A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Is A Burrito A Taco? ft. Memo Torres

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

Today, we're joined by Memo Torres of LA Taco to ask the question: is a burrito a taco? Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Thanks to us, everyone agrees that a hot dog is definitely a sandwich. Everyone? Nicole, we really can't do this again. But is a burrito technically a taco? This is a hot dog is a sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what?

That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show where we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Scherer. And I'm your host, Nicole Inaidi.

And today we're joined by Memo Torres, friend of the show and director of partnerships for the James Beard Award-winning Say It With Your Chest publication, L.A. Taco. He's also a roving taco flaneur who's directed me to some of the best damn meals of my life and a prolific grill dad who definitely wears socks and sandals no no why are you wearing socks or sandals man it's weird creeping people out at the carne asada i don't mind i didn't think you noticed man no man welcome and uh this is because of you we were at smorgasburg we were under the beer tent taking a break from when we did the live podcast episode. And you were like, yeah, man, I think a hot dog is probably a sandwich.

But like, more importantly, a burrito is a taco. And we're like, oh, hold up. Hold up, man. We got to finish the hot dog thing. And then like, we'll wait a tick and then we'll come back. Yeah, like jolted me like at my core when you said that. Yeah. Why do you think that way?

Why would you say something so controversially? It's so brave. Yeah, I remember the whole Smorgasbord was like, what? And you're like, no, we got to take this. An uproar. Yeah. It is. It is.

A burrito is a taco. That's just what it is. I mean, I'm not the first one to express this. There's actually, I don't know if you heard, Jose Ralat, who's the taco editor for Texas Monthly. Okay. When he got hired, that was one of his first takes. And he actually wrote, I think, a whole article about that. That was his first article explaining why a burrito is a taco.

And it is. It's basically a taco. I remember that article. And then I remember the, like, counter-backlash to that article. Because obviously, like, when you're talking about, I mean, there are literally 10,000 years plus of history in Mexican food, right? Yes, of course. And so anytime people start talking about like the capital A, like authenticity word, people start to get, you know, they get their tits in a twist. They get into a conniption.

You know what I mean? It's a vulgar term, tits in a twist. I've never said that in my life. Where did that come from now? But anyways, I remember people writing then like counter arguments to that, right? But can you explain the argument? So like burrito, I think, means a fair amount of different things. Right.

And if you're thinking about it in the American context, like I grew up eating burritos at any sort of taqueria that ended with T O apostrophe S. So you have like Alberto's, Rigoberto's, Dagoberto's, Albatros. I,

the one that I grew up going to is literally just called toes. Yeah. And they all sort of originate from the same style of Mexican restaurant there was I believe one entrepreneur from Aguascalientes who came here in the 70s and was like oh this seems to be the type of Mexican food that Americans want to eat right now

and so he kind of created almost a standard menu of what we think of as like a Mexican American taqueria and the burritos there they're big. They're generally filled with rice, filled with beans, almost halfway to like a mission style from San Francisco. But like in Mexico, burrito, it means a lot of different things, right?

Yeah. I mean, well, look, I'll start off with like me growing up. Sure. So me growing up, I grew up around a lot of construction workers, gardeners, plumbers, eating like, you know, at the sites. Wait, where'd you grow up? The west side. Yeah.

Inglewood and Coors City area. You know, but, you know, we'd always, summers or after school, I mean, I'm talking about like from the time I was 13, 14 years old. We'd go out to work in these like beautiful Beverly Hills mansions and condominiums. And we'd always go hit up like the lunch trucks there. They're always the same lunch trucks that served everybody. But I remember when we'd get our food, we sit down and all the guys I would work with

they usually have their own lunch pack. And most of them would be, you know, like what you would call today burritos, which is like a bunch

of little burritos wrapped in foil. It was either like beans with chile and some meat. And it's interesting how that came about. But whenever they offered you one of these

and everybody would just be like, hey, ¿Quieres un taco? You know, you want a taco? They didn't call it burritos. So then they were tacos. But if they offered you one of these, and everybody would just be like, hey, quieres un taco? You know? You want a taco? They didn't call it burritos. So then they were tacos.

