71dine
71dine, the podcast that invites you on an immersive journey through the heart and soul of southern Colorado. Whether you're a seasoned local or a first-time explorer, join us as we savor the rich flavors and craft lasting memories together. Welcome to where southern Colorado's captivating narrative unfurls through its vibrant people, rich culture, and delectable cuisine. Join us as we delve into the tapestry of this extraordinary region, one episode at a time, celebrating the people, the culture, and the food that make it truly exceptional.
71dine
Dr Taco: Part II
Ever wondered how food can connect people across cultures and generations? We bring you a fascinating conversation with the charismatic and innovative, Carlo, otherwise known as Dr Taco. Carrying the culinary traditions of his family, Carlo's intriguing journey tells a tale of flavors and spices that trace back to his experiences in Mexico. His food truck, an embodiment of passion and creativity, champions the importance of open-air markets, local growers, and farmers, underlining the significance of sustainable food cultures.
As we embark on this gastronomic journey, we venture through personal encounters and cultural traditions that transcend borders. From participating in a birthday party in Italy to cheering at a rugby game in Rome, we remind you of the essence of open-mindedness and family values. Be prepared to be moved by a touching story of a family uniting over a TV show recipe, underlining the power of food in fostering bonds and traditions. As we step into Carlo's kitchen, we discuss the thrill of culinary creativity and how it adds a pinch of joy to our lives. So, strap in as we take you through an adventure of food, culture, and heartfelt stories.
UGLY PEOPLE, put YOUR HANDS DOWN. You wanna throw down? Go and put your hands up. Stop the party now. Go and put your hands up. One listen up loud and clear Because we got the little something to put in your ear. Step two raise those thumbs up aside. I have a feeling we should be dealing.
Speaker 2:With the facts, we're stripping from the ceiling.
Speaker 1:In fact, step three is so wack SIDE, You're listening to Joe and the 7 One Dine Podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes, this is Joe and this is the 7 One Dine Podcast. So if you're looking for Joe and the 7 One Dine Podcast, then you are in the right spot. So I have to tell you, one of the benefits of doing the 7 One Dine Podcast Is my opportunity to meet the most interesting people. The other benefit is going back and listening to the recordings during post production and reliving, I guess, relistening to what those people have to say, because every now and then when you're interviewing someone, you're talking to someone. You miss a few things. That's just natural, it's going to happen. So this is part two of my interview with Carlo, also known as Dr Taco, and I really want you to listen, because this sounds more like two guys just getting together, rehashing memories, sharing stories about their families. Definitely doesn't sound like a traditional podcast. So again, this is Dr Taco, part two, and I hope you enjoy. Hey brothers yes, is your other brother in food.
Speaker 3:No, no, he's in business, he's an entrepreneur and he does all kinds of different businesses and trade and whatnot. And then my middle brother is MD. He and his wife do family practice in Maryland. Yeah, but they all cook. Oh, I got it. Fantastic, my brother, especially the middle one. He loves to entertain, so he has these huge parties at his house and he'll roast a whole pig.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:And do you know? A ton of water, that's right, so good, yeah, so good. My stepfather's Cuban, and so you do the whole roast, the Cuban pig, and it's just delicious.
Speaker 2:What's your favorite food that you make, or what's most popular?
Speaker 3:For the food truck or for us For the food truck? For the food truck, you know, it's been wild because our burritos have become crazy popular and they're not like your normal burrito because they're done with a base of rice or barbecue sauce, sour cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, whatever protein you want, and the protein can either be beer battered or grilled, and then those are just crazy popular. Our beer batter tacos we do a specialty taco which is an Anaheim chili stuffed with shrimp and beer battered.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that just got better with every word Right, right, yeah.
Speaker 3:And then we have a huge spread that we put out with salsa, bar and salads. So we have like nine different choices for me to choose from. We don't put anything on our tacos and we let you. Kind of doctor it up yourself.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, though, that it's kind of cool that barbecue sauce is still kind of a a staple of your food track.
Speaker 3:And, to be honest with you, that was kind of a mistake, because when we first opened up our restaurants in Playa La Carmen, we're looking at like we've got to add a couple more items to the menu, like, what do we add to what do we do? And we're like, well, let's just do a burrito. And I said, but if we do a burrito, it's got to be different than everything else. Sure, and I said, why don't we bring Mama's barbecue sauce is what we call it when we're selling it? And well, I kind of, why don't we bring the barbecue sauce into it? And that's how we came up with that particular recipe in that burrito.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just had a necessity to fill the menu. Yeah, so many things. I mean champagne or potato chips, great things that came out of just by accident by sheer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that one was a plan. Everything else on the menu was kind of the bare batter tacos, and we traveled a lot. As a doctor, I did services and we lived a year in Mazalan, a year in Cabo San Lucas and the cuisine is very different from north to south, oh, I bet. So when we started Dr Taco, we wanted to incorporate kind of different flavors from different areas and that's how we came up with the menu, had a couple items in Playa that we don't do here ceviches and things like that just because we don't have the space for it the weather.
