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
Mr. Talko & Dr. Taco
Pull up a chair and get comfy—Joe’s back from holiday hiatus with a bellyful of stories that are as rich and savory as grandma's secret recipe. Today, we're going beyond the frying pan and into the fire, as Dr. Taco joins us to stir up a candid conversation that's bound to leave you hungry for more. From the heartwarming tale of Jack McPain's cookbooks to the sweet, sweet victory of seeing our own culinary creations grace those pages, we're simmering up a batch of stories that remind us why we fell in love with food in the first place.
As I swap out the stethoscope for a spatula, I'll share the saga of my transition from the ER to the bustling streets of Playa del Carmen. You'll ride shotgun on a journey that spans from food truck dreams to rubbing elbows with culinary giants. But it's not all about the glitz and gastronomy—tune in as I reflect on the impact of my son's daring leap from ski slopes to emergency services, and how these life decisions can echo in the kitchens we run and the meals we craft. It's a story of change, challenge, and the spices that make life worth savoring.
Wrap up this feast of an episode as Dr. Taco and I toast to the unsung heroes of the food industry—the food trucks and independent restaurants. Whether it's the 70-year legacy of a diner or the spicy anecdotes of a Pueblo eatery with mafia ties, these stories are the lifeblood of communities and the soul of our dining experiences. So, as you savor this episode, remember it's more than just about what's on the plate—it's about the tales, the people, and the passion that season our world with flavor.
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 ears. 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.
Speaker 3:Sike, you're listening to Joe and the 7 One Dine Podcast, don't call it a comeback.
Speaker 2:Do not call it a comeback. It's Joe with the 7 One Dine Podcast Took a month off for the holidays, so it is good to be here with you. Normally I'm in the studio all by me, onesie. Well, that's not true. I'm usually in the studio with my dog, radar. However, I am blessed to have my oldest son, spencer, sitting way, way, way over there. He's pretending to have his headphones on so he can't hear me, but he has one of them off of his ear so he can hear what I am saying, I think, to see if I say anything about him. So we will just ignore him and move on.
Speaker 2:So if you've listened to any of the previous episodes, especially the ones with Dr Taco, I had promised that I would provide you with the unedited, uncut stuff that once we were done recording the episode, I accidentally kept the recorder going and so it was just he and I talking about stuff and things. So I wanted to give that to you real quick. This is actually part one. I did not realize that he and I talked for another hour after we recorded that episode and it's really just two guys having a chat about life, family and food. So I'm going to start this off by giving you the end of the last episode To kind of bring you into this one. It was great to meet you, likewise, brother. Thank you, man. If you haven't listened to the previous Dr Taco episodes, that ending should give you a clear understanding of what happened and where we're going Again. I left the recorder on, but it's fine just talking, chopping it up.
Speaker 4:Let me show you that book so you know who Jack McPain is. He's got some great recipes, oh yes.
Speaker 2:Oh, very cool I have. I didn't know his name. I've seen this guy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he's got a bunch of cooking shows and what not Very cool little autograph there.
Speaker 2:This really is some of this food is just an art form.
Speaker 4:That's him. They're down at the restaurant.
Speaker 2:Very and right on, Very cool. See like this says scrambled eggs on tomato. You can't just put scrambled eggs on a tomato. I'm sure this recipe is.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, yeah, and where's yours? Um Marty, oh, nice, super on a painting. Oh, there it is. I discovered these at Dr Taco while vacationing and play at the Ocarman, nice. I mean, there's probably no greater like having a picture with him. Fantastic, having this book autographed. But being in this book, I mean no greater compliment. 100%. That's really good for marketing, don't you think? And a half a toast of bun topped with a lettuce leaf and tomato slices.
Speaker 4:That's awesome. Congrats, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you have no idea how you get on certain subjects. However, we just kept talking. We just kept chatting. He was drinking coffee. I was drinking coffee. Actually, I wasn't drinking coffee.
Speaker 4:I can clear my boxes out. What he got up there is all books, thousands of books and boxes, so I don't want to get rid of them. Sure, I said, shoot, I'll help you. He's got to have some treasures up there. But yeah, people have gone away from it.
