Carne Asada, street style tacos,
fajitas, bistec.
There's all kinds of ways to make
that work. I'm going to Of course,
I'll show you a delicious salsa.
Better than two that you can enjoy
with your smoked carnitas.
Vamanos. Vamonos.
Vamonos.
Vamonos. Vamonos. Vamanos
What's up, Taco World?
I'm Taco journalist Mando Rayo, and
welcome to the Tacos of Texas
podcast El
Quatro, 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 your grilling tongs and
make sure you click them twice.
Click click and get ready
for some more tasty taco
conversations.
Ay ira huele carne asada that in
today's episode we get cooking
with Ani Segovia, a.k.a.
Ani Texts as a father
son, traditional cook, barbecue
expert and the Internet's beloved
B.O. influencer.
Ani brings his unique flavor to
the show.
Tune in for a mouthwatering
experience.
Welcome to Generation Taco
game show, where
you're going to find out what your
taco is depending on your
generation.
So we'll start at the very
beginning of time, the
silent generation.
So from 1928 to
1945, you know, you grew
up in the Great Depression and
World War Two.
But before then, were there even
like a population and
civilization?
Sure.
But this is when we started counting
it down.
So our survey says,
you ate a can of beans.
Yes, that's right.
That's right.
I'm sorry. But, you know, there was
some hard times back then.
All right. Here we go.
We got the boomers, baby boomers
from 1946 to
1964.
Hey, you're the post-World War
two generation.
Your hard work ethic,
and you're having lots of babies.
What's your taco?
It's the crispy taco.
That's right. Because you wanted
something that you can eat with your
TV dinners.
All right. Next up,
we have down.
And on and on and on and on and on
and on.
Generation X kids.
That's right. 1965 to 1980.
My generation.
We are the latchkey kids.
We have to fend for ourselves.
We practically raised ourselves.
So what my taco with ourtaco
picadillo taco
Because you know why we have ground
beef in the refrigerator.
Make it, you know, put a little bit
of spices and it lasts for the day.
So we are going with that.
Pick your taco for GenX.
Next generation is
millennials.
That's right. You grew up with
technology, social media,
first adopters through social media.
You know, you're tech savvy
and but at the same time,
you know, you need a lot of like,
care and coddling
from your moms that zoom
in and helicopter you.
And so what do you get?
You get a bean and cheese taco
because it's nice and warm and safe
and you probably don't have to even,
you know, use your TV.
You just, you know, take it in and
swallow it.
Next up is
Generation Z.
You practically grew up with
smartphones.
You're highly proficient in
technology.
And you know your big activism.
You even went through the pen
damage.
And what did you do?
What's your taco?
You actually didn't eat
your taco. You just took a picture
of that.
And that's been generations
as tacos.
Ramos had to go down and visit El
Paso at the hometown of
this taco journalist in
El Paso. Family and food go
hand in hand, especially during
holidays and special occasions.
Family cooking is a cherished
tradition in El Paso's Mexican
heritage.
It's all about coming together,
sharing stories and enjoying
delicious meals.
Take Your love for Cooking Beyond
the home at the Texas Culinary
Institute.
Join hands on classes designed
for families and friends to learn
new skills and make cooking fun
and approachable for everyone.
Experience the joy of cooking with a
Texas culinary institute and
make long lasting memories
through our shared gummy them,
which has got access to our friends
and visit El Paso for sponsoring
this podcast episode.
Follow. Visit El Paso on Instagram
and Facebook.
Visit El Paso or on their
website at.
Visit El Paso Punto.
Com.
Today on our show, we welcome Ani
Segovia, also known as Ani
Tex. He is a barbecue enthusiast
based out of the Rio Grande Valley
and a member of the International
Barbecue Cookers Association
Hall of Fame.
He has gained a massive following
on social media with his videos
showing barbecue tips and cookout
tricks.
We are lucky to have everybody's
favorite bill Ani Tex.
With us today.
All right. With us today in
actually the virtual studio is
Arnie Segovia, a.k.a.
Arnie Tex
El Tio. Arnie,how's it going?
Good.
Really good.
Happy to be here.
Thank you for having me, man.
I feel very honored and humbled
as well.
That word, Tio.
You know, it took me a little while
to get used to it.
Yeah.
I. I always like the first three
times I saw it, I was like,
What's wrong with these people?