Speaker 2:I love ceviche, yeah, oh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we used to do greens of each other Just phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but some of those things I try to tell people to like, you really got to try this. It may be out of your normal I don't want to say comfort zone because you haven't tried it but it might sound odd to you, but when people are putting that passion into this food, we're going to Barcelona.
Speaker 3:It's maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's more Mediterranean than tacos and burritos.
Speaker 3:You'd be impressed to get a taco or burrito out there, yeah.
Speaker 2:But I loved walking through the open air markets and on the way home like you go here for your bread and we're going to have this, we'll get veggies over here and get our meat or a chicken or whatever we wanted.
Speaker 3:And so open air markets are phenomenal.
Speaker 2:It's a ton of fun and I love the loud, the activity, the people yelling out like who's? Next and everybody was so cool, Like he's next. And it's just so much energy for some of these places.
Speaker 3:Our farmers markets are starting to build up momentum and more people are starting to visit the farmers markets. But that would be so cool if we can get to that level, because you're supporting all the local growers, local farmers and ranchers and whatnot through those farmers markets and through those open air markets and, like you said, you go to some of these countries where that's been around forever and the atmosphere is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so cool. I was watching Stanley Tucci's show where he's traveling through Italy and his host, his guide, is like, oh, come over here, we got to try this. And it was someone's house and it had like an oval little archway cut out in the brick. And Stanley Tucci's like what is this? And he's like, can we get two? And he said it in Italian. And out from this little archway, like a little window, came a glass of wine and a slice of pizza. Well, let's order some wine, ok.
Speaker 1:Let's order some wine. That's a good idea.
Speaker 3:Do I pull this?
Speaker 1:Oh, it's a bell. Yeah, it's a bell.
Speaker 3:Oh hi, that's wonderful. Put the vino per for today.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Here you go. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Oh, that's good.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 3:I always thought wine tasted better when it comes through a window.
Speaker 2:And then he paid her and like I mean how cool is that? But here, if I had a brick and mortar with the thing cut out of it, people would be like I'm not going to eat this, handed through a window.
Speaker 3:So when we were in, my brother and I took a trip to Cuba years back and some of the best restaurants that we ate were people's homes. People's homes were. There's no advertising, there's no sign, there's no, nothing. You go into these homes and they have different rooms, tables set up and whatnot. Phenomenal food, phenomenal food. The only way we found out about it was our driver. We hired a driver for the week to show us around, and so we don't want to go to downtown Havana and go to those restaurants and take us to where you guys eat and to other restaurants and oh boy.
Speaker 3:And it's just people's homes.
Speaker 2:But you'd have never known. You'd have never known. No sign out there.
Speaker 3:Nothing at all, yeah.
Speaker 2:But that big word of mouth, yeah, when I was in Paris. Je m'appelle Claude, je te flue Flea. Oh mon dieu.
Speaker 3:Oh, de fous.
Speaker 2:I fell in love with the fact that we went to this restaurant at like 3 in the morning because we're wide awake. We had just gotten there and we went to this pasta restaurant and we went in and there was one table Probably had 12 people and we were put at that table. Someone was right next to me and they spoke English and the waitress came up and said, can we get anything for you? And the gentleman said, yeah, we need glasses of wine for our friends from America. And next thing, you know, we're part of this birthday party and what's custom there, like if you went to a restaurant here.
Speaker 3:And sat at somebody's table.
Speaker 2:They would be like What'd he do? It's a shame.
Speaker 3:To shame that we have I don't know it got to a point where we're so guarded. We guard our space and the people around us and you know it's unfortunate, because when you're open like that, you have amazing experiences.
Speaker 2:I'll remember that Amazing experiences Forever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, while we were on our honeymoon we were in Rome and early in the morning it must have been 7, 7.30 in the morning. We go out and we see across the corner from our hostel. This bar was just packed, just bunch of rowdy guys and just like what the heck is going on at 7.30 in the morning. And so we made our way over there and right away these guys sat us at their table. They probably group her like 15 and it turned out it was the championship game for the rugby match between Scotland and Rome, and so they were telling us all about it and they're celebrating and they're wearing kilts and whatnot, you know, drinking big mugs of beer at 7.30 in the morning.
