The Taco Mafia Is Making Austin’s Restaurant Scene a Little Friendlier – Texas Monthly

[ad_1]

Sara Mardanbigi knew something was wrong when she woke up because her pillow was unusually cool. The co-owner and manager of Nixta Taqueria in Austin checked the thermometer. In the house that she shares with her friend and business partner, Nixta chef Edgar Rico, it was 40 degrees. Mardanbigi woke him early in the morning on February 15, the second day of a devastating winter storm that plunged temperatures below freezing for six days. Four million Texans were left without electricity; Almost 15 million have faced water outages. As people got colder, hungrier, and thirstier, Rico and Mardanbigi decided to take action. They called on a group of friends in the restaurant industry, the Taco Mafia, to gather and cook at the Nixta – even though the East Austin restaurant had no electricity.

Discada co-owner Anthony Pratto started calling friends who own restaurants and trucks. He asked her to bring her food to Nixta. “I would feel terrible if I knew we had all this food, knowing how many people are hungry, knowing that food is really hard to get,” he said. Among those who joined in the effort were the Dough Boys’ pizza crew, Nick Belloni from Trill Foods, and Mariela Camacho from Comadre Panaderia. Good Samaritans brought dry goods, feminine hygiene products, candles, and water. Tankproof, an aid organization based in Louisiana, donated two flatbed trucks loaded with supplies. The news quickly spread on social media, and a long line formed in front of Nixta – according to Rico, more than four hundred people were fed in the first thirty minutes. The cooks worked by the headlamps over the gas stoves. Everything was free and the effort continued for the next few days; Rico estimates that up to five thousand people received food or water every day.

Austin’s Mexican restaurant community had probably never worked together on such a scale to help those in need, and it was all thanks to the Taco Mafia, a casual association of chefs, chefs, taqueros, and restaurant professionals. The original members, the owners of La Tunita 512 (Gerardo “Jerry” Guerrero), Discada (Pratto and Xose Velasco), Cuantos Tacos (Luis “Beto” Robledo), and Nixta Taqueria (Mardanbigi and Rico), were long-time friends with them admired each other’s cooking. Robledo and Guerrero went to the same high school in Austin; Pratto and Velasco have been best friends in Houston since they were young. Each of their stores specialize in their own Mexican food styles, including Robledo’s Mexico City-style mini tacos and Rico’s creative, modernist dishes. While responding to the freeze was the group’s greatest achievement, its members have only grown closer since then. They look out for each other, offer advice and support in dealing with the ups and downs of the service industry. From putting out a fire in the Nixta to collecting donations for a cook’s medical bills, planning collaborations and experimenting with new specialties, the Taco Mafia makes Austin’s notoriously competitive restaurant culture a little friendlier.

As you’d expect, the taco mafia was born over tortillas. While Rico and Mardanbigi were working on the opening of Nixta Taqueria in October 2019, they were visiting Austin Taquerias. The first place they checked out was Discada. After several visits, Pratto, Velasco and Rico and Mardanbigi became friends. When the venue for a friend’s birthday party failed at the last minute, Rico offered Discada his own garden. “Our friendship grew out of that,” says Pratto. The circle quickly grew around Robledo and Guerrero.

A name like the Taco Mafia could conjure up weird images of private dining rooms or secret pop-ups where a small group of powerful, perhaps intimidating characters hold court and make life-changing decisions. Maybe a bottle or two of tequila is involved, as Mardanbigi coined the group’s name in a video for Vice’s “Off the Truck” series with Discada. In the end, the friends sit at a picnic table in front of Nixta and toast to having kept their business afloat during the pandemic “The Taco Mafia, eh!”. Mardanbigi laughs and conjures up the classic Italian-American gangster films of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

An order for Discada tacos, which can take up to 35 hours to cook, from Discada.Photo by José R. Ralat

The taco mafia has no official leader, but Robledo literally sits at the head of the table. He speaks softly, but makes an imposing figure at 1.80 m and regularly drives past Nixta after work just to check. The habit saved the restaurant when Robledo drove by around 1 a.m. one day in February 2020, yellow and red lights flickering in the dumpsters. Robledo stopped and crouched behind an agave plant across the street to find out what was wrong. Flames licked the outside wall of the taqueria. Inside, Pratto and Velasco from Discada prepared the food for the next day (Discada takes up to 35 hours to cook). The towering Taquero quietly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called Rico and Mardanbigi. When he told them their dumpster was on fire, they thought he was joking – until Rico remembered that he had just set up a container with fifty propane tanks nearby. The Taco Mafia crew believe someone intentionally started a fire next to the tanks after Pratto and Velasco entered the Nixta kitchen. Whatever happened, it was a close conversation.