But if you looked at them, they're burritos. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they're closed off at the end? Yeah, they're closed off at the end. And then growing up, too, like, you know, going to my grandma's house or even my mom, they'd be like, hey, you hungry? You want a taco? And what did they do?

They would get a tortilla, get whatever leftovers they had, wrap it up, and they'd be like, here, here's your taco. And so we're talking like, I mean, this is flour tortilla, leftovers wrapped up, sealed at both ends. Yep. And like a lot of people would look at that and go like, that's a burrito. And they would say that the reason it's a burrito and not a taco is because it's like it's sealed at both ends. Is that what the argument is? I mean, that makes it not a taco now?

A bit. That's what people say. It seems very silly to me. But like I think also people might look at, like, the size difference, right? Yeah. Because a lot of, I mean, Taco Bell. So a thing that trips me up all the time is you look at, quote, the dictionary definition of a taco. Sure.

And it says a tortilla usually fried, which what percentage of tacos are fried? They're talking about, like, Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex tortillas. Exactly, right? They're talking about Taco Bells. What the hell they're talking about like tex-mex or calmex tortilla exactly right they're talking about taco bells what the hell they're talking about exactly um which like tacos yeah tito's tacos the only thing better than a tito's taco is two it's not having diarrhea i was wait hold on i was talking to my brother recently on whether or not tito's tacos is a must eat in la like you have to eat there once. OK, it's an it's an L.A. institution. You know, anybody who doesn't know Tito's Tacos is it's like the it is like the prototype for the Taco Bell style taco before it became mass produced. Right.

It's a fried corn tortilla. It's like shredded beef, lettuce, cheese and then like a very watery tomato salsa. And the greenest guacamole in quotes. They have figured out how to emulsify an incredible amount of water into the avocado, but still keep it dark green. And I don't know how that works. See, this is where I get controversial because I'm this taco guy, right? I know my tacos.

And then I tell people that I like Tito's. Yeah. And everybody's like, Tito's is the worst. Tito's is crap. It's horrible. Blah, blah, blah. But see, the thing about Tito's is if you grew up with Tito's, you know, then you got all this nostalgic love for it. Exactly.

You know, so that's why I grew up on the west side. And when I was growing up, there weren't many taquerias. You know, what we had was Tito's Tacos, Taco Bell maybe. Yeah. And then like old school Mexican restaurants like Paco's or like, you know, the older generation of restaurants. Yeah, the ones that are doing like the combination plates. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The tamale taco and enchilada plate.

Yeah. I love Tito's because for me it reminds me of an Indian dish called pani puri. Where it's like, it's like a crispy, it's like a crispy sort of, it's, I mean, damn near like a, it looks like a, like a Tostito scoops. Yes. Stacked on top of each other. But it's like a crispy shell. You puncture it. You fill it with like chana masala.

You fill it with the beans, the potatoes, some like mango. And then you submerge it into like a really watery, spicy chutney. And that's what the Tito's salsa reminds me of. Because I take the taco and I'm like shoveling. I'm eating like it's a gazpacho with the taco, you know. And I'm like soaking it in there. And like I genuinely love it. I think it's an LA institution.

I think everyone needs to try it. At least stand in the line once yeah stand in the line hang out with your with your friends that you make in line like hey you ever been here before you know just like it's like it's like pink stuff yeah it's kind of along that same line where it's not gonna be the best tasting food you've ever had but it's an experience and it is like exactly delicious it's meat cheese fried things tito's is to tacos with pink sister hot dogs, right, in LA? Fair. That's not bad. That's not bad. I think that's fair.