Speaker 2:Just so much easier and convenient than hauling around boxes of books, yeah, it is nicer, I'll say when I go, like I travel on a plane, it's so much easier to bring that. But everyone's like, oh, you can have 5,000 books on that.
Speaker 4:Not going to refat that. Yeah, I know yeah.
Speaker 2:And I've never read the same book twice, so I don't need the storage in there. Yeah, yeah, it's nice to have, and then with Amazon Prime, I can pick one person to share my Prime. But the cool thing is I can send a book to them, whether it be audio or Kindle, so that saves a bit of money.
Speaker 4:Yeah, of course yeah for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's amazing how many things have changed, not even like well before the pandemic. Oh yeah, you know, independent bookstores have kind of I think they built a tattered cover and I think it's already closed. Is it really? I think I read that and like I love the tattered cover in Denver and the rumor was that. Excuse me one second, I just need a mint that all the Barnes and Nobles kind of modeled their stores. You know they wanted that cafe and that coffee and the couches and wanted to make it a little more a place you could come hang out, Come hang out.
Speaker 2:of course, you know because I'll usually read the first couple pages of a book at Barnes and Noble see if it hooks me. My wife will start something. She has to finish it and I'll go man this. I know how this book's gonna end. It's gonna be awful, yeah.
Speaker 4:I used to be like I'd start a book and I'd have to finish it. Not anymore I. If it doesn't grab me out, I got no problem tossing it to the side and onto the next one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I do, you know yeah, there's.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's just so much material out there that you're never going to get through it. Also, yeah, why waste your time on something that doesn't grab you? Yeah, I tell people.
Speaker 2:Ben Franklin said life's too short to drink bad beer Exactly.
Speaker 2:So I do everything you know, hey, I'm not gonna read this book, or Exactly. And Audible's nice. If you start a book and you're like, oh, I don't like this narrator or this is not my kind of story, they just give you your credit back. But they have a Amazon and Audible have a good business model, like how much money is this going to cost us to research this and, and you know, find out how many books he's returned? And it's way cheaper just to do a credit, you know, and yeah.
Speaker 2:So the original Dr Taco, what, what got you like, what got you interested in food to be I've always, I mean we're- all interested.
Speaker 4:So um growing up three, there's three boys. Single mom she worked, so we like to eat.
Speaker 1:Mexico.
Speaker 4:Italy again. So we just, we just learned all three of us just learned how to cook from a young age.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so kind of necessity is the mother of invention type thing.
Speaker 4:Kind of yeah, you know she would leave the ingredients and we'd put it together.
Speaker 2:You ever put together anything with your siblings and go uh, we messed up some.
Speaker 4:We've thrown meals out, right. Yeah, we've messed it up. Bad.
Speaker 2:I suspect you've also made stuff that was good and said to each other hey, if we added this or we did this, you know it would turn out my brother, ozzie and I were both doctors.
Speaker 4:We studied down in Guadalajara. My mom had a barbecue recipe that we really liked and we saw another one, so we put it together and came up with this amazing barbecue sauce, actually use it in truck, yeah, for our burritos, and when we were studying we actually bottled it. Bottled it, oh, they got into a few markets down in Mexico and Guadalajara and all the school, the university, I mean, we were always carrying ice chest with jars, sure, and they would fly. It got to a point where we just had to make a decision Do we go with the barbecue or do we keep studied medicine? Because we can't do both Right, so we kind of put that on the shelf and study.
Speaker 2:So you're an MD, and is there a specific field? Emergency, emergency. And then your brother, he is family practice.
Speaker 4:Family practice Okay, yeah, he lives out in Maryland.
Speaker 2:Maryland.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm from that area.
Speaker 4:Oh, okay, yeah, and there's a lot of ocean city there.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I live in.
Speaker 4:Maryland in that area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I am growing up. My family would always get crabs and I didn't like crabs but I never tried them. And then I finally tried crabs when I was out here, funny enough. And then I was like, dang it, I missed out on so many years. Yeah, because I was a good crab. Yeah, it's a good crab and fresh and yeah, and then out here you'll have people make crab cakes, but they look like little hamburger patties. Out there it looks like meringue.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know. Yeah, it has nothing to do with what we see here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so then, when did you stop practicing?
