Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / #38 | El Vago Burgers and BBQ

Transcript

#38 | El Vago Burgers and BBQ · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_03: What's going on, y'all?
0:01
SPEAKER_03: Copis Christie Originals back at it again.
0:03
SPEAKER_03: Uh, with here here with El Vago uh coming to you live from the produce streamlabs studio here downtown Corpus Christi, Texas.
0:12
SPEAKER_03: Super excited.
0:13
SPEAKER_03: Obviously, a brand new setup.
0:15
SPEAKER_03: Uh, we got here El Vago with us, Alex from El Vago Burgers and Barbecue, located at uh 4701 Bareta.
0:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh there in Motown, representing the Motown, right?
0:25
SPEAKER_03: Yes, sir.
0:26
SPEAKER_03: Uh, welcome to the show, man.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, bro.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you inviting me to come.
0:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, yeah, I've been I've been wanting you to come.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: I've been checking out your food.
0:34
SPEAKER_03: Man, it looks good.
0:35
SPEAKER_03: I tried your food the other day.
0:37
SPEAKER_03: That burger was bomb, bro.
0:39
SPEAKER_03: The patties were yeah.
0:40
SPEAKER_03: So what so what what so what's the inspiration for the type of food that you make?
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, just being a fat ass man.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Pretty much, man.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Just uh, you know, just started coming up with different things, you know, just get ideas and threw it together and just tried it out and it was good.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and there's some stuff on my menu I hadn't even tried, to tell you the truth.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: There's a few things I haven't even tried, I just came up with it, and people like it.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Like the honey bun burger, it was uh kind of an accident.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: We were just thinking, like, man, when we were smoking one day when I had the food trailer, we're outside, and I was like, Man, what can we come up with?
1:12
SPEAKER_00: And I think it was my son that told me, Hey, we should do a honey bun burger.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, that ain't gonna taste good, man.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Nah, let's try it.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Oh, there's a family daughter right there.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: I gave him some money here.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Go, we got some honey buns.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: He went over there, came back, and and then uh my homeboy Roach, he told me, man, put some peanut butter on it, you know.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, so he put some peanut butter on it and we ate it, and I was like, Man, it's pretty good, man.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: It's not something that I would eat all the time, yeah, because you know, the sweet and the thing, like it's it's good, but it's just not what you know, it's just it's not straight up stoner food, bro.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what it is.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: It tastes it tastes 10 times better when you're stoned.
1:46
SPEAKER_03: Right, right, right.
1:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's cool, man.
1:48
SPEAKER_03: So you that's pretty cool that you just come up with the ideas and you put them on your head.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just put them together.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: I just get a I don't know, man.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: I just get crazy ideas in my head.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm man, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna do this, and then people like it, man.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, we get a good good, you know, responses back from everybody, and you know, it's just yeah, so growing.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so have you been cooking like for a long time?
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Like uh how did you get into I've been cooking all my life, man, since I was a little kid and you know, my mom, you know, I remember I think I was like in fifth grade and she told me uh for me, she told me, Ven pa' case, she goes te voy a enseñar como cocinar, mm-hmm.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna die if you don't learn how to cook.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: So she taught me how to cook, and then you know, I would stay with my dad um uh when my mom would go to Mexico visit my grandparents, you know?
2:35
SPEAKER_00: So um I would cook, I would cook for me and my dad, you know what I mean?
2:38
SPEAKER_00: So it just it just went from there.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: I just always cooked after that, and then I started barbecuing, and then uh I got into doing brisket and I kept on trying different things and little by little started getting better and better and better, and then you know it just went from there, man.
2:50
SPEAKER_03: So are you so you're originally from California?
2:52
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, no.
2:53
SPEAKER_03: I'm from here in Texas.
2:54
SPEAKER_03: So so so alright, so you so you learned how to barbecue in Texas?
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, hell yeah, Texas barbecue shit.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, represent.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: I got to, man.
3:01
SPEAKER_03: That's what's up, bro.
3:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you and your stuff is well, you don't want to give away the secret because I was about to shop the other day.
3:07
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, no, no.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, why is that with you guys?
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Because it's just it's unique, bro.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: It's it's real unique.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, nobody does it the way I do it.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: I just came up with this crazy way to do it, and and it just worked, and it just it gives the brisket a real juicy, moist taste to it, and it's like it's just real good, man.
3:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
3:27
SPEAKER_03: Definitely.
3:27
SPEAKER_03: Like I said, I think it was the Fermuda burger that I tried.
3:30
SPEAKER_03: It had the brisket and then the patties, man.
3:32
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
3:33
SPEAKER_03: And then the cheese, of course.
3:34
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: And your fries are crazy the way you season them first, and then you yeah, that's awesome, man.
3:40
SPEAKER_03: So uh so you started in the Trade Center, is that right?
3:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I started the Trade Center, man.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: I uh I used to have a detailing company, man, and it like I did good for years, man.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: I detailed for years, man, and then uh Hurricane Harvey hit.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: All my business was in the Rams' past, and uh it it it knocked me down big time, man.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: I lost a lot of clientele.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: I lost I had like 515 clients during that time.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, and uh we were man, dude, it was like you know perfect, man.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: It was good life for me at that time.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: So detailing like what like the car car uh car lots or yeah, the car lots, and then like customers would come bring their cars to get detailed at the car dealerships, you know, they'll drop them off, get them detailed, and stuff.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And then we would do all the make ready for the dealership.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: We washed a lot, you know.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: We would uh people bring their cars a service and they'll bring it to us to detail and we would deal them for the like the body shop.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: We do body shop cars, we'll do everything, any whatever the dealership wanted.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, I had 19 people working for me at one time.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: I had five dealerships, and like everything was going good.
4:41
SPEAKER_03: Wow, crazy.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: So so it slowed down because of well no Hurricane Harvey quit, hit, and then I lost like four dealerships, man.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: I was only left with one.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because they were like, oh, you know, you know, we we don't need nobody to diesel cars right now.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: It random was a mess during that time.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: It was it was bad, you know.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: More than half my clientele, they they were winter techs and stuff.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: They moved, everybody's homes got destroyed, they moved to San Marcos, Houston, San Antonio.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: So uh I was just there, man, just trying to survive, and then uh it was started getting better, just a little bit better, right?