Speaking of Tito's, actually, their burritos are really fired. I go for the burrito. I've never had a burrito there. I go for like four tacos and I share it with my mom. It's just soupy, well-seasoned beans. The flour tortilla is really good. It's really a delight. I mean, genuinely good.

All right, so back to the historical burrito. You're talking about these dudes at like the construction sites breaking out they call them tacos but a lot of people might look at them call them burritos and you mentioned

your grandma at the same like what region is your grandma from in Mexico because I've heard this is very regionally split in Mexico and whether you call it

like a burrito a burrita like tacos de arena so okay so this is a great way great direction we're going to go in this conversation now. Because basically, I'm from Zacatecas.

I'm like really low in Zacatecas. We're like, if you look at the state, there's like an appendage that kind of sticks into Jalisco. Jalisco surrounds us. Okay. So, and then like it goes back up to Zacatecas. But, so we're really far south. But we're like the furthest south northern part of mexico you can get if i'm describing that properly um and burritos are really a northern state thing and one of the

funny things i was having a conversation with somebody recently they were like oh burritos are american things they're not even mexican i'm like well you need to understand that burritos are kind of a northern mostly border state kind of origin. And one of them, my favorite myth, because nobody really knows how the burrito came about, right? Or who called it a burrito first. But one of my favorite myths is that somewhere in El Paso, in Juarez, somebody would make tacos, you know, and make a bunch of them, you know, kind of like in the style of the construction workers I grew up with,

and would package them and put them on his donkey, which is a burrito. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So people would be like, oh, give me the burrito. I mean, el bur him on his donkey, which is a burrito. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So people would be like, oh, give me the burrito. I've been a burrito. You know, here's a burrito. So that's kind of the myth of how burritos came or tacos came to be called burritos, that style of it, at least.

He was making them efficient for workers to just go buy a bunch and take them to work and eat them for lunch later. That's so funny. Yeah. On my part, there's a place that's really famous in Mexico, at least. It's called Los Burritos de Moyagua. And they make their own flour tortillas and they make little tacos, but they call them burritos because it's a Northern state thing. Yeah, yeah.

And all they have is this little bit of cheese. I mean, a little bit of beans and then whatever guisado you want. Stew. Yeah. They have like a whole buffet of guisados. And I could eat like seven or eight of those things, dude. They're tiny. They're delicious

so yeah I grew up with burritos yeah but I also knew them as tacos also like literally my favorite bite of food and I've mentioned this

on the podcast a bunch shout out to Burritos La Palma because they're from Zacatecas that's the most similar style of burritos from where I'm from

they're also from Zacatecas yeah and they're tiny like in comparison to like what the average person would think a burrito, quote, unquote, was. Exactly. Yeah, the big old.

El Farolito has the best Mission style burrito. Like Burritos La Palma, I eat four of them in a sitting. Sure, yeah. And that's like a light lunch. We're dropping into 6-7 territory. But then you get the Mission style burritorito which is what Chipotle was modeled after right so Chipotle was started

by a dude named Steve Ells very Mexican last name from Colorado and yeah he was inspired by the burritos

in San Francisco which are filled with if you get the very traditional in heavy quotes because what the hell is traditional means you know what I mean

throughout the sands of time but traditional burritos from like Juarez from Zacatecas ones that have come up to border states even like you know what I mean, throughout the sands of time. But traditional burritos from like Juarez, from Zacatecas, ones that have come up to border states even like, you know, in El Paso, Brownsville, areas like that. But then you go up to San Francisco and you get these burritos that are filled with, I mean, 15 ingredients. So you got rice, beans, some sort of crema. So good.

Avocado, lettuce. Pico de Gallo, cheese. That's all hot. Yeah. That's all good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, what do you think about that style? Because I think that's what a lot of Americans think of when they think of a burrito.