Speaker 4:Well, we moved back to the States. So I grew up in California, moved to Wailahara in 94 for medical school and, with the idea of studying, coming back and doing my specialty and not here, I met my wife and ended up staying 20 years so in Wailahara, had a little clinic and whatnot, and then I got an offer to go down to Playa Lo Carmen to work in an ER down there. So we went down to Playa Lo Carmen 2002, I believe and looking for something for my wife to do, and it was what? Don't we open up a restaurant so you can rent the restaurant while I'm in the hospital? And we had our first born, was the baby then. So that's where we started thinking about what we would do, and then the name and whatnot, and sure, and we came up with Dr Taka.
Speaker 2:Oh duh.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I just put that together, gotcha.
Speaker 4:And so it was a restaurant. It was a restaurant. Yeah, we ended up having three brick and mortars down in Playa down there for 10 years. Yeah, and it was fantastic. I mean, rachel Ray went down and filmed us. I don't know if you're familiar with the chef, jacques Pepin. He has cooking shows and he's just tons of books. He had a vacation house down there and would go down there About every two, three months, sometimes every six months. He'd go down there. One of the first things he would do is he would pop down into our restaurant and go into the kitchen and cook with us.
Speaker 2:Oh, very cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and he loved our shrimp burger, and so he has permission to put it in his latest cookbook and our shrimp burgers in his latest cookbook. That's awesome Fast food my way it's called.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll have to.
Speaker 4:I have the book here, I'll show it to you.
Speaker 2:Take a look at that. Yeah, it's fantastic and does it give you a credit, it does it mentions Dr Taco.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Very cool.
Speaker 4:And just cool things like that. Food and Wine magazine did a little write up on us and travel books and Lonely Planet and whatnot, so it was really successful down there. Yeah, very cool. Fast forward, 2010, 11,. We decided to move back to the States and get our kids educated. We have a boy and a girl and we closed the restaurants and moved back here. And that's when I retired from medicine and did more corporate health and wellness coaching.
Speaker 2:Did you move from Mexico?
Speaker 4:to Colorado. No initially moved to California because that's where.
Speaker 4:I grew up, oh, right, right. So I had friends there and had some connections there, sure, and I yeah, I volunteered there with a fire department as a firefighter paramedic Very cool, did some things there. But it's just not the same place I grew up. It's just. California had changed so much, so much. So just thinking of where we would want to move, colorado was always kind of at the top of the list that I have brothers on these coasts that didn't really want to go there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm allergic to humidity.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's a real medical condition, but I think it is.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, yeah, you wouldn't enjoy a pile of carbon in the summer, man, crazy hot, crazy, crazy hot. Yeah, a humid I mean 97% humidity. Yeah, this has got to get comfortable always being wet.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah, it's funny though that you say that I was. I volunteered at a fire station in Virginia. Now they didn't run like the Kelly system or anything. They worked eight to five. Monday through Friday, and then the volunteers did the overnight and weekends.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:So a very different system, you know. But it wasn't like here, it wasn't privatized, it was all through the county and the fire department. Yeah, so no one ever got a bill, you know, for their ambulance ride.
Speaker 4:So well, this one in particular was CityRant. The city of Sierra Madre ran it and in conjunction with the county, oh, very nice. So, yeah, there was no bill sent to the patient or for calls or whatever. Just so it was a really nice service and it was in a city that was small enough to where it wasn't crazy busy, right, but you still got some good calls and you still were able to help and do your thing.
Speaker 2:I was at the busiest station at the time in Virginia, wow, and it was just like man, my son's in paramedic school, okay, right now. He was a snow patrolman. Nice Went off of a jump during his private time, you know, and what we think happened was he misjudged the landing, kneaded himself in the face, you know, broke some things. He was airlifted out and I think that's where he thought, man, I could do this, but became an EMT and then now he's in paramedic school. So yeah, but he loves it, but he, you know, it's one of those things where you don't want anyone to get hurt, no, but he wants more trauma. You know a lot of the stuff. There is altitude sickness or you know breathing, you know.