5:14
SPEAKER_00: Where I was barely coming afloat, and uh COVID came and it just knocked me straight back down, man.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: I was just that same business knocked it even more down, even more down, man, where like I couldn't do it no more, and then uh I had a detail shop here downtown and uh it was alright, man.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: But it at that time everybody wanted to get their cars detailed at home, you know.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, well, you know, I'm spending money on a shop, and yeah, everybody wants us to do home visits and stuff, and it was it was bad, everybody was getting sick, and it was horrible, man.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: So you know, one day I was there and I was just messing around doing uh making beard butter and stuff, and I was sending beard products and stuff.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: That's where I came up with the whole El Vago at first.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and uh a good friend of mine, uh Joe Muscot, he's a good, you know, he did a lot of CD covers and stuff for a bunch of rappers back in the days.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: We were good friends, and I told him my idea, I said, dude, I want to come up with a cool logo, and you know, I came up with the vago devil, you know.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: That's how I came up with the logo, and yeah.
6:10
SPEAKER_03: What what is that?
6:11
SPEAKER_03: Like uh obviously a lot of people from corporates don't speak a lot of Spanish.
6:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, is that a slang word?
6:16
SPEAKER_03: Or what is it?
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, different parts of Mexico means different things, you know what I mean?
6:19
SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of different slangs.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: Like, remember when I was young, when I was out doing stupid stuff in the streets, hanging out, well, andas de vago, yeah, siendo nada, like you know, you're lazy, you don't want to work, you don't want to do anything.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: So that you know, that word stuck with me for a long time, and I had forgot about it, but yeah, there was a song that came out from El Fantasma and uh Los Os Carnales, it was called it uh Cabrone Vago.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: That song came on, and and when I was thinking for a name, I said, man, that'd be a perfect name, you know what I mean?
6:48
SPEAKER_00: I remember it from when I was younger, you know?
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it just it just stuck, and it just, you know, I just used El Vago.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: And then uh that's whenever we came out with uh the Vago devil, the logo, and you know, with the beard butter stuff, and it was it was going good for a while, man.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: It did it did real good.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: And then uh I was used to making you know good money, like a lot of money, and like I was stressing, and yeah, I was at the trade center and I was looking around, I was like, man, what does everybody have?
7:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, what does everybody have in their hands?
7:15
SPEAKER_00: What does people need?
7:16
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everybody had food in their hands.
7:19
SPEAKER_03: Oh shit.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: Everybody had food in their hands, and I was like, man, that's like you know, I need to start doing some food in here, and yeah, it just you know it went from there.
7:26
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: So it's almost like you have you have a business mindset, like as far as like because you have to have it seems like that's how you are.
7:35
SPEAKER_03: You it just talking to you the past the last days.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Um when you're used to having money, like you know, I'll just I like to spend money, you know.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: That's my wife always complains to me about that, but it's just like you know, you gotta make it to spin it, you know what I mean?
7:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so you gotta figure out ways, you gotta figure out ways to get it in your hand.
7:52
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, for sure, man.
7:54
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
7:54
SPEAKER_03: So you so you came up with the you started the beard, you came, you got the logo on it, and then what you started cooking once you figured out okay, there's probably a product in this.
8:03
SPEAKER_03: So when did you feel like you had when the uh how how did it feel, or when did you feel like you had a product?
8:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was a while, man, because when we first started, it was only barbecue.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: It was only barbecue, we had a few items, nothing too crazy.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: It was just, you know, a little bit.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: And I remember the first day we opened, my mom came and helped me, and you know, everybody in my family always they've always backed me up, man.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: That's one thing I love about my family.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: They my wife, my kids, you know, they've always been there like when I need them and stuff.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: And like I didn't know what I got myself into because I've never worked restaurants before.
8:35
SPEAKER_03: Right, yeah.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: I knew how to cook, but I never like actually ran a restaurant or stuff.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't know what I got myself into.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: It was like we're supposed to open at 12 that day, and I was already running behind, and it was a mess trying to get everything.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: And like, yeah, you know, when we got there, we started setting up and people were already coming and stuff.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, um my homeboy Capone, the uh old school rapper from Latino Jam, he came down, you know, to try to help me out and sign autographs, just get people to come over there.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Quite a bit of people went over there and it was we were we were packed, man, and I was real nervous.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, man, what the hell did I give myself anything about this?
9:09
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
9:09
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it was it was crazy, man.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, and it just after like a couple months went by and a lot of people started coming, and people were like, Man, dude, I love your brisk.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Your brisk is so good, man.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Your food's so good.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, keep on getting compliments like that, kept on pushing me to want to do it more and more and more, and so it just you know started evolving.
9:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's cool.
9:28
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
9:29
SPEAKER_03: So how uh so how do you do do you notice people react to you like just based on your appearance?
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, all the time, man.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
9:39
SPEAKER_03: So what how do some people that do they like like do you notice?
9:42
SPEAKER_02: Like how yeah, but you know what's so weird, man?
9:45
SPEAKER_00: Regular people or look at me like I'm crazy and stuff, which is fine with I get it, you know what I mean?
9:50
SPEAKER_00: I do I'm you know, but it's always like the old people, old white people, they'll sit there and they'll just start talking to me and talking to I'm like, what the hell?
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, you know, and I'll sit there, I'll conversate with them and stuff, and like they're like real nice and stuff, and it's like trippy, you know.
10:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:05
SPEAKER_03: That's interesting.
10:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and then we were talking the other day, and you're saying I had more problems with when I was working in the detail business, you know, with that.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then the food.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's I I got turned down for a lot of jobs, man, that that I could have made like really, really good money on, and I guess because of my parents, they didn't want me, you know.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: They didn't want me messing with their cars.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: They thought I was gonna steal it.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
10:28
SPEAKER_03: That's funny, bro.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: Uh you probably can't you can't steal the food, right, right?
10:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you can't steal the food, man.
10:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so uh, so you have do you how do you how do you handle like uh I guess like uh where do you get your food from?
10:41
SPEAKER_03: Like do you get it local?
