers.

You, you definitely, you have a father son here, right? You’re like, take, taking the, the leaves out. He comes over, uh, wipes out your face with a, with a paper towel taking care of you and you both work on it, right?

Yeah. We we’re, we’re a, we’re a team, you know, and even though that we own this place, we really just, you know, want to really take care of our customers and it’s given the whole experience. I mean, uh, we wanna make this place like really hospitable and sometimes even like. Ling our guests, they ask us like, Hey, where do I put the trash and uhhuh?

My parents are like, no, no worries. Like, I, I take care of it, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That is just something that I’ve learned to like, you know, just always remain humble. Yeah. Uh, because we’re just a family that loves people and loves God. Uh, we’re gonna show you guys right here. We have our whole head, one of our beef tongue.

Beef tongue. That’s the beef tongue. Lemme scoop.

Mando Rayo: : Okay. So

 Emilio Vargaz: this is the barbacoa that people are used to. They beef tongue, but also we do it in an algo style. So yeah, they get the meat, but also like they, they don’t do it the way that we do it, you know?

Mando Rayo:  : Ade like the traditional, uh, what people think of conse is just the, the soup in sense, right

 Emilio Vargaz: Yeah. A lot of people, when they think of conse, they think of ria. Yeah. Um, and they think that it’s only to, like dip margarita we use is really special. It really doesn’t have grease. So it’s not only to tackle, it’s like a kalo.

It’s like, like yeah. Ka broad. And, um, it’s really good because like a lot of people, they do bone broth and as you can see, we have the whole head and Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have the, the meat. So technically what you have right here is also bone broth, right? Which is the consummate, yeah. In Mexican way. Hi style with the leaves.

It’s really special. And are those chiles? Yeah, this is Chile morita, Chile morita, Chile morita. Onions, onion, garlic. Garlic. We put also Chile guillo rice. Oh, banzo beans.

Yes. Now that’s a real hearty, uh. Yes, yes. Uh, what’s the temperature of, of this right now? What do you think? Wow.

Yeah.

Mando Rayo:  Okay. I know that’s some real Mexican hands right there. Yeah. And this is…this is the cons, the  brains. It’s really good. Like when you come and try barbacoa. Yeah. You have to have a cabeza. Yeah. So it’s not just like when you think about barbacoa. You know, we think about just the meat itself. Yeah. Right. Uh, but no, it’s this whole experience around, uh, the consome.

It’s just the beef, the, the cado, the beef head. The beef head, the, the lamb, the ribs.

Right? Yes. Yes. It’s, it is a whole, it’s a whole experience. You, you get something really, really special. And it is something that, I mean, me and my family are just like awesome to bring because like, not a lot of people know how to do it.

Yeah, yeah. Right here that, you know, people are able to like, taste and see in Texas Yeah. What true barbacoa is. Right, right. It it’s just really, really cool. Yeah.

Well, I can’t wait to try it. Yeah. Yeah.

Na.

Speaker 7: Flo

Speaker 8: Carlos, Carlos

Uhhuh,

and says, um.

Me.

Okay.

 Emilio Vargaz: Hi. How are y’all doing?

Speaker 10: Good. How are you? Yeah.

 Emilio Vargaz: Where are y’all coming from? Houston, Texas. Oh, you drove all the way to come, just to come here, just to come

Speaker 10: meet. Yeah, we brought the family, my in-laws. Yeah. Brother-in-law, everybody. Um, my swag found this spot, Uhhuh, and we just came to enjoy some tacos and we got here just on time to see them cooking and everything.

Yeah. Saw the videos on Instagram, so definitely had to come check them out.

 Emilio Vargaz: Yeah. What do you think about the whole unveiling?

Speaker 10: Oh, I, that was really cool. I’ve never really seen it like cook. The authentic way. So that was really, you know, don’t get to see that too much around. Yeah.

 Emilio Vargaz: Yeah. And what did you think of the barbacoa?