Yeah, that's what they think. They think a burrito is just going to be this big ass tortilla with everything in it. And then, like, it's funny because if you come to LA, then people are a little bit, like, snobby about rice. Rice doesn't belong in burritos, which is another thing, right? I don't eat rice in my burritos. I'm sorry. I'm like, okay, whatever. If you already have a carb, like, what are you going to add more?

Like, shut the... That's me. Just eat the burrito. Whatever you want in it. I mean, I'd make burritos with rice and mole and chicken. Yeah, yeah. That would be our lunch.

See, that sounds good. See, now she's in. But let me tell you, when there's like carne asada and like guac and all that stuff in there, I don't need the rice. What I will do, what I will accept

is a side of beans and rice. So it's like a plate. Oh, that's a delight. But inside, I can't do it. Well, it all depends on the style, right? That's like, so I also grew up in like Oceanside, Carlsbad, like North San Diego County area. And so you go down there

and like the carne asada burritos, it's still, I made my last meal on the show in a san diego style carne asada burrito which is like some sort of like melty white cheese uh carne asada that's probably not even asada because it's cooked on a flat top right yeah it's some fatty meat that's cooked on a flat top and just hit with a delicious pre-made like adobo spice blend uh and then pico de gallo guacamole and then you put like some sort of like chili de arbol on there. French fries? And to me, that is. Do you put French fries in yours?

Well, so that's in the Cali burrito. Yeah. But I grew up at places that called it a gringo burrito. Oh, well, okay. But now the Cali burrito seems to be, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the French fries, like I don't, to me, I don't need, if you have a really good Cali burrito with the French fries, it's fun. But to me, it's just like tortilla meat and the grease from the meat makes the tortilla

extra translucent. Yeah. And so for me, if like, if I'm having guac and carne asada, that's the perfect burrito for that. But if you're having like mole, you want something to soak up that mole a little bit. You get the rice in there. So it's all about like burrito architecture. No matter what you do, if you do it well, it's going to be good as hell. Burrito architecture.

I like that. Yeah. That should be a whole book right there. Anyone who makes burritos, I would read the hell out of that. I mean, in culinary school, we had sandwich architecture day. Why can't we have burrito architecture day? Well, burrito is just a – no, I'm kidding. It's like, sex, sex, sex.

No more. No more. Not right now. All right. Let's – okay. We got to talk about – we got to talk about the rap. Yes. We got to talk about raps. We do have to talk about, we got, we got to talk about the rap. Yes. We got to talk about rap.

We do have to talk about the rap. We got to talk about raps. Because I didn't realize there's like an established in the same, Memo's rolling his eyes. He just took like, you know, the Kermit the Frog sipping the tea meme. Yeah. Memo just sipped his water like that right now. I didn't realize there was an actual like invention myth of the rap.

Like I thought it was just gonna be like some like somebody created it. There's like a dude that claims it. There's one dude. Who's this guy? He owns a restaurant

in Stanford, Connecticut. He was like a previous like GM of the New York Mets. That's where they shoot Mari. Who is? Yeah, it is. It is. It is.

It's a big, it's a commuter. I know that. I watch a lot of Mari. I watch a lot. It's a commuter city to new york it makes sense but anyways uh yeah like 1982 he was like someone came in and wanted the fancy turkey club sandwich in my restaurant but i my toaster was broken so i put it in a tortilla and the rap was invented and i was just like like every mom in america invented wrap. Like kid snack, yeah.

Throw some ham cheese and like wrap it up. It's like how every culture like simultaneously created like similar religious themes. Like every mom simultaneously went like hmm, I can put turkey and monster cheese in a tortilla. That's a wrap. Yeah, there you go. I just went to Turkey and they had something called durums,

which are like little tiny burritos. They're like this big. If you can hear my voice explaining how big they are, they're literally like, they look like fruit roll-ups. What kind of bread? I don't know. I could never tell.