10:42
SPEAKER_03: I do have it.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: I used to get it local.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: I used to get it from Staple Street, and I used to get it from Sam's.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: I still get from a little bit from Sam's, a little bit from HEB and stuff.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: HEB's like one of my main places so I get all okay like buns and tortillas and stuff like that.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: And you know, uh but uh meat prices have been going up like crazy, and I was at Staple Street, and you know, the owner, you know, he really didn't want to, you know, go lower on the price, whatever, even though I try to convince him that hey, you know, I'm not uh I'm not buying it for personal, I'm buying it because you know to s to resell it, so you know, for him to give me a wholesale price, and yeah, he didn't want to do it, he didn't want to do it, so I cut him out and I went to his supplier.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: I went to his supplier in Houston.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: I call I gave them a call, whatever, and you know, Margie, she's the one that runs that.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: She uh she set me up and I she took care of me, man.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: I get all my meat from them.
11:31
SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
11:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and so you and you gotta have a minimum and all that stuff right now.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah.
11:35
SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's cool, man.
11:36
SPEAKER_03: So do you have how do you feel?
11:38
SPEAKER_03: Um, so you you did that.
11:39
SPEAKER_03: Did you try the food truck, right?
11:41
SPEAKER_00: Did you try the food work first?
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Man, dude, I just bad taste in your mouth.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: It just wasn't for me, man.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's uh man, for the people that do it, man, yeah, they're bad motherfuckers, too.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Man, I just I just couldn't, man.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: I just it was too confined for me, and for what I wanted to do, it was too small, yeah.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, to cook all the stuff I wanted.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: There's no way I could have the menu I have now in a food truck, you know.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a lot, you know.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then with the generator, and then I hated cooking on propane, and yeah, you know, and then we forget the ice for the ice chests, or we'll forget this.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: We're there, and like, oh, we only got one tank, and then we're over here running across town trying to get it filled up, and this place is closed, and you haul, oh, we lost the key, and then you gotta go downtown, and then like man, it was just running around everywhere, and I I hated it, man.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: I hated it, and then hook up the trailer and then you know, wash it out every day, and then prep the food inside the house, put it in the trailer, and then try to do some in the trailer, and then and then at the end of the day, take it back out.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: I would get my son, hey, Gavron, come help me.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Like, all right, dad, you know, come out there, help me get all the stuff, take it inside, and and then you know, my wife's there waiting for me, and you know, just it was just I just didn't like it, man.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: It just it just wasn't for me, bro.
12:49
SPEAKER_03: Right on, right on.
12:50
SPEAKER_03: So you mentioned your son.
12:51
SPEAKER_03: Is it like a family-run business?
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, man.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's all it's um me, my wife, my brother, um, my son, Weddle, his girlfriend, my other daughter, and you know, my kids, they come help because they go to school and stuff, but when they're there, they you know they go around there and yeah, you know, they really don't help, they just want food, you know.
13:10
SPEAKER_03: You gotta feed them.
13:12
SPEAKER_03: That big dad gotta feed them.
13:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:15
SPEAKER_03: So uh you uh we were talking earlier before we started, uh, like some people would go up to your your store and be like, hey, do you have anything healthy?
13:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I know, dude.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: I feel bad sometimes.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Like you know, people come in and you know they expect the traditional barbecue restaurant.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Hey, uh, do you have like a three-meat plate?
13:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, nah, man, you know, we're not that kind of restaurant, bro.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: You gotta look at the menu, you know what I mean?
13:36
SPEAKER_00: It's it's different over here.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got barbecue items, but it's not specifically a barbecue barbecue place, you know.
13:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and um it's almost like your stuff is like art, it's like uh art.
13:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, to like culinary, like an art, you know.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: It's like a fat ass's dream.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: Dripping mac and cheese and all this cheese, everything's cheese, man.
13:53
SPEAKER_02: Cheese, cheese, cheese.
13:54
SPEAKER_03: And that's funny, man.
13:57
SPEAKER_03: Uh man, so you guys, so after the so you tried the food truck and then you went to the place that you're at now?
14:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: No, no, I was at the trade center and I was doing the food truck the same time as the trade center.
14:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh, what was that like working?
14:09
SPEAKER_03: I mean, what was that like uh being at the trade center?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: The trade center, it was cool at first, man.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Like I really, really liked it, bro.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: And uh Mr.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Pyle had passed away, the original owner, and then they they uh they sold it to somebody else, and then after they took over, like it just it just wasn't the same no more, man.
14:27
SPEAKER_03: Wow, crazy.
14:28
SPEAKER_03: Uh man, and so so do you find yourself like dealing with like I guess haters?
14:34
SPEAKER_03: Like how do you deal with that?
14:36
SPEAKER_03: How do you do?
14:37
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know everybody's got them.
14:38
SPEAKER_03: I got everything everybody in this room has got them.
14:41
SPEAKER_03: I just how do you deal with it?
14:42
SPEAKER_00: I just don't understand why.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm just I understand, you know, everybody's trying to make it, everybody wants to be on top, and I and I get that, bro.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: But why go to the extent of trying to damage somebody's what they work for?
14:54
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
14:55
SPEAKER_00: I've had the comptroller called on me, I've had the health department called on me.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it's just it just it gets ridiculous after a while, you know?
15:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:04
SPEAKER_03: Comptroller, that's like your tax, like your taxes.
15:07
SPEAKER_03: Oh man, you don't fuck with them, bro.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: Then they I've dealt with some gangsters in my life, bro.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: But them, they're worse, man.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: We'll shut your we'll shut your place down, we'll put you in jail, we'll and do I'm not joking.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: They do, you can ask anybody that's in this business.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: They do that, man.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh man, we'll freeze your account.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: You better come, you better have our money.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: We can't, we can, we can go with the police officer, we'll walk in, we'll go to your cash register and put up like god damn, like that.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: Like shit, man.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: And dude, I owe them like$36.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: They showed up to my house, man.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: And we were moving and shit, right?
15:39
SPEAKER_00: It made it like I was trying to get away from them, right?
15:41
SPEAKER_00: They pulled up in the car and they get down there.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, they're like, um, I was like, can I help you?
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Where were the comp trollers?
15:47
SPEAKER_00: I was like, ma'am, I only owe you$36, man.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm having to you this weekend.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Like, calm down, man.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: Nah, you gotta be paying on time.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: And and I said, why you and I told him, I said, why y'all gotta be like that, man?
15:56
SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, I said, Why y'all gotta make all these threats?