And then after a while, I'm like,
I had to go look in the mirror and
go, like, a minute.
I guess I could be somebody's Tio.
I suppose.
And actually, I am a lot, you know,
to a lot of nephews.
Yeah. Yeah, the nieces.
That's awesome. I love that.
Sometimes the young bucks
as I travel in Texas,
they call me Tio Taco.
I like that.
You know, I embrace it.
I haven't. I have nieces and nephews
tambien.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I'm excited to have you on,
you know, and kind of learn
a little bit from kind of what
you've been doing, you know,
Tell me how you, how you got started
in the food world.
Yeah.
You know, it's
pretty much I grew up around
it, you know, I mean, my my whole
main background had been barbecue
competition, barbecue, to be more
specific. But even before
that, I always enjoyed cooking
barbecue.
And I used to run
a car dealership from Westland
Coal. We had three lots at one time,
and so I had 12 sales people.
And we all like to drink
barbecue and go hunt and go fish
That right there in that parking
lot.
Yeah.
I mean, literally.
I am not kidding, man.
For like seven, eight years, almost
literally. We we barbecued at work
six days a week.
My God.
And because if it wasn't me with
one of the other guys.
Yeah, Yeah.
And then on the weekends, I'd do
brisket for friends.
Yeah.
Or clients or whatever.
Right. On weekends.
So.
So that's kind of where it all
started. And then one day we were in
Austin on vacation.
My wife and I and I saw
this store called Barbecue
Galore, and I was like, barbecue,
okay, let's see what's in there.
Right and there and picked
up a national barbecue news magazine
and went to the hotel.
Was paging through that in the back.
I saw they had contest and I
told my wife, hey, look, there's
other crazy people like me.
They really like barbecue.
Right?
So we wound up going to Houston.
Yeah.
And got to judge.
And, you know, we felt like, you
know, we could be as good as
some of those other teams.
Yeah. And so I went home
and built my Smokey Lonestar pit
that you see on that page.
Yeah, the red, white and Blue Star.
And as
they say, the rest is history.
We just competing, you know.
Not not a lot, but a little bit here
and there because I had a full time
job, right? Sure.
But we probably were doing seven,
eight Cook-Off the first
year, second year, third
year. We maybe did 10 or 11.
Okay.
And then it just kind of gradually
got bigger from there.
So that's kind of how I got started
into cooking a lot more,
right? Yeah.
And then
fast forward a few more years, you
know, I mean, we had done really
well in the cookout world, and then
I had my own car dealership and
wound up with a restaurant.
Absolutely loved the restaurant
business in the front with
the clients, in
the back with the employees in the
kitchen and.
You got the personality
for it, man. Did you go around
and shaking everybody's hands and
tell.
Yeah, man, sit down, drink
coffee with them and, you know, and
just, you know, you develop a
friendship and a relationship with
your clients when you're in the
restaurant business. I'm talking
about the small restaurant
businesses. Yeah.
And I love to sit in the kitchen and
watch the girls make the tortillas,
you know, And what could do his
thing?
You know, people think cooking is
easy in a restaurant.
Actually, on the plancha.
Now, I'm here.
To tell you did it is
a very specific skill
set that takes a lot of training.
And I tried to do it one time when
the cook didn't show up, I wound up
blocking the door.
My goodness. You say, I don't know.
It's a whole different
skill set.
It's a.
Different discipline.
Anybody can cook.
But two big, quick, fast,
good.
Right? Right.
Is organized and clean.
It's a whole different deal.
But that's kind of how it all
started. And then,
you know, in '09,
remember in '08 or '09, the crash
that kind of hit us really, really
hard and we wound up selling the
restaurant in July of '09.
Kind of sat around the house
trying to figure out what to do
next.
And then I just started in [2011]
I started to cook again
competitively and then it just kind
of took me a little while to kind
of get back in the groove.
I hadn't really cooked much for six
years because the restaurant and the
business and it took me
a little while to get back in the
groove and I couldn't figure out why
I wouldn't walk or winning
because we had always done really
well. Sure.
And so I started reading a lot of
chef forums and magazines
and whatever I could find.
Yeah, yeah.
And I
learned a few more things.
And then we found our rhythm, man.
Yeah. And then in 2013,
we won 50% of the cook
off that we entered and
reserved granted a few more.
So it just like.
Kind of took off from there.