Speaker 10: Oh, delicious. I was just telling my husband how Tinder it was and like, not dry. You don’t have that dark barbacoa. So it was really, really, really good. Didn’t add nothing to it, just the salsa. And we were good.

Speaker 3: You’re good. It was great. What did you think? Good.

Speaker 10: Yeah,

Speaker 6: I’m, I’m not a big eater, but I enjoyed it.

Yeah. And I really enjoyed that they didn’t put a lot of spices in it so you could actually taste the meat. Yeah. Not the overwhelming of spices. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that’s great. That’s great.

 Emilio Vargaz: Juntos, we’re gonna sit down and talk a little bit more with a father and son team behind El Grandpa’s Mexican barbecue. Emilio. How do you, how do you like measure how much barbacoa to make enough to like. Uh, produce for like the, your clientele here, like on a Saturday?

Yeah. That is something that we had to like, really get to like perfection because we don’t wanna, you know, sell out every time and we don’t want to just like overcook.

Um, so just with time and, uh, it’s something that we just kind of like. Got it. I feel like the first year we used to like, sell out every time. Every time. Every time. Like at 11, 12. Yeah. Like, there’s just no more meat. But I feel like we miss an opportunity if we sell out every time. Yeah. And also there are people that drive from like, uh, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio.

Like every weekend at least we get like a family from Houston and Santa. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So like, I just think like that’s kind of like sad for them to like make the drive and Right. Like we’re sold out. Yeah. Um. So, yeah, I mean, we adjusted with the meat and all that. Yeah. So like right now, uh, we have, we, we sell out sometimes.

Yeah. But like, maybe like once a month. Okay.

Okay. Okay. And have you seen like the lines get longer die down, especially like right now?

Oh, yeah. I mean it has definitely like slowed down uhhuh for sure. Um, and also we got like way faster, I feel like when we started. Oh. Because it was like just my family.

We didn’t even have a team. I think we had like one employee. Right now we have like, we’re a team of like 10 with my parents. So like, yeah, everybody kind of like. Does their job and

Yeah. Yeah. Go faster

for sure. Yeah. And why do, why do you think it slowed down for you all? Uh, yeah, I mean, just like immigration and like, just the things that are happening right now.

Yeah. Things that are happening right now. Yeah. Just like some people are scared. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah.

But they can come here and get a really nice meal.

Yeah. They can come. Family. It’s very family oriented. Yeah. I feel like home. Yeah.

Like when I, when, you know, we’ve been here and so you see all kinds of families come together.

There was a, you know, somebody had a.

Or no.

Say

Entrepreneurs

iPhone in Mexico.

Emilio, how does it feel to work with your father?

Yeah, I mean, it’s just awesome. I mean, not gonna lie, at first it was a little hard. Yeah, we kinda like busted heads, but I mean, we just had to like, you know, hey, like, dad, this is your role. This is my role. Uhhuh, let’s work together. We’re trying to, you know, do this for the long run.

So you’re good at this. Stay in your area. I’m good at this. I’m gonna stay in my area, Uhhuh, but I just, I just love it, you know, it’s just something that like, really makes me just like happy. Like I, I mean, I talk to my friends and I’m like, yeah, I love what I do. And like, definitely like, I just see this like scaling and, uh, it’s just, it’s just really cool to like bring the tradition right here with my family.

Yeah. Yeah. That’s something So great

traditional Alberta.

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brisket

al.

Steak.

All right, we’re here at El Grandpapa Mexican Barbecue, and we are here for the barbacoa, not just any barbacoa, algo style, lamb, corro, barbacoa, right? So we got, we ordered a good number of tacos, must-haves, cilantro and onions, lemon. And uh, we have a couple of lingua tacos as well. And the cons me, so the consomme is where it’s at, right there where all los salvos are cooked for over 12 hours.

And this isn’t, this is a hamet, you know, you have a little bit of the, the garden in there, the lamb, uh, garbanzo beans, chiles. It’s a clear, it’s not like a deep red or, or, um, it’s a clearer, uh, color. Mm. Oh my God, that’s so good. Yumi. Okay, so I’m gonna dig into the, the, the tacos. We got Chile, di bowl salsa.