15:59
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm gonna, I've been giving y'all$500 a week.
16:01
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, calm down, man.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, somebody that was at the trade center, um, he was new, he came in, whatever, and I try to be cool with the guy.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: I ain't gonna say no names, you know what I mean?
16:11
SPEAKER_00: I was trying to be cool with the guy, whatever, you know, you know, I I didn't care.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: I heard he was saying stuff about me, whatever, right?
16:18
SPEAKER_00: But this dude went to the extent calling the comptroller.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: But you know what, bro?
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's a done something in me pretty much helped me out at the end.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Because when we started, it was during COVID, right?
16:30
SPEAKER_00: The comptroller's office was closed when I went over there.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I talked to my c uh tax lady, and I guess she didn't know.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: She tells me, just don't charge taxes, you know, just you get a uh uh EID number, you'll be alright.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, trade centers get her, bro.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: They didn't care, they didn't ask me for no you got your comptroller, they didn't give a shit, right?
16:48
SPEAKER_00: Just say, you know, pay us and boom, vamos, you know.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: So okay, fine.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: I was a whole year, bro.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't charging taxes.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: I was just, you know, just doing food, whatever.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Well, that fool called the com troler on me.
16:58
SPEAKER_03: Oh shit.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: They went over there and they're like, they started asking all these questions, where's your paperwork?
17:04
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, so I ain't got nothing, man.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: I ain't got no paperwork, you know.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even have a uh food handler's premier.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: I ain't got nothing, dude.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Like it just I just started the business and just ran with it, you know.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh I said, man, I ain't I ain't gonna lie, I ain't got nothing, whatever.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: So they start doing, dude.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: They sent me a bill seven thousand dollars.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: I was like, shit.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: But I'm glad, dude, that hey, that dude did me a favor because imagine if I would have went another year, yeah, I would have owed 14,000, 15,000, I would have got shut down.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: I got friends that got shut down for$3,000, man.
17:31
SPEAKER_03: That's crazy how you look at it like that.
17:33
SPEAKER_03: Like they were being like not being good to you, but at the same time, you looked at it.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, you got to, bro, because you know, in life, man, it's just like things are always, dude.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: I've I've lost everything and got everything back like five times in my life.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's like before I would get mad, throw a fit.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: And I still do sometimes, you know, I get mad, I get all pissed off, and my wife's always like, hey, you know, things are gonna get better, and like, no, it's not, no, it's not.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: And it does, you know what I mean?
17:56
SPEAKER_00: It does, it does, you know what I mean.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'd learn just to like uh, you know, just get punched in the face, just get up and you know, just go back at it, fuck it, you know.
18:04
SPEAKER_03: How does your wife deal with you uh with your business now?
18:07
SPEAKER_03: Like, does she I mean how does she handle it?
18:10
SPEAKER_03: How does she handle it?
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Because she's she's used to being a housewife, you know what I mean.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Now she has to get up and go help me, and she don't complain though, you know what I mean?
18:17
SPEAKER_00: She she goes, she helps me, does whatever, you know, to help us out, whatever.
18:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
18:22
SPEAKER_03: I I was looking at my phone because I think she's in the chat.
18:25
SPEAKER_03: She's she's probably the first one in the shout-out.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: It's awesome, man.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've been together a long time, man.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Almost 20 years, bro.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: 25.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's good, man.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Almost 20 years, man.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I got lucky, man.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: I got real lucky.
18:36
SPEAKER_03: Did you meet her here in Texas?
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Or I met yeah, I met her here.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: I met her here at the it used to be at Paraiso right there on Air Street.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: I went to a friend of mine.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh he invited me to Quinceneta and I wasn't gonna go, man.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't gonna go, and then I went and I saw her and I was all like, hey, you come here.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what to say, right?
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Because when I was younger, you know, I never really like I'm not trying to sound like I'm you know fine or anything, but like I never really had to go to a girl and try to get their attention.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: It just it just like you know, they'll it just happens, you know.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Where her, I was like, like, fuck, you know, I didn't I didn't want to let her go.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hey, you come here.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: We started talking, whatever.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: I got her number, and then you know, I um we ended up being together and then like I just never left.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: We just you know, we've just been together since then.
19:18
SPEAKER_03: Wow, man, it's awesome.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: 20 years, man.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: How long how long have you been in business so far?
19:22
SPEAKER_00: With uh restaurant going on three years, man.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay, man.
19:25
SPEAKER_03: You got a lot of support like on TikTok, Facebook.
19:28
SPEAKER_03: Uh it seems like, and it seems like it's mostly the people from like I guess the the west side of town.
19:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, do you get it?
19:35
SPEAKER_03: People coming from other all sides of town too.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude, we've had people come from everywhere, man.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: Like TikTok's been a big like help.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: You know, I got uh have my friend Mark Charles help me out.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: I've had uh Drippy Drew nice from here help me out, and he's done most of my stuff.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: And uh I've had people come from out of state to come try the food.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what the following over here for this shit?
19:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
19:57
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, this guy, this couple came in.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we came from Ohio.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh la chingado.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: I better make put some extra food on there to make them happy, you know.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: I had families come from Dallas, yeah.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: We saw your food on TikTok, we want to try it, whatever.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: And you know, they come over there and yeah, you know, they like it.
20:13
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome, man.
20:14
SPEAKER_03: So how does that make you how does it make you feel?
20:16
SPEAKER_00: It makes me happy, bro.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Like it really does, man, because I'm used to like always being on the opposite side, you know what I mean?
20:23
SPEAKER_00: It's always like I was always in trouble when I was a kid.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: I was always, you know, getting knocked up, getting out, and just doing stupid shit, and like, you know, and now things have been going like it's it's just different, it's weird.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm already used to it though, just being normal, you know.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, going to uh doing all this stuff and you know, being a family man and stuff.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: Like I I like it, man.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: I wish I would have done it sooner, you know.
20:46
SPEAKER_03: I find that interesting in people, man.
20:47
SPEAKER_03: Like how you how you can just like decide one day, you know what I mean?
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Well, you get tired, bro.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: You get tired of that shit, man.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just you know, and my wife went through with me too, you know what I mean?
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh and back in 2013 I got in trouble with some stuff.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't want to get too much into that, but you know, I uh I was looking at some serious time, you know what I mean?