And what were your specialties when
you're doing the cook offs?
In competition.
Barbecue, mostly Texas.
It's brisket, ribs and chicken.
Yeah, now they have pork butt as
well, it's mostly brisket,
ribs and chicken.
Once you leave the valley, you know
the valley when we're cooking
here locally, there's also
pan de campo, which is, you know, a
regional delicacy.
If you.
Want to call it that.
And we would often compete in
fajitas and chili
and beans a lot here in South Texas.
But once you leave the valley and go
further north, sometimes
you'll have beans. But that's about.
It. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sometimes steak.
But, you know.
But you know, fast forward a little
bit more. In 2016, we started
teaching classes because we had won
a lot and got into the Hall of Fame
in 2017.
And so people wanted to know how we
did it right? And so we started
to do classes in-person,
traveled all over Texas.
We had an RV and we'd go wherever
they wanted us.
Yeah. And pretty much had sold
out classes, you know, in
Lubbock and Houston and Laredo
in San Antonio and other
areas.
And so in 2019, Danny,
actually my son
was finishing up college or had just
finished the year before, I think I
forget. And he was
like, Dad, why don't you do an
online class?
He said, Well, I don't know how.
So actually video
and photography is his background.
He did it ever since he was in high
school and all the way through
college.
So he helped me get that started.
We launched our online barbecue
classes, was very successful.
And then after
when Covid kicked in,
we were at
home, literally.
Yeah, yeah, right. And everybody
was. That was my job.
Yeah.
That was my job.
And so when Covid hit, we're sitting
here going like, Wow,
we don't have a job.
What are we going to do?
And so again,
it was Danny's idea.
He's like, Dad, you've already
wanted to do barbecue spices.
Why don't you start making
something? Right? Yeah.
So we were like, yeah, that's a good
idea. So we created our well
seasoning over the next few
months. And,
you know, we very timidly ordered a
whole pallet, you know, and thought,
if we can sell it in 90 days, we'll
be doing okay.
Yeah. Yeah.
It sold in four days.
We sold out.
Out. That's amazing.
And yeah, and it took
two more months to get reloaded, but
I ordered, like, five pallets.
Wow. I think we're not going to run
out again.
Where's you put it Your garage?
And
actually we were in the spare
bedroom was like to the roof area.
Some of the living room.
Yeah. Some in the dining room.
And so since then, yeah,
we, we actually built the climate
controlled room for it now.
Okay.
And so that's where it is now,
but that's how we started.
And so we really started to do
the cooking videos and more about
promoting our spices.
It was more about that to let people
know and make people aware that we
had some rubs for sale.
And, you know, one thing led to
another. I mean, like I said, most
of my background was barbecue and
carne asada and, you know, just
cooking over fire and stuff like
that, that, that, that was even more
what I used to do before it was
Dutch oven and open fire before the
competition smoking.
Yeah. Because in competition.
Smoking. Smoking.
Right. Yeah.
And so there's
only so many ways you can do a
brisket, right.
There's only so many ways you can
do ribs and chicken
on a fire, right?
Yeah.
So, you know, nice guys, nothing
against them, you know, their
specially brisket.
And so they do brisket this way,
this way, this way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stand it up like.
One on top of the other.
Yeah, yeah.
And I'm just exaggerating, right?
But I was like, you
know, I don't want to be that guy.
Yeah, yeah.
I want to.
Share stuff that's new every
week.
Something different.
Yeah.
You just got. To do.
More. Ain't gonna, you know.
Yeah, we're starting to do Carne
Asada and tacos and breakfast
videos and.
Si
Not really knowing if they were
going to hit or not.
But it turned out that that's really
what our followers
enjoyed the most.
Yeah.
Our carne asada taco videos.
You know, salsa videos,
excuse me.
They perform ten times
better than our barbecue videos.
Yeah. People love that
Mexican food, you know?
Yes. You know, people love Mexican
food it's the truth.
And so we just thought, well, if
that's what folks want to look at,
that's what we'll do, right?
More of. And so we started to do
more of that. And in just our
channel, just like.
Just blew up.
Little By little kept growing, kept
growing, kept growing.
And at this point, I'm going to say
that it just kind of like, blew up.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. No, I love it.
And naturally. And, you know,
it's not easy.
It does take a team.
Yeah.
And in our case, it's a family team.