It was different everywhere. That's funny. Sometimes it was like a thick, kind of like fluffy pita-esque bread. Sometimes it was like a super flat, sad, lavash-esque bread. Yeah. But they like wrapped it up and then they kind of like sealed the end. But they always had the top beautiful.

Yeah. With like a ton of meat. Not a lot of sauces though, I must say. Not a lot of sauces. But is a durum a wrap or a burrito? I don't know. Where is the point at which a burrito becomes a wrap and a wrap becomes a burrito? I mean, look,

just because you fold something doesn't make it a taco, right? Sure, yeah. Yes. Agreed. I agree with you. Just because you wrap something doesn't make it a burrito either.

Definitely. That's my logic from it, at least. And plus, you ever had a cold taco? Not purposefully. I don't reckon. Not purposefully.

Not leftovers. Like, you ordered a cold taco. Have I ever ordered a cold taco? What cold ever ordered a cold taco? What cold taco? Do they exist? I don't think I've ever done that before.

So why would there be cold burritos? Whoa. I'm trying to think. I mean, I've had like, no. I've had things that like. You're right. He's right, ladies and germs. I mean, like, and usually, like, if they use like a flour tortilla, now you're just eating raw flour tortillas, which is kind of gross.

No, I agree with that. Okay, but what about if it's unseasoned chicken with lettuce that's white and then a sauce that is also white? And then it's wrapped in an uncooked tortilla. That is really good, right? Trash. That's what I call it. Hold on. No, no, no.

I have a story about this. So I was in Cabo recently for a friend's wedding. And I was, I mean, we went to an all-inclusive resort. Nice. It was all my dirtbag college friends. And we're trying to drink watered-down tequila laying by the pool. You know what I mean? We went out and got some actual food.

But when we were just parked at the resort, they had, like, something called a burrito on the menu. And I got a burrito. And menu and i got a burrito and it was filled with lettuce tomatoes thousand island dressing and like some sort of meat like rotisserie chicken in a giant in and out burrito dude like kinda it was it was really bizarre and so i was like ideas and so i was like what the hell is this like maybe like the cooks are you know they're like oh this is what american people think a burrito is and we're like most of the people there were literally tourists from Canada because they were trying to escape the cold. And so they don't know what the hell that is. And so if you gave them a burrito with beans and a guisado or something, they might be confused.

But then I went out to restaurants and I saw a burrito on the menu and it would be like lettuce, tomato, meat, and a weird sauce. But then I would see Los Super Burros on the menu. And it would be just a big ass burrito. Like San Francisco style. Like San Francisco style. So like rice, beans, like shrimp, crema, three kinds of vegetables. And they were on the biggest flour tortillas I've ever had. And they were some of the best food I've ever had.

And so like I don't know if in Cabo it's a regional name to call what we think of as a burrito as, like, a super burro. And also in parts of Mexico and border states, they'll call them super tacos. Jose Relat wrote about that. What's a super taco? Where some burritos, they just call them super tacos.

Because they're like, yeah, it's a taco that's on a tortilla de arena. It's big. It's a super taco, dude. That reminds me of, like, the Perro 110, the yaki-style tacos. You ever had those? Mm-mm. What's a yaki-style taco? So it's like a place in Baja that's called El Taco del Yaki.

And they make like a flour tortilla. And they put like a grilled cheese. They put meat, guacamole, beans on it. But it's huge. It's like a really huge taco. I mean, you could just fold the end and call it a burrito. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, that's something what you call a super taco. Yeah, yeah. No, it's the same thing. It's like a really huge taco. I mean, you could just fold the end and call it a burrito. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, that's something what you call a super taco.

Yeah, yeah. No, it's the same thing. It's like super liking someone on Tinder. What does that entail, Nicole? Let us know. I have never been on Tinder before. Really? I just, me?