Looks like a creamy, uh, jalapeno or serrano, as well as like, um, looks like a salsa matcha, to be honest. Okay. Just took a b big bite, you know, in a fresh corn tortilla. Oh man, that’s so good. It’s light. It’s, it’s not heavy. Um, it’s definitely dense. Uh, it would be like, uh, you know, you gotta take that, those small bikes, but the tortillas just kind of like nice and flaky.

It’s falling apart, but it’s also like, blends well with, uh, with, uh, with a barbacoa with the onions and the cilantro and the Chile. Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, when you think about farmlands and farm cooking, you think about some. Some of the meat, it could taste a little gamey, but I think because of the hours long it takes to make this, uh, lamb barbacoa, I mean, you can’t even, it just, it’s just delicious.

Because we recorded this episode in one day, we did a reverse barbacoa starting with the reveal of the cooked lamb, and now we’re gonna witness how they fire up the pit and get the coals ready and pack the meat for the next day. All right. Uh, so I see now you guys are getting ready, you know, to set the coals and you got your two pits kind of getting ready.

Tell me what the process is right now.

Yeah, basically the process of the pit, uh, we’re just trying to get a big flame. Once we get a big flame, that’s when we open, like the big logs, uhhuh, and uh, and then we start cooking. Then my gale leaves. And the maga leaves is what I was telling you. When we like pop them, we get the juice and

you are gonna see

that

process right now.

So now you’re about to toast the, the MAGA leaves, right? Yes, sir. So tell us what, so how does that work? Tell us the process. Yeah, I see the, I, so I see them getting layered, uh, uh, just on the edges of the pit. Uh, yeah. Yeah. So tell me about that. Yeah,

yeah. I’ll tell you a little bit about that. Basically what we do is we put this like, uh, stainless steel like lids, uh, and that’s where we put like the margate leaves, and then we like cook them, uh, from both sides, right?

So we’re looking for like a, like a, you know, brownish collar. Okay. Brownish. And then just soften them up. Yeah. Because my daily are hard. They are hard and that is correct. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, when you pop them, it, it releases these juice and they become soft and you can actually like. Uh, they’re, they’re manageable now, and you can like, wrap them around the, the, I hear them popping.

I hear them popping. That’s, that’s that

juice. Yeah. That’s how you know they’re ready.

Yeah. It all tells them the pits are really hot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it’s a, it’s a crazy, when you think about, you know, this, uh, trailer that these two pits are in 3000 pound pits, right? Yes, sir. In a trailer. And so it’s pretty intense.

You see a lot the heat, you know, the fire just Yeah, yeah. Like just gushing up over and in between the, the pants, the aluminum pants, and then the again leaves, uh, just being, you know, toasted, uh, for a couple minutes, uh, until they become tender. Right? Yeah, that is correct. Yeah. And it is smoky. Um, I mean it’s pretty intense and it’s super hot.

Yeah.

Uh, we buy a bunch of Gatorade every weekend for sure. At Texas. Summers are so hard. Yeah. Pretty brutal. Uh, yeah, pretty brutal. Uh, I mean, in the winter is good and the winter is just nice. Yeah. And cozy.

It’s great. I love to see it. Did you make the pits out outside and then bring ’em in? Or were they actually have to be constructed in the trailer?

They

had to be constructed in the trailer, yeah. Okay. So me and my dad, the first thing that we did is we did like a wood layer uhhuh. So we put the concrete first. Yeah. So we wanted to like, you know, make a good base, a good foundation. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You cannot build anything without a good foundation. So we wanted to make a good foundation first and then, you know, brick and mortar

and, uh, yeah.

Fire bricks.

Fire bricks. Fire

bricks. Yeah. Some circuit. Circular. Uh, how much meat can you pack in there? Uh, I would say six lamps. Six lamps. And, and beef heads? Uh, beef heads. You can do like two two per pit. Two beef headss. Yeah. Okay. I mean, it’s a, it’s a crazy, when you think about, you know, this, uh, trailer that these two pits are in 3000 pound pits, right?