My wife is my
culinary assistant.
Dishwasher helper.
That's what I heard. I heard it's a
family affair.
When you put these videos, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And Sophie our daughter
lives in Chicago.
We upload.
She does all the editing,
Danny puts the final touches on it,
then I'll review it and then Danny
does the uploading nice.
And then he's our CTO,
CFO, and he does
all the background and he's
also I.T.
expert.
And takes really.
Huge load off of, of us.
You know, I started out with some
small cameras, you know, because
Danny and Sophie used to record
the videos first, but then they
moved out of town.
Yeah, they lived in San Antonio for
a year, year and a half, I think.
And then they moved to Austin.
So I had to learn how to use the
cameras.
And small cameras.
Yeah. How is that for you?
And upgraded to better cameras
Yeah.
How is that for you?
I was.
Yeah, it was hard at first,
man, because, you know, not knowing
how to do it right.
And, you know, the videos were
blown out or too dark or the
audio wasn't good and the lighting.
Was.
Different, you know?
But YouTube
knows everything.
That's what I tell people.
I mean, I.
Look at YouTube videos.
Yeah, right.
Day And I night and have figured.
Yeah, I figured out how to get
better with the camera and I figured
out audio means a lot and
lighting means a lot.
Yeah.
People want to see good quality
videos.
Yeah. Yeah.
When you.
When you were just starting, like,
were you nervous
to be in front of the camera or how
did that work for you?
Honestly, yes, a little
bit, but not so much.
It's hard to get used to it because
right now I want to look at the
screen and see you, right?
Yeah,
But The camera's up hear
Is that little bit higher.
Yeah.
So it. Gets hard to, like, stare at
the camera like if you're talking to
somebody.
Right? Yeah, that's.
Probably the harder.
Part. I.
When you're starting out.
Yeah. Once you get used to it, then
it just becomes natural.
And the more you do it, the more
natural.
Yeah. Yeah.
But starting out, it was a little
bit. I'm going to say it wasn't too
hard for me.
It wasn't a lot of nerves so much
because.
I mean, you're a natural.
I was in the car business, I was in management.
Si.
Yeah, I was in management, so
I was used to leading a team and I
was used to speaking.
I was used to having meetings.
Selling cars.
How about that?
Sure.
Yeah, I used.
To speak in our church, you know,
and give little seminars and things
like.
Yeah. Yeah. Among your family.
Are you. Are you like that?
Most like outspoken one?
No, I tell people I'm really
more of a kind of a not
an introvert, but a just more of a
quiet person.
On a one on one basis.
I'm not a loud, talkative.
The guy you see on camera once the
cameras rolling, you know, I just
kind of get into show mode
and not that it's not authentic.
Or.
Anything like that, but it's just
like it's just a different.
Yeah,.
I want to make sure that I do a good
job for our followers.
Right, right now.
Totally. Totally.
And did you ever just.
It just Comes out because I want to make
sure that they like what we put out.
Yeah, completely.
Completely.
And I want to make sure it's
interesting, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah. You got. Yeah, you got.
To stand out.
You know, you got to, you know, not
only and, you know, entertain, but
also educate people.
Right? And that's a big component of
what I mean. Right, Right.
Why do you think that What why is
that important for you?
I think that people want to learn,
and that was why I kind
of enjoyed doing the barbecue
courses, because when I
was first starting to compete and
trying to learn and when I was
having a little struggle, when I got
back in the game, I wanted
to learn right and I needed to know
more. Yeah.
To better my game.
And what I remember Mando when
I would be in the forums and
there was always like a huge
number of people asking questions,
wanting to learn.
And there's always a small
group of people that want
to share. They have more knowledge,
they have more experience, they know
what to do and how to do it.
And they enjoy sharing, you know,
with these, let's call them newbies.
Yeah. How to up their
game, how to cook, how to do
whatever.
And so I always saw that that was a
component of being in
the food world and in the cooking
world. And so I wanted to be one of
those guys that helped people.
Yeah.
More than anything.
Yeah. And then now you're
influencing people
Mira, eres el Tio influencer.
Yeah.
I mean, everybody.
Like.
I almost
I kind of almost don't like that
word, you know, when they use
influencers and actually when we
sign contracts and stuff, they use
the.
Word, yeah, they do all the time.
With collab say, But I
really just think of myself more as
a content creator.