Speaker 4:Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:Every now and then you get the twisted ankle, the broken leg. But yeah, that's where his passion that's.
Speaker 4:You know, that's very cool. Before going to medical school, I went to paramedic school and all that. I wanted to be a flight medic, oh, very yeah, and I love skiing. So I did some ski patrol stuff and I just really I really wanted to do that and then I just fell in love with medicine and ended up going that route.
Speaker 2:And going that route. So you did. You start the food track here in Colorado. We did Okay, yeah.
Speaker 4:So when we got to Colorado, like I said, I had done some health and wellness coaching, private coaching, corporate coaching and education and things like that, Although I did see a need for it. It's like I don't want to go down that rabbit hole again because it just sucks up your time and it just takes you away from the family. So I said, why don't we just do a food trip, do Dr Taco up here? We don't want to do the brick and mortar just yet and see how that goes and we're able to do it with the family. So it's my wife, my daughter and myself that run the food track that run it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you get that family time and then you can also say, no, I'm not gonna run the food track or I see all the food truck events that you can be part of and so it's nice to. I'm sure it's nice to write your own schedule.
Speaker 4:Oh, absolutely. Without a doubt, it gives you a lot of freedom, something that we didn't really have before with the brick and mortars and me being in the hospital, but we were just running crazy, I bet. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And taking that time away from family. You don't want to miss out. So the food track. So when did you start?
Speaker 4:that Three. It's gonna be three years in April.
Speaker 2:And the response has been fantastic.
Speaker 4:Yeah, fantastic. The community has been great. They've really accepted the concept. They enjoy the food and our flavors, so it's something different to the area. Sure, it's been really great. A lot of catering weddings which blew us away Really, oh yeah. So you parked the truck and At their wedding venue.
Speaker 2:That's awesome yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean I told my mom about it. She's all what A food truck at a wedding. People are crazy. She says I mean it's just been great and gone to know all the community and a lot of people here and there's just been very well received, which is awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went to the best of the West Wings Fest.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:And that's where I first got to see the small group of the larger group, obviously, of food trucks in it. Even last night at Avenue 19 and talking to Christina, there go fish, everybody that's in that. Those pods support each other and the friends. Are you seeing that? I saw that at the best of the West People who had this food truck were going to this food truck saying, dude, how did you make this wing? They're like hey, come on in, I'll show you what I was doing. Do you feel that as well?
Speaker 4:It's since the beginning. Even before I opened the food truck, I got on some of the pages, the groups, of Facebook groups and whatnot for food trucks and started asking questions and everybody was just super helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Just very welcoming. Well, I mean absolutely 100 percent and, like you said, you go to these different events and we all exchange food and we all, hey, I got this event that I can't go to, you know. Do you want to take it? Yeah, you want. That's about a collaborate that way with scheduling when you can and it's. It's been awesome, it's been a really good community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I was at that the wings fest, it was interesting to see food trucks but then also restaurants who focused on wings but then also restaurants that they had wings on their menu and everybody was just so. It didn't seem yeah, it was the best of the West wings fest, but everybody was cheering the winners. It didn't seem like a like a competition.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean obviously it was, but it wasn't like that mean like exactly oh, how could they get? Picked. We've done a few events like that, when where they kind of a competition, you know yeah. And, and it's the same atmosphere, it's everybody's trying each other's and how do you do this and how do you do that, and at the end you know cheering for each other and whoever wins, and it feels more like a collaboration than a competition, which is cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw people, you know, I was just kind of hanging out in the background and you know this food truck would win, you know, best sauce or best wing. And I heard people chatting who are also with their food trucks or restaurants and they say that's who I voted for, you know, and it was really, really cool to see.
Speaker 2:And then Flighty Fowl they're the first, first food truck I talked to and he's a cool guy. Yeah, he's super cool, he and his wife, both of them, yeah, but they were in business for a month and won the Wing of the event and I just thought, man, just to have that I mean you started this for a month and to get that recognition from your peers and from the people who are 10.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, it's got to be Absolutely Motivating. You take the food truck out. Do you take it out in the wintertime? We do, we do.