Yes, sir. In a trailer. And so like, it’s pretty intense. You see a lot. The heat, you know, the fire just, yeah. Like just gushing up over and in between the, the pan, the aluminum pan, and then the egg leaves, uh, just being, you know, toasted, uh, for a couple minutes, uh, until they become tender. Right? Yeah, that is correct.

Yeah. And it’s smoky and I mean, it’s pretty intense. And it’s super hot. Uh, what’s a circumference around it? Like how, like what, or how much, how much meat can you pack in there?

Yeah, I don’t know the exact star, like the, the measurements. Yeah. I forgot. But, uh, basically one pit you can fit up to Seven lambs.

Seven lambs, uh, we’ve done, yeah, when we like blew up with the first year. Yeah. There was one time, one, one day that we did 14 limbs. Oh, wow. In one day. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Father’s Day weekend. Oh, okay. Yeah. It was like, it was crazy. Yeah. Um, but yeah, and I remember when we did seven and seven, the meet was like really tight.

Yeah. So, I mean, we got the job done, you know. Yeah. But we, we want to give like, room to the meat and we don’t want to like squish it inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, the perfect, the perfect size for these, uh, pits, I would say six lamps.

Six lambs, and, and beef heads.

Uh, beef heads. You can do like 2 2 2 per pit, two beef headss.

Okay. Cool. Yeah. We’re gonna do three beef heads today and um, eight lambs. Eight lambs for tomorrow. Nice. Nice. Yeah.

Mm

oh,

Gloria.

No. No, no.

Uh, reporter country.

Grande.

Uhhuh?

Mm-hmm.

Uh oh. Okay.

Los.

Ah, okay.

Uh,

no. No, no.

Mando Rayo:  It got hot in here. It got really hot, uh, just witnessing the way this traditional style barbacoa is. Made, I’m used to the one that’s underground in a poso. This is above ground in a pit, a homemade pet. It’s amazing. And, and I love kind of not only the process of like how they’re doing it and, and with, uh, pen maga and this idea around thinking about the, the, the, um, the tradition, right?

The tradition of making barbacoa and it’s very regional and they brought it here to Georgetown, Texas, uh, Emilio and Javier Varga, uh, at in grandpa Mexican Barbecue. What they’re doing is something special and they’re doing it together. And that’s the beauty of cooking, right? When you cook with somebody that you love and somebody that’s there for you, uh, and you can see, you know, they kind of go back and forth and, uh, you know, um, uh.

Us in honoring his roots and traditions and, uh, and Emilio, uh, you know, young, young, young pit master, 22 years old and really kind of hustling to make it work. And it’s a beautiful thing. I mean, the, the Barba Rico was amazing. Cordero Lamb barbacoa. Yes, they had beef too, but the lamb is where it’s at. It was tasty, it was delicious.

And with the salsas and then the community that came together that we saw here, um, at their place, uh, it was a beautiful thing to witness. So with that, I wanna, uh, shout out some of my other favorite Barba gold places across the state. Definitely old school that has. Backyard barbacoa in Brownfield, Texas.

Barbacoa Santa Rosa at the A 12 Flea Market in Austin, Texas, and barbacoa in Dallas. You can check out our full episodes on our YouTube channel at Identity Production. This has been the Tacos of Texas podcast developed and produced by identity production. If you enjoyed today’s episode and are craving more taco content, go to our website@www.identity.productions or follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube at Identity Productions and United Tacos of America.

This is your host, Mando El Taco, journalist Rayos. I also want to shout out the crew that came out with, with us today. I mean, we, it was a full day, full day of heat, that Texas heat, but as well as the barbacoa heat, right? The fossil heat and, and everything. Producer Louise, Vanessa, producer Louise Louisas, Nicholas Worth Audio Mixer Rao, our production assistant, uh, Dennis Burnett, a Kojo, our creative director.

Uh, alright, we’ll see you. We’ll see you on the Inner webs, uh, taco people.

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