I mean, I'm, I'm doing
my best to create good content
that I hope people will enjoy and
that I hope it educational and
a little bit entertaining, you know.
Yeah. To to keep the spirits up
right You know, so
if that influences them to cook then
okay, I'll take it
Andale Andale, Si, si.
And to learn.
Yeah. Andwe get a Lot of messages
about that.
Yeah. And I know you've had a big
impact, you know, with all your,
your followers, your fans, me being
one of them as well.
Like, did you ever imagine
being in this space and
Never, Actually, you know, I
just I always hoped
that I would open a chain
of food trailers.
That was kind of my dream.
My goal, after having
been in the restaurant business,
you know, it was Mexican food.
And then we added barbecue to it.
We figured out a couple of things
and told myself if I ever did it
again, it would be like on the food
trailer level and it would be fast,
hot and fast stuff like fajitas,
burgers. Yeah.
Because you know, things that
you can prepare to order.
Yeah.
And you know, you don't have to,
like, save stuff that's
already cooked, right?
That was kind of my, my vision, my
dream, my goal at that, at that
time.
But after having done it and gotten
a little older, I'm like, too
much.
Work.
Yeah, I know. It's a lot of work.
It really is.
But so is cooking.
So is cooking.
I'm still cooking and I'm enjoying
it, but I'm it's on my own hours,
right? And I have to.
Midnight and.
Si
At A food park
Yeah. right, right, right, right,
right.
And I almost bought a food
trailer last year and my wife's
like,uh-uh, we ain't doing that.
So the other half of
the team isn't going to be in the
game. I mean, I'm not in the game,
right? You got to have that support,
right?
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And actually, I'm glad we didn't go
that direction because this grew
and grew and grew to the point where
we were able to hire Dan and
Sophie full time.
Yeah, very, very fortunate, very
blessed to to have our family
work with us.
And for us, there's
there's a really good.
Dynamic.
I mean, I come from a very loving
family. My wife does, too.
So we just have this really good
bond in our family that works.
I really honestly feel we're very
blessed and fortunate to have
that.
Yeah.
And some weekends you made a
paycheck.
Sometimes you made a good.
Paycheck and thought you made zero,
right? But you're like, Yeah,
you know,
sometimes you just eating. The leftover frijoles.
Yeah.
Yeah. But we averaged it out.
We did? Okay.
You know, we were able to pay our
bills, and we were fortunate
because we didn't have any debt.
Yeah. So that's what helped us be
able to do that.
But I don't know that I'd do that
again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But. But it all led to where we are
now, so maybe I shouldn't say that
Yeah.
Well, you know, this whole.
This whole idea around bringing
in your kids and and doing
what you love and
bringing everybody along in your
journey.
Where do you think that comes from?
In our culture, we grow up
as families, you know, and
in my family on both
sides, mainly on my mom's side,
but on both sides of our families
are good, tight families,
all of them.
A nd on my mom's side,
I want to say we had the biggest
party with my tios and
my grandparents.
And so we
would get together and have
the big fires and the ladies would
embotar tomates. I don't know if
your family ever did that.
They would get the Coke bottles and
the new caps and all
cook all the tomatoes and pack em into the Coke bottles
and put the lid on and, you know,
throw them under the house, you
know, and take them out, you know,
where it was cool and then just take
them out when they needed them.
Yeah, Yeah.
So we used to do that as kids,
you know, help moms and dads
to do that. And that's cool.
It was always a good family, fun
affair.
So to answer your question, yeah,
that's kind of where it come from,
just being from good
type families and growing up around
that. I mean, we're a very
loving family. We're the type that
just like, you know, we hug each
other every day, you know, kiss
each other every day.
We tell each other we love each
other every single day, you know?
Yeah. And that's just the way my
family is.
That's beautiful. That's beautiful.
And I think That's where most of
that comes from, number one.
Number two.
Danny had that experience of
being in the photo video.
So naturally when we started,
you know, I leaned on him
and then he was fortunate
to work for a big agency out of San
Antonio.
There was a they did like a huge
brand and huge deal.
Yeah, they would fly him to
California, to Houston, to
East Coast and all that stuff.
So he got a lot of experience
on how to do, you know,
higher level videos and editing
and stuff like that.
And all of that has helped us
do what we do.
And we've been fortunate now
that I learned how to
run all the cameras and stuff, and
now we got so busy
with it all.