Speaker 3:One of their friends had had too much and since it's your anniversary, you guys want to go to the game with us. We got two extra tickets, and so we ended up tagging along and going to the game with them and just having an amazing experience of just total strangers that we had just met that morning.
Speaker 2:When we were in Paris, someone was talking to us and he was like, do you Americans really eat in your car? And they could like oh, there it's an event. It's family getting together, no matter who can make it or not, and the neighbors are coming over like hey, I smelled you were cooking this. Oh yeah, come on in. And they were like you eat in your car.
Speaker 3:By yourself.
Speaker 2:By yourself what and like yeah and they just.
Speaker 3:That's why yep.
Speaker 2:They like the confirmation of the of that we do, but they just thought it was so no pun intended, so foreign, like how can you eat in your car? Absolutely Like I can only fit five people in my car. You know why not have it at the house. And like every meal was an event. Yeah something to be treasured and absolutely and everybody was invited and what amazed me was talking to some of these people. They never run out of food If they show up, if they show up unexpected, and families in town.
Speaker 3:Always, always. And you go to most of Latin America and it's like that, you know I was very accustomed to going down there. You're driving by a friend's house and let's go say hi, and you stop and you knock on the door and if they're eating they'll invite you in and you sit down and eat with them, and you know they always make a workout and you know if it's smaller portions. But and then when I came back up here, when I first got here, I told my wife let's go visit my cousin. My cousin Baldo lives in California. Let's stop by and visit him. And I went and I knocked on his door and he looked at me and the first thing he says though what are you doing here? What?
Speaker 1:do you mean? I'm your cousin, I'm here to give you a hug.
Speaker 3:I love you. I want to say hi, Like, oh man, you should have called you. Know, right, it's like, wow, it's like and you know we're family, so, and you can't do that to strangers. I mean, down there it's just very common. It's like let's stop by and say hi.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Extremely common.
Speaker 2:My aunt. She lived in Georgia and she came up to visit and I answered the phone and I said hello and it was aunt like hey, tell your parents we're coming to visit. I said okay, when will you be here? She's like I don't know 15 minutes. We're at the McDonald's, you know. I knew the area and I just turned around and my mom was like who is that? And I said that was Aunt Jules. They're going to come visit. And my mom didn't even ask any more questions. She started straightening up a little bit just to make the house because she knew Aunt Jules was going to be there. You know, within the half hour?
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And it happened to be my birthday and and she goes oh, it's your birthday, what can we get you? And I said you know what? Yeah, will you make me some biscuits? And watching her make these, like she was a measuring stuff with a measuring cup or measuring spoon, she just went to, went to work, that's the way it should be.
Speaker 3:I hope someday we get back to that and it's up to us as parents to instill that in our kids. Here at the house we always sit down for a meal, even if it's one a day, always sit down and and just cherish that time. You know no phones and nothing. It's time to talk and how was your day and what's going on, and sharing that moment and that's something that it's up to us to not eat in the car and pass that on to our kids, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, I fell in love with the show Bob's Burgers and my kids fell in love with it. It's an animated show. My girls especially fell in love with it and so I got a Bob's Burger cookbook and it's every burger from the show and so we started doing this thing. It's usually the third Thursday of the month. Everybody comes over. You know they're plus ones. My boys can come and someone just picks a burger ahead of time, cool, and then I make that and you know, but that's, they love that time because it's fun and we put that episode on and watch it, but then it's just like that's perfect as a good tradition, and again it's that food.
Speaker 2:It's pricey, it's the food.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I came over. Hey, we're all going to connect and paint the inside of the house. Oh, I'm busy that night, Right, you know you're going to come over and eat, and everybody.
Speaker 3:It's always like that in our family, both sides of the family, both my dads and my moms. You know Mexican atine. The party was always in the kitchen. Oh yeah, always in the kitchen. Everybody always pitched in and everybody always. I just I have fond memories of that growing up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a kitchen and everybody's like walking around in like a kitchen like this. So at this house I have an island and it's got four bar stools so everybody can be in the kitchen, but not necessarily be in the kitchen In the kitchen you know in the way, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I took a class at the Boulder Cooking School and everybody it was you know you could sign up. I got a gift certificate and so I signed up for make homemade pasta. And when I showed up it was an older crowd, all married folks like on date night. And the instructor said you know, does anyone want to come up here and help me? And I looked around and I said I'll do it if nobody else. And you know they're on their date night and they're like no go ahead. And I did the whole thing in the worst Julia Child's impression you could imagine.