What would I do on Tinder? I don't know. You know, before you were married, before now you're, you know. I had only bad experiences on Tinder. No, nice people could get out um never been on it never will be on it god willing sponsor us we need to get memo out there he's not wearing socks and sandals and then another interesting name that i saw that i hadn't seen before it was a food truck out in moreno valley

that i was on my way back from like the Palm Springs Joshua Tree area. Okay. And I remember Bill Esparza wrote about this spot in Moreno Valley. It's a food truck. I cannot remember the name of it, but they are from. Like Marisco's Corona, that one or something like that? I don't think it was Marisco's Corona. It was called Las Burritas.

Burritas. Like feminine. Yeah, like feminine. And they were from one of the beachside resorts. I know what you're talking about. I remember the name. It's not Playa del Carmen. Like Puerto Vallarta.

Puerto Vallarta. Okay, cool. And they're making, this is one of the most special burritos I've ever had in my life. They had smoked marlin or jamon del mar, I think they call it. Okay. Like the ham of the sea. Yum. Oh, my God.

It's just incredible. And then it was like smoked marlin, grilled shrimp, some sort of like chipotle crema and avocado and cheese too so people who say cheese doesn't go with seafood like dude eat like tacos gobernador like yeah mexican food marlin tacos they all come with cheese and they should shrimp and cheese the marlin especially because it's literally it's smoky it's hammy, the cheese is awesome, but it was called a burrita and I had never seen that before. So interesting. Yeah. Why is it called a burrita? Is it because it's like seafood-y?

I don't know, and seafood like equates feminine. I don't know. I don't know, but the point is like for people who think they know what a burrito is, who think they know what a taco is, like you mentioned folding something doesn't make it a taco. I've seen a lot of people, and I think you've seen it a lot of people. Smash like chicken parm and then fold it.

And I've been guilty of that. Listen, man. Stuffed food creators gotta eat too. I once made chicken fried steak into the shape of a hard shell taco and filled it with stuff. Reach for the stars, Josh. Swipe left, swipe left. Or is it right?

Left means yes. Right means no. Right? Maggie? Maggie? Someone tell me. You know how I know that's true? How?

Because I remembered my finger motion of doing it. Left is yes? This is a very guy thing, not to enforce a gender binary and stereotype, but guys tend to swipe left a lot more. And so I remember just doing this as opposed to that more. Because this is a more natural motion than swiping right. swiping left is yes okay for sure yeah yeah because also people also people hold their phones like a palm pilot yeah yeah and they also go like this yeah they're not going to hear that it's me swiping my palm pretending I'm on tinder okay I have one thing

to say what about when the tortillas are colorful you ever had because i've never had a burrito wrapped in a red tortilla or a green tortilla burritos uh la bomba yeah how do we all feel about the tortillas that say they are spinach or red pepper but we all know that's just food coloring how do we feel about those tortillas yeah i they are spinach or red pepper, but we all know that's just food coloring. How do we feel about those tortillas? Yeah, I don't like the food coloring ones. I think it's just a gimmick. Yeah.

But they're legit tortillas made out of, like, spinach or. Sure. Like, if you're essentially going to corn. Yeah. Then you have, like. The colors are. Yeah, there's. Yeah.

You have blue corn, heirloom, you know, comes out pinkish. There's brown ones. Yeah. There's certain, though, signifiers. Like, if I see somebody like at this place I think it's called Burrito Bomba actually is the name

they make their breakfast burritos look really good but they make them in like the very food dyed red tortilla and I know why they're doing it

because they see people like Teddy's Red Tacos bright red things on Instagram they see there's a place called GD Bro Burger

that had bright red buns they see the bright red you know bright red in nature if you see a frog that's bright red don't touch that frog don't touch that frog, bright red in nature. If you see a frog that's bright red, don't touch that frog.

Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch that frog. It's poisonous. I'm poisonous. If you see an Instagram dish that's bright red, people just flock to it.