Yeah, we actually now
hire on a regular basis
another company that does the videos
for us and often
we'll hire another friend that's
also a videographer.
Okay?
And so, you know,
it's just it's at that level now.
And yeah, that's great.
It's not As easy as most people
think. We literally work seven days
a week. So if we're not cooking
and grilling, we're cleaning the
pit or we're trying to tweak
recipes or test
recipes or
answer emails and questions
and, you know,
answer questions in the comments.
Right, Right. Yeah.
No, I mean, that's that's a big part
of it, the engagement you get with
your fans and followers.
So what advice would you offer
people wanting to get into
this food scene, whether it's
backyard grilling to
putting their stuff online and those
kind of things?
There are so many ways you can go,
but just start out.
Fortunately now from when we
started 6 or 7 years
ago and longer.
Yeah. Now, you know, the phones
are so good.
That would be the starting point.
And there's also a small little
gimbal camera 4k, like the GoPro,
stuff like that. Yeah, those are
very affordable and pretty easy
to use as well.
And but to start out, the phones
are the easiest and there's so much
stuff out there now, including
gimbals and audio equipment
and stuff That's just for phones.
Just for this.
So you can do a really good job with
phones, number one.
Number two, the most
important things are lighting.
We have a big stuff box up
here right now. So we have,
you know, even lighting
and then audio.
You got to have good art.
You can get good quality video,
which you can with a phone.
You can get 4K and
good lighting and good audio.
You know, you're good.
Mic I have a mic on, right?
Yeah.
Those are the three most important
things, I think more important
than fancy cameras, which we
have those now too.
But yeah, I don't even use them
because now we're paying somebody
else. And so it's all
good, though.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
All I got to think about cooking
now.
I know, right? And writing.
Writing too. Are you.
Are you working on a cookbook?
Yes. I started telling Danny and the
family we need to write a cookbook.
Then he's like, Well, I.
Know that you have no idea what
you're getting into, you know.
It's a lot of work.
Yeah.
And so I was kinda anglingg
for it already, and we
decided to put it on hold for at
least another. Year or two or.
Whatever, and we're just so busy.
Then all of a sudden we get an email
from a very big publisher and
they're like, Hey, we want to help
you write a cookbook more like
me.
Okay, man. It's hard to say no when
they're knocking your door, right?
Yeah. Yeah. And it was a.
Very reputable company.
So we're like, All right, man.
Honestly, a lot of stuff.
Mando has come around
very serendipitously, and that's the
right word,
and a lot of things have fallen in
place for us.
And that's why I say it's
all a blessing.
And that was one of the things that
fell in our place. So we started
working on it in January,
and we're probably about
20 to 25% in on
it right now.
We my style of cooking is
like my mom's or my grandma echale
poquito aca, un puno
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so but for the book,
we have to actually test every
single recipe and measure
and or weigh every ingredient.
Right, Right.
So that when we put it in the
cookbook and somebody want to
replicate that recipe, it's
going to turn out good.
Yeah. You know, and not just like,
well, just do this and just do that.
It has to be good.
Yeah. And so we're having to cook
every recipe so it adds more.
Work.
To our already pretty full
workload. And we're loving it.
That's good. That's good.
Yeah, well, I'm excited to
see when it comes out.
Definitely buy it.
And thank you.
When we started the podcast,
before that, there was a book Tacos
of Texas, and so it's out.
Yeah, there's a lot
I have it. Yeah. Before I knew who
you were, I had the book, the author
that I know.
There were two. Yeah, yeah.
I bought them a long time ago.
Yeah. But it, it wasn't like, you
know, when I, when I was like trying
to come up with some recipes to,
with my mom and my dad.
They're the same way.
They're like no pues, you know,
un poquito de eso. But I'm like, No,
no, no, no, no, no.
But what does that really mean?
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Like they say,
heche le hasta que dede a la huela
I mean.
I love it. I love it.
I love it.
Well, you know, one of the things
that I love about your videos
and just you as a person
is like, you get the vibe
that you're being yourself,
verdad and in a sea,
I would say in a sea like on
Instagram and YouTube as
well of just like,
you know, people.
But how do you stand out?
You know.
I'm going to say it's more
about being genuine and
trying to share things that I know
and actually even some of our.