Speaker 4:Unless, unless weather gets a little dangerous you know the icy roads and things like that or when it gets crazy windy, then then we'll make a decision not to go. But for the most part we run all year long and then, you know, take our vacations here and then take a. You know we take in January. We're taking a couple of weeks off to go down to Mexico, so which it's nice that you have that flexibility and you able to do that. But for the most part we'll run all year and if you guys want us there, we'll be there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was talking to Christina last night and I said you know she was talking about you know, december you can have a 70 degree day. It's odd in Colorado Springs. I said, yeah, one time I mean somebody's weird golf in the day after Christmas, you know, so warm and so to be able to take that, that food truck out. And it's also got to be not motivating, it's got to be rewarding to be able to take your food to where the people are, where there's going to be 100% and there's there's a few, since we've done both the brick and mortar and the food truck.
Speaker 4:Both have its advantages and disadvantages, but to have to always attract to your location, you got to always be innovating and coming up with crazy things and coming up with things to keep people coming in. With the food truck you're taking it to them. So it kind of not eliminate to completely, but it really helps out. And some of these events can get crazy busy. Sure, You're the balloon festival and the rodeos, and you know?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, what's that thing? The old Colorado city.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the frontier days, frontier days. Yeah, chilby Festival, that and Pueblo, I mean there's an infinite amount of work.
Speaker 2:Work and location yeah, 100%. Yeah, 100%. So do you watch the weather during the week and you're like, hey, I don't.
Speaker 4:I don't because it changes so crazy I've already had I mean, it's just this weekend. You know, Friday and Saturday were freezing and cold and snowing, and then yesterday we were 68 degrees.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I was telling other folks that I meet with, especially with food trucks. I've driven to work with the heat on, went to lunch with the air conditioning on and drove home with the heat back on and absolutely, and that's so with comparing the restaurant to the food truck, what do you love? You know the difference between the two. With regards to the food truck, Is it meeting? I mean, I'm sure you meet all kinds of yeah.
Speaker 4:In both you meet especially with food. You know food is the way to people's hearts. They say yeah. So you really make some great connections and meet a lot of great people. But with the brick and mortar you don't have the advantage of being able to schedule and choose your days off and things like that. So you're pretty much always open. With the brick and mortar, oh right, with the food truck you have a lot more flexibility, a lot more flexibility to choose where you go, when you go, and if you need to schedule time off, you could do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:With the brick and mortar you can't close it.
Speaker 2:for two weeks you got to staff it and hope they do a good job while you're gone and make sure that whoever you leave in charge, it's going to be the same as if you and your wife were there, correct?
Speaker 4:I think that's the biggest advantage that I've seen is the flexibility of schedule.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then obviously the people.
Speaker 4:The people, yeah, the overhead. You know you don't have these outrageous rents that you're paying for a location, oh location. Staffing for brick and mortar obviously is a lot more than staffing for food truck. If you need to staff, I'm lucky enough to do it with my family, so we don't have that issue there. Do they enjoy it? They do. I mean, it's love hate sometimes when we're crazy busy.
Speaker 4:It's like, oh, I'm done, right, you know. But they see the advantages and they love what we're doing and what we've created, and it's something that we have been able to create together and grow together, and the idea is to franchise Dr Taco, so they see the end goal in sight, so it's nice.
Speaker 2:It's a bigger plan.
Speaker 4:It's a bigger. Yeah, it has obviously its days. You know when it's crazy cold outside and you're out there working and you're busy. Or the worst part, when you're busy it's awesome, but the downtime, you know when it's not busy and you're waiting for customers around, so it's downtime.
Speaker 2:You got a little flurries, it's cold and you're like, oh man, but that stuff goes away when you're, when you're cranking it out you don't even feel it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you get in your, your mode and you know kind of in your space and you just start flowing and everything just going and there's a lot of moving parts, even though food trucks are small. You go inside and you see everything that goes on in them. It's crazy we do a lot with a small space. A lot of these food trucks out there turning out the most amazing food At a such a small space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's commendable, yeah, it's very impressive. For sure, this came out of a 100% truck and I can't remember who it was. They did a a chicken and waffles Wing and I was just like, wow, this is it. And it had like a spicy. Maple nice, All right but what was cool was they had Like little kids coming up with their, with their parents, and all they wanted was the waffle and they were more than happy to.