21:06
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and I kind of opened my eyes because when I was younger, I would get locked up.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: I didn't give a shit, you know what I mean?
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, whatever.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm locked up, you know, I'll get out someday.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: And and then this last time in 2013, when I got locked up, like that first night being locked up, I was like, fuck, man, I'm gonna do this shit again, man.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, fuck, man.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: And then I started thinking about my kids and stuff, and that really fucked with me, you know.
21:28
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
21:29
SPEAKER_03: How many kids did you have at that at that point?
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Six.
21:32
SPEAKER_03: Six, wow.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Four girls, two boys, man.
21:35
SPEAKER_03: So it was so would you say that it was I guess it was your family that made you to yeah, make yeah, you know, it it it really was, man.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: It really was.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: It just it was time to grow up and just get out of that shit and just just start a you know, just start a different life, just to do something different, you know.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:51
SPEAKER_03: And I find it, yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, during that time I was tattooing, I used to have a tattoo shop.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: I tattooed for years, man.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: That's what I thought I was gonna do for the rest of my life.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: And Uh when I had got out from that situation, the it was the Fed it was federal stuff and uh they told me that I they didn't want me to work at a tattoo shop.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: They wanted me to I had to have proof of income, I had to have a check stub and oh wow, you know, and uh I was paying child support for my first two kids, you know, my older kids, whatever, during that time.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I had a I had to get a job, you know, so I started detailing at uh at back at Adam Samuels.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: I was working there before detailing and stuff, and nice and uh one of the managers there, he saw that I busted my ass and we came we became really good friends, and and when he got moved to Adam Samuels and Randis Pass, how I got to Randis Pass.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: When he got over there, he told me, Hey man, he goes, Why don't you just start your own business?
22:41
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, I ain't got no money for that.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: He goes, nah, nah.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I'll give it to you.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: And he was just pay me back.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: And uh and that's where you know I got into doing that.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: Wow, you know, he was he was a good man, dude.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Alan Stevenson, man.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: I love that dude, man.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: He's a he's a badass dude, man.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: He uh he loaned me a lot of money, he helped me buy my first house.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: I paid him everything back, you know what I mean?
23:02
SPEAKER_00: But he helped me, you know.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess he saw that I was trying to get out of you know that life, whatever, and he helped me out.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: If it wasn't for him, I don't know.
23:10
SPEAKER_03: So before, were you willing, would you be were were you willing to accept the help type of help that he gave you at that?
23:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude, because I was desperate, bro.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
23:17
SPEAKER_00: I was got I was at that point in my life where I'm with my wife, I'm with my kids, you know what I mean.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: We're living at my mother-in-law's house, and I felt like a bum at that time.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
23:25
SPEAKER_00: I was like, damn, I don't, I'm at this age, whatever, I know what I'm capable of making money, you know.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: It was illegally during that time, you know what I mean?
23:31
SPEAKER_00: But I was like, damn, I gotta I gotta start doing this shit legal, you know, because I can't be getting locked up no more, you know, and I'm getting older and shit.
23:37
SPEAKER_03: And it's just yeah, wow.
23:39
SPEAKER_03: So so you so I guess that change for you, like you were saying earlier, like it's it's weird being normal.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: What we what did you say?
23:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's weird being normal.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm used to be like, oh, my homeboys, and and we're gonna go here, we're gonna go do this, and we're gonna go do that, and like, and now it's like I get out of work and I just want to be with my wife and my kids.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: I want to go home.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna dude, I'm in bed by 9 30, bro.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Right now, dude, I'll be right now, I'll be smoking, um, ready to go eat and go to sleep.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Start the day over tomorrow.
24:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
24:09
SPEAKER_03: It's awesome, man.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: But I'm happy though, you know what I mean?
24:11
SPEAKER_00: That's what that's what makes me happy, you know what I mean?
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Just doing that, man, is is the best feeling in the world for me.
24:17
SPEAKER_03: That's good, man.
24:18
SPEAKER_03: Man, that's awesome.
24:19
SPEAKER_03: I like that a lot of people support you.
24:21
SPEAKER_03: Also, yeah, a lot of people some people don't know your story, you know what I'm saying?
24:25
SPEAKER_03: And uh just to be able to have you talk about it, is I I think it I don't know how I want to say it helps the brand or the business.
24:31
SPEAKER_03: I I mean, I don't know.
24:32
SPEAKER_03: What do you think about that?
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it does, man.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, people probably just see like this dude's trying to make it, they give me a try, but then find out the food really is good, you know what I mean?
24:41
SPEAKER_00: So I got a lot of I got some people they they come every day to eat, and I'm like, dude, you don't get tired of this shit.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful you're coming, man.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: But dude, you're gonna die like next week already, man.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: All that grease.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Briskets greasy, fucking burgers are greasy, like I'm there and like I'm thinking about going on a diet, and then like and then I'm like, man, I ain't got time to go buy food.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm stuck here, and I'm like, ah fuck it, I eat a burger.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's like 10 o'clock in the morning, 11 o'clock in the morning.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm here eating a brisket sandwich and stuff.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, like and then and then uh it's bad, dude, because like like I want to drink water, dude, but we got the cooler full of Cokes, you know.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: We just like, man, the Mexican Cokes are calling me, man.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Mexican cooks eight o'clock in the morning, dude.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, bro.
25:27
SPEAKER_03: So are you considering maybe putting a salad on there soon?
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Man, I don't know, bro.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: My food, my other food will be disrespected, bro.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: And people ask me, hey man, do you got salads?
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Like, man, you can't do this, man.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: They go, You got lean brisket?
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, dude, I barely trim the fat off when I cook my brisket, bro.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: Like you can just cut it off, man.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, and we do.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: Some people come in, they ask for that, and nice, gotta make people happy.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: Cool.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: So what's so what's uh you said you had some business updates or something like that?
25:56
SPEAKER_00: I wanna I wanna make a new menu probably in a few months.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna uh let people you know go off with this one for a while, you know what I mean?
26:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to just overstack things and people get tired of it, whatever.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: I want to come up with something new like every other month, like a new like a new uh food item and stuff like that.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: Like right now, I'm thinking about doing uh like a waffle as the buns and uh some uh chicken and um uh macaroni and cheese and some bacon and syrup on it and stuff, you know, just different, just different crazy stuff, man.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: Stuff that that you see on TikTok from out of town and stuff, a lot of stuff that people don't, you know, we don't have that.
