- Taco tip number 118: don't throw your chips away.
- Put them in your migas way.
(chips crunch) (Spanish style music) I'm Mando Rayo.
- And I'm Jarod Neece.
- And we're taco journalists exploring the iconic tacos of Texas.
- Today we're in Austin, Texas.
Live music capital of the world and our hometown.
- We're here for the migas, Austin's most important taco of the day.
(chants) We're here for the migas, here for the migas!
- We're here at El Mundo de Mando in East Austin AKA my house.
- Do you guys like migas tacos?
- Yeah!
- What makes tacos different in Texas is that, you know, Texas is a mix of different cultures.
You know, for us it's about community, it's about building trust with communities and forming relationships and honoring people, where they come from.
And it's about bringing kind of all these different people with different experiences and us coming together and growing together and eating together.
(Mando laughs) - You know, Mando was writing for The Austinist and I said to him, "What are you doing over there "writing for these guys?"
and I was like, "Come to taco journalism, we need some street cred!"
(singing in Spanish) He liked what we were doing.
- Stuck.
- You know, all of us were Texans and you know, starting taco journalism was all about, you know, getting people to go into these taco restaurants or trailers that maybe they were not feeling welcome or afraid to go into or just hesitant and bridging these two divides of, you know, taco lovers and the people making them and making sure that everybody, you know, we can all just get along.
(Mando laughs) Break some bread, break some tortillas.
- Break some tortillas.
- In our book, we traveled to 10 cities and that's just only 10 cities in Texas.
We only traveled like 7000 miles.
We have like, I don't know how much square footage there is in Texas but it's a big-- (Jarod laughs) It's a big state.
- I think they do it in square miles.
(both laugh) That was a blast from the taco past, man.
Let's take these guys to Joe's Bakery and show them how to really make tacos.
(mariachi band plays) - Joe's: where every Mexican knows your name.
(restaurant patrons talking) Jose, Jose!
- So Austin gets hated on a little bit because we get told that we're the, we have the white breakfast tacos.
And I would challenge anybody that feeds that line or feeds that beast to come to East Austin and come to Joe's.
Have yourself a migas breakfast taco with re-fried beans con todo, and it'll settle that argument pretty quick.
- So are migas kinda your go-to taco?
Is it a thing you eat a lot?
- Yeah, man.
So usually flour, migas, migas con todo and beans, man.
Beans on it, the re-fried beans, you gotta have 'em.
- Yeah, well, re-fried beans are the Mexican mayonnaise.
- They are the Mexican mayonnaise.
(Mando laughs) - What makes a good breakfast taco?
- Oh, man, the beans, the beans are the must.
Eggs and then like, if we're talking about migas, then it definitely is the tostadas, you gotta be crispy, man.
- Right.
- The egg has to be fresh 'cause you go some places, they, man, not knocking anybody, but there are places and you get 'em on those warmers.
You do not respect yourself if you're eating off one of those things.
Come get your fresh taco.
- Yeah.
- So Jose, you rep East Austin pretty hard.
What is East Austin, how did it become East Austin?
- So in 1929, Latinos and African Americans traditionally lived downtown, and they were moved, relocated east of 35.
People consider Congress to be the divider of Austin, but locals know I-35 is the great wall of Austin that divides.
And I mean, you can see it socio-economically, man.
Up and down 35, you can see the disparities.
- Also tell me a little bit about the changes in East Austin.
- Seeing people that didn't wanna leave having to leave because of property taxes and whatnot.
Seeing businesses that couldn't stay open and couldn't compete anymore.
Something somebody told me a long time ago is "Nostalgia didn't keep the lights on."
So if you love a restaurant, then go there and spend your money.
Don't go to the IHOPs, don't go to the Denny's, go to the mom-and-pops and spend your money.
- There's new places coming up.
How do you see that?
- It's all about collaboration, man, and my mama always told me, "If you don't speak to your neighbor, "then you're never gonna know your neighbor's problems "or the problems that you share."
And so, reaching out to these folks and sitting down and chatting 'cause, I mean, at the end of the day, man, we aren't all that different.
- It's great to hear what Jose's doing, to reach the old and the new.
On to taco numero dos.
(mariachi band plays) - We're here at Veracruz All Natural at their newest brick and mortar.
- We're here to eat the best migas in Texas.
- Let's go.
- Let's go!
(both laugh) (mariachi music) (mariachi band plays) - You can find migas anywhere in Austin.
They're an affordable meal for this young city that's always on the go.
Just like migas, these taco makers are resourceful and create deliciousness.
- Well, it was really cool to show everyone our taco journalism history and where the tacos have taken us, man.
- But also about, you know, what we can do as supporters of these mom-and-pop shops.
For me, it always goes back to the people.
Like for us, the taco is kind of that entry point, but it's about the people and the recipes and those traditions and that's pretty much what makes us taco journalists.
So thanks for tuning in.
- Tacos never die.
- Tacos never die.
(mariachi band plays) - You know, Porfirio's.
- Mm-hm.
- Or... - Joe's Bakery.
- Or Rosita's Al Pastor.
- Habanero's.
- Piedras Negras.
- Taqueria Chapala.
- Taqueria Los, Los Altos?
- Uh-huh.
- Los Jaliscienses.
- Los Jaliscienses.
La Michoacana.
- All the Michoacanas.
- All the Michoacana.
And Borrego De Oro.
- Taco La Flor on south-first.
- Valentina's.
- All the Arandas.
(mariachi music) - In the next Proximo Show!
- We'll explore Houston and their taco trucks on every corner.
- And talk to DREAMers on how they define the meaning of home.
- And see how Houston throws down on tacos al pastor.
