Tacos of Texas

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 and Austin Signal. You can hear me every month talking about tacos and taco culture. And get ready for a sace premiering on August, 2026. The thousand of Texas is produced by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX studios.

Listen on kut.org. Or wherever you get your podcast.

David Brown: It is the Texas standard. I’m David Brown. We are just a few days into 2026. And while some folks are holding fast to their New Year’s resolutions, uh, some, maybe not so much resolutions work well for some folks, but what about do’s and don’ts? Ever tried framing it that way? Taco journalist Mondo Rao certainly has.

He’s the host of the Tacos of Texas podcast and he joins us today with some dos and don’ts for 2026. Mando, welcome back.

Mando Rayo: Hey David. Happy to be back. Fel least

David Brown: 26. Happy New Year to you, sir. That’s, uh, you, you, have you been sticking to your resolutions or your do’s and don’ts?

Mando Rayo: I try, man. But you know, the, the, the tortillas pull me in every time.

David Brown: Hey, hey, let’s kick off the first do and don’t of 2026. I know you’ve been making out a list and checking it twice. This one’s about, uh, recipes. Uh, right.

Mando Rayo: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. No, I think, you know, um. You know, the thing about recipes is like, you can play around with ’em. And for me it’s, it’s super important to, uh, just kind of have fun with ’em.

You know, you don’t have to follow the recipe, uh, to the tea, right. You have to like, just play around with it. Make it your own. Mm-hmm. What are the kind of things you can, you can use, it’s like, like what do you got in your fridge? Add something to it, you know, like say whether you’re making a salsa or a marinade.

Use, like, you know, like the citrus that you have at home or use, you know, that extra pepper that you have at home mm-hmm. That, that will spice up your, your, uh, your recipes. So I would say like, yeah, uh, explore and have fun with your recipes for sure.

David Brown: I like that one. What about the don’t, what’s the corollary?

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Don’t, I mean, you know, uh, I, I, what I would say is that don’t cosplay. That you’re an expert Mexican chef.

David Brown: I’ve seen this in barbecue, man.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. You know, I, I see people cosplaying where, you know, like, you know the, the honor tradition of making barbacoa. Uh, in the pit, and they kind of come into one of, one of one of these places out in the hill country or whatnot, and then they’re like, oh, this is how you do barbacoa.

They put on the outfit and they’re just doing it for the news, man. Like, don’t, don’t cosplay. You know, come, come, come with respect a little bit. Huh?

David Brown: Yeah. Well, and, and, and learn what’s behind some of this things. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It’s, it’s a lot about learning. Uh, so, so I guess we could narrow this down or sort of, uh, uh, wrap it up with do, uh, do play around with recipes.

Don’t cosplay Mexican food. Don’t pretend to be the pit master. Uh, uh, learn along the way. Let’s move on to a second. Do and don’t for 2026, uh, we’re gonna lean into our curiosity a bit now.

Mando Rayo: Uh, yeah. So what I would say is do explore the places that you go to learn the history. Learn like the, you know, what they’re doing and how they’re doing it differently.

You know, you find a, a local cool, uh, uh, new tacoria. Mm-hmm. You know, find out what their story is. Find out like more so than. You know, hey, they have a great beer app plate or whatever. Mm-hmm. Or barbacoa or maybe something, you know, uh, that is like a Cora Taco or something like that. But explore like, hey, how did they come up with that?

You know, talk to the folks that are making the food and, and the store when you like, explore that story. You know, I think the taco’s gonna taste even better. Yeah. So I’ll say Yeah. Yeah. Deep, you know, do go into the story.

David Brown: The story behind the plate. All right. Uh, and the don’t,

Mando Rayo: yeah, so I think on the, on the opposite side of that is maybe don’t helicopter in just to get your 32nd, uh, video or try to be the first one to, to the, you know, the new taco spot, you know?

Mm-hmm. So, so you do see that a lot where you’re like. Hey, you know, oh, I, I’m, I’m gonna find the first place. It’s the new, the first place open in 2026. Nah, take your time, explore it, learn go a few times and, and, and, and you know, from that, you actually can actually dig into some of the stories. So, yeah, what I would say is like, you know, don’t go, you know, uh, what we call this helicopter in and try to.

Discover the new what, whatever new place,

David Brown: and

Mando Rayo: claim it as

David Brown: your own on social

Mando Rayo: media. That kind. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, you’re not discovering anything. They’re there already.

David Brown: Yeah. Yeah. What about the next do and don’t on your list?

Mando Rayo: Yeah. What I would say is do keep supporting your local, uh, Mexican Eatery restaurant, um, taco truck, you know, Latin American place, uh, because they need that support.

You know, we’ve seen in, in. Just in the last year, uh, a lot of uncertainty with a lot of the ice rate. So use your privilege to support them. And I think people are actually doing that, you know, uh, now more so allowing people to feel safe in their own communities. So use your privilege to support your local, uh, uh, ria, for sure.

David Brown: What about a don’t?

Mando Rayo: Oh man. Here’s a big learning lesson. Um, definitely. Uh, when you think about like Mexican food, uh, just recently over the last month there was a, um, a British baker opened up a place, uh, in Mexico City and they went on a podcast to trash. The bread culture of the whole country. And so I’m like, you know, the the thing is, is like, you know, don’t come and, you know, uh, come to a place and you know you’re a visitor.

Come with respect, honor the traditions and don’t just, you know, say, Hey, I’m gonna, I’m gonna show, you know, people from this country how to do, uh, a certain type of food, like in this case a bread. So they, they definitely came after him. So definitely, you know, you know, don’t, don’t come and, and, uh, and trash, you know, a whole country, uh, because you think, uh, you, uh, have, you know, the expertise or experience.

David Brown: You know, what strikes me about your list here is that a lot of this is tied into how social media is so much a part of the scene these days. Oh,

Mando Rayo: yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. You know, the thing is, is you know, everything that you see out there, whether it’s, you know, three seconds or 30 seconds or or a minute, you know, you gotta capture people’s attention and it’s important for you to really, um.

Be intentional with your, the stories that you tell. And, you know, ultimately that’s, that’s why I’m a taco journalist, right? So to be intentional around how do we tell these stories with grace? How do we tell stories with, with, uh, with respect, um, and honoring people, you know, where they’re, where they’re coming from and where they’re at as well.

David Brown: Do listen to the Tacos of Texas podcast. Don’t miss an episode. Mano is the host, Mando, thanks so much for joining us. Send up Fel Sonno. Nbo mano.

Mando Rayo: Hey, good job. Good job. Do practice. Keep practicing your Spanish

David Brown: I’ll sir. I will. Thanks. Take care, David.

Mando Rayo: You can find Tacos of Texas on kut.org or wherever you get your podcast.