26:35
SPEAKER_03: Something different, there's something different.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: That's cool, man.
26:37
SPEAKER_03: And so I think we were talking here, and you so you eventually you wanted to have like uh other stuff, branch other than food for your brand.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, like after the beard thing, whatever, like when I did the the restaurant, I kept the name and everything because I don't know, I just thought the logo was just so badass, I didn't want to let it go to waste, you know, right?
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm still gonna do the beard thing, I'd start doing it again.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of people asking me for it, and yeah, it's not because I don't want to do it, it's just dude, after doing all the restaurants, like I'm like, man, I don't want to do anything.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Mondays come and I'm detailing cars on Monday, bro.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
27:06
SPEAKER_00: And like I didn't I like I never get a day off, you know, and then uh I make a lot of mess making the beard stuff.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: My wife's complaining because she's the one that cleans it.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: Modestita, dude.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: She's always you know, have to go behind me and clean all my mess, you know.
27:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, shout out to her, man.
27:21
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome, bro.
27:22
SPEAKER_03: Wow, so so man, that you're uh your story is awesome, bro.
27:27
SPEAKER_03: I I heard a lot of your story the other day, and uh I it's pretty cool um how far how far you come since then.
27:34
SPEAKER_03: Uh and I I I I I like to highlight that in this in our city, you know what I mean?
27:41
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I that's one of the reasons why I kind of do this podcast.
27:44
SPEAKER_03: And when people come on, they're like, Oh, I never thought of being a podcast.
27:46
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, Yeah, just come on, you know what I mean?
27:48
SPEAKER_03: You're part of the city too, there's different people from parts of the city.
27:51
SPEAKER_03: I I remember you you put a post earlier today, right?
27:54
SPEAKER_03: Something about um what was it uh something about how people say certain stuff about your food or about your business or something like that.
28:03
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember that?
28:05
SPEAKER_00: Trying to think that long posted up.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: No, I just sometimes you get rude people, and I'm like, like, man, there's no there's no need for that.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, nobody that works for me, well, they're on my family, man.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's rude to nobody.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: You come, you order, we get your food done.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: If something messes up, we'll fix it.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: But you know, every once in a while you get that rude person that comes in and just just acting like an asshole for no reason, you know what I mean?
28:29
SPEAKER_00: It's only happened like maybe once or twice.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Like I had one guy, when I was at the trade center, I thought it was weird, man.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Some guy came over there, he ordered uh Frito pie, and then he went, he sat down, and I was sitting there talking to somebody, and he looks at it, he looks at this lady, the lady he's with, whatever, and then she gets up, she grabs, she goes back, and she's all I want my money back.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: This shit's nasty.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I wanted to say, bitch, he hadn't even tried it.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: How do you think this thing's nasty, man?
28:56
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
28:57
SPEAKER_00: That shit pissed me off because it's like disrespectful to me.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, and I told my daughter, you know, just give her money, you know, or whatever, you know, and she was just rude, like, oh, this this shit's nasty.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, dude, they didn't even touch it.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, I was watching, I dude.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: I have this thing, whenever I give people food or whatever, I watch to see you know the reactions.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: I want to know if it's good or not, so I can know to keep on going that route of that style of whatever it is, you know what I mean?
29:18
SPEAKER_00: And like so far, everybody's loved it, you know what I mean?
29:20
SPEAKER_00: It's just that one time, you know, that lady was like, Oh, this shit's nasty.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: Like, the fuck bit shit's nasty.
29:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it I guess it works both ways too, because you could have like some servers that are like rude to you, the customer, which that doesn't make any sense either, because you got a business.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know, man.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: We we treat everybody with respect, bro.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's come, everybody's been real quick.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Ever since I've been at this new location, we really haven't had nobody.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: I had this one girl come in the day, you know.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: She was uh she opened up the plate and she's like, I paid$30 for this, just a one rib and uh and one slice of brisket.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, ma'am, I said, the plates twenty-three dollars.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: I said, but you ordered this other side, and I go in two, I go, those ribs, whatever, and it was a big rib more than a slice of brisket.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: I was like, You buy three of those in a pack raw at H E B and it's like sixty dollars for Angus, whatever, you know, you're paying twenty-three dollars cooked with the brisket, you know.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: And she mumbled something, she walked off, you know what I mean.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you just can't make people happy, you know what I mean?
30:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, why do you use so you use Angus?
30:20
SPEAKER_00: Why why do you choose that um I've done packer for a long time, but I wanted to go like a a step over like something a little bit better, whatever.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, that that uh food company I get my food from, yeah, they cut me a good deal on the Angus, you know what I mean?
30:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty much paying what I used to pay for the Packer, but it's a better grade.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and the meat's more it's more moist when you when you cook it.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: It just it just comes out a little bit better, you know what I mean?
30:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it has a better flavor to it, and it's real good.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: And like I want to have the best, like at everything.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's good.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
30:52
SPEAKER_00: Like uh I know I get on my brother's nerves, man.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: I love him to death, but I'm always uh, you know, we're not brothers by blood, but I know this dude all my life, you know what I mean?
31:00
SPEAKER_00: And like I I bitch at him for a lot of stuff because like, dude, put more rice in there, dude.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: Put more beans, like dude, what the fuck, dude?
31:07
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, alright, dude, alright, you know what I mean?
31:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, man, dude, I said, like, my food has to look good and taste good.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: No matter what, you know what I mean?
31:16
SPEAKER_00: It has to be good.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: If the fries are sitting there too long, hey, you throw that shit in the trash, make some more fries, but I just did it like 20 minutes because I don't care, dude.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: It looks like shit, dude.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: So throw that shit out, man.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to give nobody no shitty ass food, you know what I mean?
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want my stuff to be the best.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
31:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm just real picky about that.
31:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's why I guess I'm I'm I'm slowly finding myself wanting to shop to eat local because of the service that some places provide.
31:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:42
SPEAKER_03: If you go to like because like if you go to Whataburger, like I sometimes I go there in the morning, I wake up at 4 a.m.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: I gotta go to work, I get a breakfast, you know, burger, whatever.