Speaker 4:Crank out these waffles, yeah for sure it's.
Speaker 2:It's a unique Community. You know you have the restaurant community and I'm sure everybody's kind of involved, but then you have this like sub community, yeah, of these food trucks and the support was just impressive.
Speaker 4:And let me tell you some of these restaurants now are seeing that and they're starting to open up their food trucks for catering and events. I know Pac one Indian food off of Academy in Nostin Bluffs.
Speaker 4:They just bought a food truck, the Indian restaurant by Academy in the no more going to or going 25 over by. I forget the name of the cross street there, but there's it, the In Indian food restaurant that's been there for a long time, urban, urban, tender. They just got a food truck and go to the tacos just got a food truck, so they're starting to see this community and want to be a part of it. And yeah, it's, it's interesting, it's neat to see.
Speaker 2:I promoted concerts, um, for for the radio stations I worked at and you know you need, you need the venue, you need the artist, but then you need medical, you need contracts, you need insurance, you need this and this and this. You know, I'm sure I can't remember what Christina calls like the great food truck Explosion, but everybody saw that movie chef and then thought, hey, I could do a a food truck, but there's so much that goes.
Speaker 4:Oh, there's so much to do. Any, any business I believe in any any small business, any entrepreneurial tell you that there's so many moving parts to any business and I'm sure you know it as well with your ventures that you got to be able to Kind of shuffle around and then be a chameleon and put different shirts on, different hats on. And Because there is a lot of moving parts to it and and I think a lot of people, a Lot of people did really realize and kind of jumped into it and we're seeing Some open some clothes. But even the three years that I've been here, we've gone from I believe it was 200 plus food trucks to over 500.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, that's a quite a.
Speaker 4:Big jump. It's a huge jump. It's more than doubled in in two years, especially after pandemic. I think a lot of people didn't want to deal with the brick and mortar and the hassles that that brought and, like I said, this has a lot of flexibility and a lot of chefs Fernando for instance yeah, they're opening up their food trucks and going that route.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and especially during the pandemic. You know you're in your food truck, I'm outside with a mask, you know. So we don't really have to worry about.
Speaker 4:When everything else was closed. Yeah we were able to operate and then yeah and what did all?
Speaker 2:the restaurants do they were Doing, you know, finally allowed to do, you know, to pick up or to go or delivery, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So, going back to what you said about that food being the the connector, that's really why I started 7-1, dying is you know? I'm not a big fan of review sites because One person is upset and then that's it you know, but like I visited a Place in Canyon City, they've been open 70 years. Wow, what can I say?
Speaker 4:How many stars that hasn't been said. 70 years still open, and see, yeah, so I wanted.
Speaker 2:I always wanted to share the stories you know and have people like I'm not gonna say here's the best taco, here's the best pizza, here's the best Chinese. So that for yourself.
Speaker 4:I want them to go and try.
Speaker 2:You know exactly, and what better than than the story. You know, if I went up to someone and said, hey, what do you think about? I'm like I don't want to stick around for this, but I just in the conversation that happens organically, and I say, hey, which, what's your favorite restaurant? And they say, oh, let me tell you about this place. And they're so proud to tell you about it Because they love it and exactly, whether it's a food truck or a restaurant, these people really are Welcoming you, you know, into their home. I don't have anything against, you know chain or you know those large conglomerates, but I just I love, I focus solely on the independence and the reason is, yeah, the service, the food, the quality, the passion, but also it's, it's part of them the journey, the story behind it?
Speaker 2:No, yeah, nobody nobody really has a story yet. You know, whatever restaurant is is a chain. I met Ricky at Rock City Cafe. He started at 16 years old washing dishes at Bambino's. So you know, in the progression there and now he's running his own Place. I mean, look at you, md. Then you just I well, let's start this restaurant and we come here. They okay, now a food truck. I mean, those are the, the stories, those are the things that you know. I want to get people to understand because I think, like when I was doing concert, I couldn't get the bigger names to come down here because they didn't want to pull anything away from Denver. So there is so much culture and the people here, like I found out there were mafia ties in Pueblo, oh, bootlegging, and I would have never known that if I hadn't.