Speaker 3:Delicious aroma of sizzling bacon and chicken and garlic and herbs and mushrooms and onions and red wine.
Speaker 2:But it was so cool to be part of that next to the chef teaching and it had one of those, you know, slanted mirrors.
Speaker 1:So the students could see what you're doing, but it was a blast.
Speaker 2:And so since I learned that, you know every time like, hey, dad, you know we're gonna come over and have dinner and I'm like, okay, what can I make? You make pasta, oh, you make pasta, oh, you make pasta. I can grill, I can cook steaks, I can smoke no pasta, so it's fun. I still use a hand crank, but as I get older, those are cool, those are fun.
Speaker 3:We would do the same thing with pizza night.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would do that too.
Speaker 3:We would do the dough and the whole thing, especially when the kids are young, and those are the things that they're gonna carry on. Those are traditions they're gonna have with their families and you instilled that, so that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Whenever we have a family, family members, all my wife's, all my wife's, her parents are here, all her siblings are here and they have kids and wives, and it's like every time someone says, hey, we need help moving. You know, three weekends from now I go okay, because I usually make you know homemade buttermilk pancakes and make things in the morning and big breakfast and everyone's like. Boy, I don't like moving, but I like Saturday morning before we get going. But it's a ton of fun just having all the family there.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:But yeah, like you said, foods, that connector that's why, One of our taglines is for 719 is the people, the culture and the food, because it's the people who really bring it together. There's so many diverse cultures here in Colorado Springs and I think sometimes it gets overlooked.
Speaker 3:Overlooked? Yeah, for sure, it's the food that has that connection, I'll tell you. I mean down in Playa La Carmen, small enough place, and people knew me as the doctor there, as a doctor in town, but everybody knew Dr Taco.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that was what was like he took a doctor. Whatever is Dr Taco tell me about. You know that was like the big thing and what we were known for is Dr Taco.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're sitting there eating, having a great time like, oh, you're a real doctor, that's great and just enjoying that food, exactly yeah, down at that place I didn't even have my.
Speaker 3:I had my, a copy of my diploma I'm a medical degree up on the wall and at the time it's a black and white and they're like, oh my god, is that your grandfather? Like, it's actually me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah, it's, it's really those stories. I mean I had no idea what could in here. You know, I mean I was an MD and then, because it sounds like you had a passion for both medical- and now this transition to to Dr Taco.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I've always had that entrepreneurial kind of flair. We've always I mean even in school did the barbecue and different businesses and what not, and I've always liked business. So this just kind of just was perfect timing for us and it was, you know, perfect for the family for us and my son's down in medical school, so he's also it's just my daughter, my wife and I.
Speaker 2:Missing Mexico.
Speaker 3:He's a wild heart. He's studying at the same university I studied.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's in his third year down there, what's he?
Speaker 3:going to do Cardiothoracic surgery.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, yeah so big time not that what you did not big time.
Speaker 3:But I mean cardiothoracic. Yeah, he's gone a lot of years in he's. Yeah, it's a. It's a long road for a cardiothoracic surgeon. I bet. He's 100% committed to it. He's yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had a my brain surgeon. I said, you know, waking up in the middle of the night, did you shower? Did you fix your hair? He goes no, as a matter of fact, I shaved my head, so when I got called I could just go. You know, I didn't have to worry about my hair.
Speaker 3:You didn't have to worry about anything.
Speaker 2:you know and that was a testimony, a testament to his commitment, so I know what it takes you know, for some of these folks, yeah, 100%, yeah, it's a full commitment and it's it's.
Speaker 3:It's not an easy road. Not an easy road, for sure. You got to be a special type of person, especially to do that long of you know specialty and subspecialty, and when not, it's just. It takes a lot of commitment, a lot of sacrifice.
Speaker 2:And I suspect you really have to motivate yourselves at times thinking of that end result. Yeah, I know it stinks right now and it's tough, but I know, I know where I'm going to go. I'm going to be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, keep the end goal in mind, because you know, sometimes he sees us and we post pictures and you know having fun and whatnot, and Dr Taco and he saw the interview we did and he's all man, he's all I'm. Over here, come up face buried in the box, you guys are having fun, I'm all yeah, but it's going to pay off for you later on, so don't don't, you know? Yeah, I know it can get frustrating at times, but he loves what he's doing, so he's he'll be alright, and at some point he's going to look back, like we all do, and go.