31:51
SPEAKER_03: They're just rude, bro.
31:53
SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm like, damn, I wouldn't get this.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: And there's nobody even there, like, what the fuck are you bitching about, man?
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Like you got a line and you're stressed out, you know what I mean?
31:59
SPEAKER_00: It's just the attitude, is because a lot of people they're just not happy their jobs, they're just there, you know what I mean?
32:04
SPEAKER_00: They're just because they have to, you know what I mean?
32:06
SPEAKER_00: So they just like here, here's your goddamn food.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: There's no love put into it, it's just you know, but one thing I hate about Corpus, bro, that I noticed when I opened up this restaurant, and people always told me about it, but it it really showed Corpus rather put out chain restaurants than mom and pop's.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: Dude, I went through hell trying to open up my place, man.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: It was like I was supposed to open up September.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: We didn't open up till uh till October.
32:32
SPEAKER_03: What so what how come it took so long?
32:35
SPEAKER_00: Because first of all, to turn on my water and my and the gas, whatever that I need to do first to get the place up and going before they do inspections and stuff, dude.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: It took them a month to turn my shit on, bro.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Because they have this thing where you can't go in there anymore and like make an appointment or nothing.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: You have to do everything online.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: So we did it online, we waited, no response, dude.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: Three weeks, no response.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: This is in August when we did it.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: It was like the beginning of August.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: I was trying to open up September, right?
33:02
SPEAKER_00: So we waited, we waited, we waited, nothing.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Three weeks went by, nothing.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, I gotta hurry up and get this going.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: So we called.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Three hour wait, bro.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Three hour wait.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: We waited.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, it wasn't three hours, I want to say the first time, it was maybe like two hours that we were waiting on the line, whatever.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: And then it was 30-something people ahead of us.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: And we're waiting, we're waiting, waiting, and then we were like at number 18, 19, and then the phone hung up.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: And then we called back, and there was 40 people ahead of us, like cheating.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: You know, I told my son, you just hang up the phone.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: So we waited, we waited, we waited, and then a couple days later, I said, you know what, this is try.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: And it took about an hour and a half.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: We finally got to somebody, and they're like, When did you put your application?
33:40
SPEAKER_00: I said, like, like about three weeks ago.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, uh, no, you didn't.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: And so who what's the name?
33:46
SPEAKER_00: And we told the name, oh, she was, oh, that's me.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And then she goes and looks in her computer, and then she tells us, Oh, uh uh, I guess I never got it, whatever.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go ahead and put you in.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: You need these papers, you need that paper.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: They don't get it.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: It'd be nice if they gave you a list of what you need, but they don't.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's like a video game, dude.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, like you're playing Resident Evil or something.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: You gotta go over here, you get this one thing, and then you go complete the mission, then you come back, then they oh, you need this.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: You're thinking you're like, okay, I got this, and we're gonna open already.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, you need to get this, you need a building inspector, oh, you need for the grease trap, oh, you need for this, and dude, that shit is racking up money and my dude.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: I sold my house to do this shit.
34:21
SPEAKER_03: Wow, oh my god.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: When I sold my house to do this, you know what I mean?
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Like, I was like, I was at a trade center, I was tired of being there, whatever.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, I felt like it was kind of a dead-end thing for me, you know what I mean?
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, I say, Man, I got good food.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: If I go somewhere else, I know it'll do good, whatever.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: And me and my wife talk about it.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: I told her, hey, you know, we need to just sell the house, you know, because it's it started getting real expensive for us towards the end, whatever, because you know how work was going down and trade centers started changing, you know.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: So it just, you know, we just say, well, we'll sell the house and do this.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: And we did, and I and when I first started, I got real discouraged, man.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: I was like, we, you know, they say, Oh, you need money for this, oh, you need money for that, oh, you gotta pay this, oh, you know, uh, we need to send the fire marshal.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: Fire marshal went over there, you have to pay him, you gotta do a yearly pay.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: And then and then they're like, Oh, well, you need you know, your fire extinguishers, they're good for a couple months, but since you're new, I can't permit you.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: You gotta call this number.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: You call them, oh, it's gonna be$500.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, for a sticker for the vent, uh almost$300.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: And then for the grease trap, it's another couple hundred dollars.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: And then, dude, I'm telling you, dude, every little thing, it was more money and more money and more money.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, you gotta pay the health department too, you know, and it's just it was just racking up the money, and like my money was going down.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: I started getting nervous.
35:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, I rented this house, we rented a house, and it's embarrassing, dude, to go get a place, and then automatically you're already late paying the rent, you know, because you're trying to get this business going.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: It's not because you're a bum, you don't want to pay, it's just because your money's just going, you're trying to get this business going up, and it's just going and going and going and going.
35:53
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
35:53
SPEAKER_03: So do uh do other I wonder if do other restaurants, like mom and pop, do they feel like that toward this?
36:00
SPEAKER_00: I've had quite a few tell me, they told me about it first, you know what I mean?
36:03
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, uh, you know, whatever, you know.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it was just your experience, but nah, dude, they weren't lying, bro.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: They weren't lying, man.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Wow, they weren't lying.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: I know I don't know who it was, but I know there was this one place they uh it was a bar.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't it was here, it's here in Corpus.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: A friend of mine was telling me about it, it was his friend.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: I forgot the name of the bar, but uh they wanted them to have a grease trap, and they were like, we don't even serve food, you know what I mean?
36:28
SPEAKER_00: And they said it don't matter because some beers have fat in them, and if you pour it down the drain, so it took them eight months to get that grease trap installed, dude.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: Eight months, bro.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: But you think about it, you're there that and same thing happened with me with my landlord.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, I wasn't open up, but they still wanted to rent money, and I understand it's a business, you know what I mean?
36:46
SPEAKER_00: You gotta do that, but it's harder for the person that's trying to get their business up and running because you know you gotta put more money and more money at the same time.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: You gotta do yourself for your family, you gotta feed your family, you gotta pay this.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: If your business ain't up and running, you know, you're you're eating shit, you know?
37:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so man, you definitely gotta wow, it's like you gotta plan ahead to figure out all those expenses before they before they hit you with it.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: And me, dude, like my wife always tells me plan things out, and I'm not that kind of person, but I just hey, you know, fuck it, bite the bullet, let's go.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, just jump, let's just jump right into, you know, and fuck it.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: Just jump, you know, whatever happens, happens.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
37:19
SPEAKER_00: Like, I you know, I need to stop.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: That's one thing I need to put up on my cell phone because I'm bad about doing that, man.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: I jumped the gun first and like fucking whatever happens, happens.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
37:29
SPEAKER_03: And then later, like, mave uh man, yeah, I should have listened to what you said, right?
37:33
SPEAKER_00: I surprised her ass when I whenever I uh uh I didn't tell nobody in my family, nobody about the restaurant was gonna open the trade center, you know what I mean?
37:40
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say nothing.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: We're there one day and I said, Um, I said, you're probably gonna be mad at me.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: She's like, what?
37:46
SPEAKER_00: I said, um Saturday we're opening up a restaurant.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: The trade was like, what?
37:50
SPEAKER_00: I said, yeah.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: And she was kind of mad at me at first because it's it's a big decision, you know what I mean?
37:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm putting, you know, she's like, you ran a restaurant before.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, we'll see what happens, you know what I mean?
38:00
SPEAKER_00: But I learned I learned as I went, you know what I mean?
38:03
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm it feels like I've been doing it all my life, dude.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
38:06
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a trip, man.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: It's a trip.
38:08
SPEAKER_03: Man, that's cool.
38:08
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
38:09
SPEAKER_03: So do you find yourself like have learning more business tactics uh for for your business?
38:16
SPEAKER_00: Not really, bro.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've just been rolling with it.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: I I look like I know what I'm doing, but I don't think I know I know the cooking part, but the whole business part, like I'm not really good at it.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: I ain't gonna lie, man.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm not I'm not really good at that.
38:29
SPEAKER_03: And like and I talked to several people before, and they're like, Yeah, well, we never learned that stuff when we were like nobody taught us that stuff.
38:35
SPEAKER_03: You figure it out as you go, yeah.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
38:39
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome, man.
38:39
SPEAKER_03: I'm happy for your for your business.
38:41
SPEAKER_03: Um uh so which HEB do you shop at?
38:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh the main one I go to all the time is the one that's by my house on um Weber.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: Weber?
38:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the little H the old school HB.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: Old school hasn't been remodeled.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, has it been remodeled?
38:55
SPEAKER_00: I like it because I know where everything's at.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: If I go to another H E B, I get pissed.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, God damn it, the jalapenos is supposed to be in this out with this one, and it's not the one over, or you know what I mean?
39:04
SPEAKER_00: Stuff like that.
39:05
SPEAKER_00: So I'm we're running around, so I just go to the ones where I know where everything's at.
39:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: So it's either that one or H E B plus H E B plus the one on the um the stores.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: HB, I go to that one.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay, close to my brother.
39:16
SPEAKER_03: There's a plus on stores?
39:18
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell them about okay, okay.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: I got you.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I got you.
39:21
SPEAKER_03: All right, cool, man.
39:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh so did you did you go to school here in no I didn't go to school.
39:25
SPEAKER_03: You're from Victoria, right?
39:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm from Victoria.
39:27
SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: Victoria, but I was I was mostly lived in Bloomington.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: I was raised in Bloomington for a long time, and then when I got older, we moved and then went here and there.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: I only went to Victoria School because I got kicked out of the other school.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they had a they had a school called Mitchell Guidance Center, dude.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: I got sent over there.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: It was like a juvenile school, man.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: You remember what you did?
39:45
SPEAKER_02: You remember what you did?
39:46
SPEAKER_00: Man, dude, I was just stupid, man.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Just always getting trouble in school, man.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: But it's not my mom, dude.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: She was always stressed out because I was just always like just doing I don't know what the fuck was wrong with me when I was young, man.
39:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right on, man.
39:58
SPEAKER_03: Uh um, is there anything else you want to share?
40:00
SPEAKER_03: Um, anything else you can think of?
40:02
SPEAKER_03: You want to share?
40:02
SPEAKER_00: Man, that's pretty much it.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Just you know, it's about the restaurant, you know, it's just gonna come up, trying to come up harder, you know.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
40:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, man, that's good.
40:11
SPEAKER_03: So, how do we find you uh if we're looking for you online?
40:15
SPEAKER_00: Um on Facebook, man, it says El Vago uh Barbacoa and BBQ.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: That was my own one, but Facebook won't let me change it.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: And I was gonna start a new page, but I got a lot of followers on there that I don't want to, you know, jump over, you know, so it's just you know El Vago Burgers or Valu.
40:30
SPEAKER_03: One of them's El Vago Barbacoa.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the main one that I used.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: I had an El Vago Burger because I used to have two restaurants at the Trade Center.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: I had El Bago uh Barbaco and Barbecue, and then I had El Vago Burger across from it.
40:44
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so you changed it because you started making burgers and those started flying or what?
40:47
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: I uh I had two restaurants in there.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: I had the yeah, I had the barbecue place and then I had the burger place.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had both places.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: I didn't want nobody to get in the food court, dude, so I just took advantage of it.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: You took both?
40:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't want nobody else in here, man.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Shit.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm gonna take all the clients.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: I did, dude.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: I did, man.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: I started, yeah, I started, you know, we're doing good for a long time, man.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: But then, you know, the vibe started changing, and then you know, it just I don't know, it just wasn't for me no more, man.
41:11
SPEAKER_03: So uh so that's in Facebook, Instagram, or you're not on Instagram much.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: I have an Instagram page for the business that a friend of mine had made, whatever, but I never really get on.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't really use Instagram that much.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: It's there, you know what I mean, but I just don't don't mess with it.
41:23
SPEAKER_03: Right on Instagram and then TikTok, El Vago Burgers and Barbecue, right?
41:27
SPEAKER_03: Cool, man.
41:28
SPEAKER_03: Well, and well, well, it was awesome to have you on the show.
41:30
SPEAKER_03: We're almost coming to an end here.
41:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, man.
41:32
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but yeah, thanks for coming on, man.
41:33
SPEAKER_03: Um nothing else, we'll say goodbye.
41:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yes, sir.
41:36
SPEAKER_03: Appreciate it, man.
41:37
SPEAKER_03: All right, but thank you, bro.
41:38
SPEAKER_03: Have a good one.