Followers will say, Hey, man, have
you ever done this? Have you ever
done that? Or I'll get corrected,
you know, And yeah, instances
sometimes they know what they're
talking about. Sometimes they don't.
But, you know.
You can tell. You can tell the
difference.
You know what I mean?
And so to stand down,
I think part of that is just having
the good quality videos, the good
quality audio, good lighting, like I
said, where people hear
you good and see what your
content is good
and understand what you're saying
and you explain it well.
And you know, there's always all
kinds of new trends, right?
And I have historically
kind of tried to stay away
from the trendy stuff,
although we're kind of rethinking
that thing, really, because, you
know, hey, man, if that's the trend.
Yeah. And it brings more attention
to the channel.
Yeah. Yeah. And if it helps to sell
some spices, maybe we should
do a little trendy stuff.
Sure. But historically, I haven't
done that so much.
I think those are some of the things
that maybe helped set us apart a
little bit.
Yeah.
But yeah, there's a lot of really,
really great content creators out
there. Do a really good job, too.
And I follow several of them myself
just because I enjoy watching them
too. Yeah. And you never stop
learning as well.
Sometimes you pick up here or
there.
Yeah, that's that's.
That's the beauty of that as well.
Yeah, I'm part of this journey.
And so if you wanted
to share anything about, you know,
your work and what you do,
what message would you tell,
you know, folks listening to
the podcast?
You know, I mean, just if
you have a knack for
cooking and you're wanting to get
into this
content creative space,
just do it. You know that old sign
that that old thing.
Just do it.
Yeah. Yeah, that's.
I'm going to say the same. Just
there. Just get out there and
execute.
You know this one guy on YouTube?
You know Sean Connery. He was like,
you just got to hit record, right?
And that's
the bottom line, you know?
Quit overthinking and quit
analyzing.
And so I would
say if somebody wants to get into
this page, just go out there and do
it. If you want to be a better cook,
there's a lot of very cookbooks
out there now. YouTube is really
good. There's a lot of great
teachers out there that create
content on YouTube,
but you just got to get out there
and light the fire.
Yeah. And or the start
in, right.
And just start.
So don't be afraid to make mistakes
because we all make them.
I still make em.
Yeah, Yeah.
You're not going to get good at
anything until you actually get out
there and do it and you're
going to make mistakes.
You know, in my opinion, it's always
fun. I enjoy it when somebody
takes a food
and they smile, right?
Or they give you a good compliment.
To me, that's the best high that I
can get.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, Totally is like, look at their
faces.
Look at them. Eat.
Yeah.
And actually when it's in a bottle.
Right, I'll see if.
I can do that.
And I keep.
Forgetting to give it back.
Well, Arnie, thank you so much
for, you know, just sharing
and being part of, you know, the
podcast. I really you know, I've
been you know, I'm a
I've been a fan for for
for a while now.
And, you know, I appreciate
everything you're doing and and
sharing, you know, everything from
from your heart and it shows
and.
Yeah, yeah.
Next time. Definitely.
We're down in the valley.
Well, it will definitely hit you up.
Hit me up, man.
Well, we'll. We'll go have some
tacos and everyone
we can cook it here in my backyard.
And then it'll be in reality.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you, man. Appreciate you
having me. Very honored.
Thank you, sir.
Okay, people run.
Do not walk to the Internet
and you go follow Arnie Segovia,
a.k.a.
Arnie Tex.
You're going to learn so much.
You know, I just kind of want to
thank him for being on the show
and learning about his journey
from his early days
of selling cars to
owning a restaurant and now doing
all his videos, you know,
on the socials.
And we're all learning and having
fun with him.
So with that, I want to give some
shout outs to some grilling
and barbecue and adjacent places AJ
custom cookers, some main
custom smokers and cookers,
Olmos barbecue out of Dallas.
And Chef Enrique Lozano
out of El Paso.
And he's doing these hang meats,
these called colgados they are to
die for.
This has been the Tacos of Texas
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by Identity Productions.
If you enjoyed today's episode and
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This is your host, Mando el
Taco journalist Rayo
Vamos a los Tacos.
On the next proximo Tacos of Texas
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Tacos.
This might be controversial,
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Or are they?
We'll dig into this highly debated
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El Paso, Texas.
The Tacos of Texas podcasts is
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Our host and producer is Mandrill.
Our audio is mixed by Nicolas
Worden. Our story producer is
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