Rico, and thus also Nixta, is the heart of the taco mafia. He’s a tall, stocky guy who often uses his restaurant as a hangout for taqueros and restaurant workers. Mardanbigi is caring and no-nonsense; She will guide you to your seat to feed you a mole inspired by her Persian background, but she will also hit you on the back of the head with a chancla (flip-flop) to get out of line. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Mardanbigi is a Carmela Corleone in the making.

Pratto and Velasco spend a lot of time fooling around. They may be comedic relief with disarming smiles, but they have a job – making diskada tacos – and they do it masterfully. Guerrero, who like Robledo has a grubby beard, is known in the group for keeping a cool head in crises. He grins a slightly toothy smile that might hide a hint of mischief. When Guerrero speaks, it’s a low rumble.

But the Austin Taco Mafia isn’t just a bunch of brothers. Honorary membership extends to industry veterans such as Veracruz All Natural owners Reyna and Maritza Vasquez. The taco mafia looks up at them. Mardanbigi calls the sisters “las chingonas”, the tough women who created an environment in which the Austin Taco Mafia could gain a foothold. Veracruz helped the Nixta crew during the February freeze. “You could say we’re something like the matriarchs of the Austin Taco Mafia,” says Reyna.

“They totally are!” echoes Rico. “It’s one of those things that, when you put your own ego aside, you realize that people are doing some really cool things, and how can we support that and how can we highlight what they’re doing?” Says Mardanbigi.

One expression of this collaborative spirit is as simple as vouching for a trusted colleague. That’s what Robledo did when he helped the Dough Boys pizza trailer get a seat at the Arbor Food Truck Park on East Twelfth Street. Robledo hadn’t tried the pizza. Nevertheless, he trusted the co-owners Tony Curet and Max Tilka. Pratto and Velasco stood up for them too, and Dough Boys signed the lease before anyone tried their food. “I’m grateful to be part of the same conversations as these guys about what they do for the community and how they run their business,” says Curet. “Anything you need, we’ll try to help you.” The Dough Boys’ opening menu featured a combo of Nixta’s Al Pastor chicken wings pickled in duck fat and a pizza designed by the Discada chefs. Creative crossovers like these are good not only for the owners but also for the guests. Instead of having to hit all three restaurants, pop-ups can often give you a taste of each of them – also known as the Taco Mafia Tour.

In March, Cuantos Tacos’s Robledo underwent aortic valve surgery to treat complications of Marfan’s syndrome, a genetically inherited tissue disease that affects every part of a person’s anatomy. Robledo is legally blind in his left eye and when he was a teenager his lungs collapsed; now heart problems threatened his life. His health insurance did not cover all surgery and hospitalization costs, let alone non-working time. Dough Boys designed a white t-shirt with a graphic of the word “Beto” in a red heart. They were sold out within hours. Mardanbigi launched a GoFundMe campaign, and the efforts combined raised more than $ 15,000. “He deserves it so … He’s a really good man and has a really big heart,” she remembers the dumpster fire. “The money we have raised is enough for two days in the hospital, but we will do what we can for Beto,” added Curet.

Professional cooking is strenuous mental and physical work. Add in crucial elements like South by Southwest and vandalism as witnessed early on by Veracruz All Natural, and the restaurant industry can be a brutal place to spend long days and nights on low wages in low-margin companies. It clings more to positive press than to a positive work environment. That is starting to change with the rise of industry organizations like Comedor Run Club, which encourages exercise rather than drinking, and Southern Smoke, which supports food workers faced with health crises or natural disasters. The taco mafia is an important part of this shift.

An order for lengua tacos from Cuantos Tacos.Photo by José R. Ralat

“What distinguishes the Taco Mafia? [is that] although we are in direct competition … we ride or die for each other, ”says Pratto. “We really want us to be successful. I hope we can set an example for the future of the Austin taco scene and the food scene in general. “

Everyone in the taco mafia is doing well right now. Nixta recently expanded its outdoor seating, and Jerry Guerrero, who switched from serving Birria de Chivo to selling the more popular Brisket Birria, sells out within hours on some days. He looks for a bigger truck and then brings back his rich, wild goat birria. Pratto and Velasco are looking for more space, maybe even a brick-and-mortar, that will allow them to offer more than one northern Mexican-style discada. They’re also thinking about opening up a whole new concept instead. Cuantos has moved to a larger food trailer this year and will convert the original 1963 Ford Step Van into a Gordita operation. Further collaborations with the extended honorary members of the Taco Mafia are also to be expected. If you’ve missed the January Smoked Carnitas Tortas pop-up from Nixta, Discada, and Big Daddy Karne Barbecue, whose proceeds went to Houston’s Relief Gang, you might get another chance at peeling Duroc Smoked Pork, the all in one traditional Carnitas-Cazo de Cobre is ready. You may find yourself trying something unexpected with another pop-up in the future. Regardless, you’ll be eating some of the best Mexican food in Austin. The taco mafia is behind you.

[ad_2]