Speaker 2:Man, that seemed like Such a long time ago and I remember just sitting there wondering what's going on and what am I doing. And it's going to come so quickly when, when he's looking back, yeah, for sure, yeah, it flies. Carlos, last thing if you were going to, like, give your elevator pitch, like, hey, here's why you should come and see us, visit us here at Dr Taco, what would you tell people?
Speaker 3:I would tell people that not only are they in for a unique culinary treat, Dr Taco is an experience. Dr Taco, we make it to where you're part of it, not just receiving your food and going away. You're actually part of the experience because you have to create your own taco. You've got to get into the salsa bar and you've got to get into the sauces and we have from crazy Jara Vanero to mild ayoles. So really the combinations you can come up with are endless and that's part of the Dr Taco experience. So it makes it more than just going out to eat.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I made that mistake. One time. My stepson the hotter the better and he was going to a local place and I said hey, will you get me a burrito? And he said sure. And I said I want it exactly like yours, but with black beans. He goes okay. And he came back and remember that game operation. I had to play operation because I forgot to say I don't need that super hot salsa you put in there.
Speaker 2:So I'm picking the stuff out and you know, but you know to be able to create that and make it yours.
Speaker 3:And there's some people that love it and can really handle. You know the spiciness of things, but that's I tell people all the time be careful with the crazy Jara Vanero, because it is. It's super tasty, super good, but very hot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've had some things that have a little heat but has great taste Sometimes. Just my palate, it just tastes. All I can taste is hot, yeah.
Speaker 3:And there's some people that don't eat any hot at all, you know, and that's why we made sure that we have three. We have a pico coleslaw and a cucumber celery cilantro. That I have absolutely no spice, so you can really it's for all palates. You can tailor it yourself, Sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and add that to heat later. Do you make much Italian like at home? At home we do yeah.
Speaker 3:At home we do for sure. Yeah, pizza and pasta. And both my kids I think their favorite is pasta. They love their pasta. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I took a little bit of butter, mixed it with some Frank's hot sauce and then just cook that on the stove a bit. And then I made ravioli and I put a little of the Frank's in there with blue cheese chunks and chickens. Wow Made that and then covered it, so it was like this chicken wing ravioli and they're like Dad, you have to get like a recorder so you can remember this stuff because we're going to need you to make it again.
Speaker 3:And you know, that's what's amazing about cooking and food is there's really no rules. No, you could just use your imagination and come up with those most amazing things, you know, and that's what I love about it too. Yeah, so it's just, you could be creative with your food. You don't have to be square and follow the exact same recipes.
Speaker 2:It's like no, there's no rule to it. No, do whatever you want. And I like having my little sous chefs with me, my girls especially, because I'm like what is this need or what is that? And they're like Dad, did I just see you put peanut butter in that? And they're like what? And then they try it and they're like wow, but they have tried stuff like I don't know what you were doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, and it's part of it. That happens. Yeah, there's nothing you can do, that's going to fix this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, throwing it away will fix it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've gone through that myself. Yeah, we'll tell you some jokes.
Speaker 2:It was great to meet you Likewise brother, Thank you man.
Speaker 2:As you can tell that, as you might have heard, towards the end of that, as you probably noticed at the end, as you probably noticed, as you probably could tell, as you probably could tell at the closing of that interview, as you could probably tell at the closing of that conversation, there was a little bit more that we talked about. Actually, there's quite a bit more, I kind of so, as you probably could tell. So, as you probably heard, there was a little bit more. So, as you probably could tell, at the end of that conversation there was a little bit more. So, as you probably heard, at the end of that conversation, you could probably tell that there was a little bit more we were going to talk about and there was.
Speaker 2:So next week I'm going to release that as a special part because again, it was just Carlo and I chopping it up, no pun intended, just talking like, again, two old friends. I have to be honest, his story is amazing. He and I hit it off. It really did feel like just two old buddies sitting around and talking about food and family. Seven Windyne really is about the people, the culture, the food, and I think this story really exemplifies that motto. I guess, that being said, tune in next week because I'm going to release a special, not a Dr Taco Part 3, per se, but just a special behind the scenes Dr Taco Seven, Windyne, Joe and Carlo conversation type dealio. Again, thank you so much for your support, your encouragement, and until next time.
Speaker 1:Where can you find the Seven Windyne podcast? Well, you can find the Seven Windyne podcast wherever you look for and find podcasts. Don't forget to visit us online at 7onedynecom. In fact, step three is so wack.