Speaker 4:Big time in that scene down there. What are my best friends? Has a restaurant down there called La Forqueta da Masi. It's a northern Italian cuisine. He came up from Playa del Carmen as well. He was an executive chef at one of the big resorts down there and Boy the stories he tells me about Pueblo. Oh yeah, and even in his restaurant you go down into the basement cellar. Yeah, he's got like secret passage. Oh yeah, I'm like you know a tunnel that goes this way, so I've never gone.
Speaker 2:It's just wild, amazing, and and there were al Capone ties and you know I had a restaurant down there, I am pizza and he's like hey, if you want a story, come see me, and which I will. But in his Reaching out to me in an Instagram, he said you know, my grandparents started this restaurant, first pizza place in Pueblo, and the reason they started was the mob said To his grandfather if you don't stop your bootlegging business, we're gonna kill you, mm-hmm. And that to me would be a big motivator to find another line of work.
Speaker 4:Yeah for sure.
Speaker 2:But it's just the stories that I run into. You know, when I was selling advertising to a marketing for restaurants, I that's, it's. It's got to be more than just hey, we're open, here's what we serve. Because there were so many Stories behind it how they got there and you know you got a 30 second commercial. You can't tell that snow no, no, no, no, you can't. And you know it didn't want to. That's why I put on the website If if you don't see a restaurant you love on here, it's only because we haven't been there. You know there's. I wanted to make sure that people understood. I'm not leaving anything out because it's poor or it's negative.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I mean it takes time to do this and there's so many out there you know you can't get them all at once yeah, you kind of go from there.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I was seeing it last night. I thought it would take six months for restaurants to start reaching out to me, and it was probably a month and a half.
Speaker 2:Well, that's awesome, but this restaurant told hey, you got to talk to this guy. You know, I don't want anything. I don't need discounts or free food or gift certificates to give out. It's just something that I'm passionate about, awesome, and just want to, you know, share those stories and to meet you and like to MD and, and you know, california to Mexico, then back, and it's just, you know you said three brothers? Yes, is the other brother in food.
Speaker 4:No, no, he's in business, he's entrepreneur and he does all kinds of different businesses and trade and whatnot. And then my middle brother is MD. He's, him and his wife do family practice in Maryland, yeah, yeah, but they all cook, they all cook fantastic. Yeah, my brother, especially the 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 4:And do you know?
Speaker 2:you had a buddy one time say hey, joe, do you want? You want a pig? I'm like that's a very odd and random question. And he was telling me, in Texas they have these wild pigs and they're not very bright, so one will go into a pen where they can't get out of. Yeah, and another pig will go hey, what's going on in there? And so they just had too many. So it came FedEx, it was all packaged and ice and yeah, roasted it and that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I pulled that back down and yeah it, just it just a well a ton of that Right, so good.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so good. My stepfather's Cuban, and so you do the whole roast, the Cuban pig, and it's just delicious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so good. And people come out there and they're like Dad, this has his legs but no head. I'm like, yeah, and they're like why? I said, well, some people like pigs feet. I love pigs feet and if you cook it right it can be, you know, incredible. How can you not fall in love with Carlo Dr Taco? Just an amazing man, an amazing family, an amazing story. I had so much fun just sitting down and talking with him.
Speaker 2:Without a doubt, next week I will play the remaining half of the hot mic. I accidentally left the recorder on without knowing it conversation. So make sure to come back next Thursday to hear the second half of this podcast series. I don't know what to call it, but make sure you come back next Thursday. Before I bring this episode to a close, I just wanted to say that since I launched 719 last September, I have had the privilege of meeting some of the most amazing people who have been willing to share their stories with me and have allowed me to share them with you. I have to tell you I enjoy this so much. I would do it for free, dude, you're already doing this for free, so Well, yes, so obviously I would continue to do it for free. Anyway, thank you so much as always for your support and for listening, and until next time, where can you?
Speaker 3:find the 719 podcast. Well, you can find the 719 podcast wherever you look for and find podcasts.
Speaker 1:Don't forget to visit us online at 719.com.