Yeah. So I know they did it for that, but also it's like. The whole Hot Cheetos craze. The Hot Cheetos craze, man. Got Fatima's Grill down in Downey. Yeah.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. But so I know why they did it. They did it for the for the Instagram play and I respected the hustle

but I'm immediately like I don't think your food is going to be as good and I try to it's a great I mean breakfast burritos to me are always good it's always a blessing

to just have you know a bunch of eggs meat and places started serving it with like a mayonnaise on the side which like

makes a lot of sense I'm in give me the mayonnaise you're a mayo lover I'm a mayo lover man I'm a mayo lover, man. I like spicy mayo. I have some cousins that will just like

sit there and just getting obese as they're watching Saturday Night Live cartoon that's putting mayo out of a jar. It's like savory pudding.

I respect that. I respect that. Don't tell me that. It was so gross. I'm like, you guys are disgusting. They're like, what's up?

I'm like, no, thank you. Tell me about like what aren't tacos? No, like, no, thank you. I mean, tell me about like, what aren't tacos? No, no, no, for real. What is not taco? So for instance, right? Like you got like,

what we think of as taquitos at Costco, right? You go to Costco, you get the El Monterrey brand. I freaking love those taquitos, man. Those like are probably called flautas in more parts of Mexico. And then I've also been to restaurants.

Flautas or dorados. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Three different ways of calling them. But like even like dorados, right? You'll have the rolled ones and then you'll also have the ones that are folded and fried, you know? So like the world of tacos,

I think is so much more diverse than people think it is, right? Yeah, yeah. And there's an incredible Netflix show. The, was it called Taco Diaries? Taco Chronicles. Taco Chronicles. Taco Chronicles. Taco Chronicles that picked one different kind of taco out there.

And so, like, people who define what Mexican food is based on what Taco Bell did. Because that's what a lot of people are doing. So interesting, yeah. What do you have to say to that? What, to base their knowledge of Mexican food based on what Taco Bell is doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, look, I think you got to look at the silver lining of things. Yeah, sure.

It's not the greatest representation. The guy totally co-opted his neighbor, what's it called? Meat Like Cafe. Yeah, yeah. Took their taco and made his own version of it. Exploited it and made a big old profitable business out of it and called it Mexican food. Fine, whatever. It food. Fine, whatever. It happens.

Yeah, yeah. But at the very least, I think he's at the silver lining of it. He's kind of opened Mexican food up to a large part of the world, if not the country, that wouldn't have been so familiar with Mexican food. Now, the struggle is that they have that bad impression of it.

Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? And it's like, okay, now how do we introduce them to that? Yeah, bad impression of it. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? And it's like, okay, now how do we introduce them to that? Yeah, now they're judging. They go to something like Burritos La Palma, they order one burrito, and they go, this is small, the portion sizes here suck, I'm going to roast you on

Yelp because they are thinking of Taco Bell's XXL grilled stuffed hot, nasty, badass, cheese stuffed chicken fried burrito. Queso. Yeah, yeah, with new queso on it. Yeah, and there's a lot of that, and that even happens with, like, you new queso on it. Yeah. And there's a lot of that. And that even happens with, like, you know, Mexican people who don't understand that there's all kinds of nuances in tacos. Yeah.

And they'll criticize the taco and be like, oh, this taco, this, like, they'll have a birria style and be like, oh, this doesn't taste like the birria I've been having in LA. It's a little bit more tomatoey. And I'm like, well, that's a different style of birria from a different part of Mexico. You know, like, oh, that's not real birria. I'm like, well, that's the original one. But anyways, let's get into another conversation. Well, no, like you said, it opened up, I mean, Mexican food to the world for like, you know, whether or not it was totally good or totally bad. I don't believe in moral binaries like that.

I remember reading a piece with the owners of Mitla Cafe who Glenn Bell, founder of Taco Bell, you know, effectively stole the recipe from. And they were like, are you mad? Because Taco Bell's now worth billions of dollars, et cetera. And they were like, Glenn Bell, I'm pretty sure he like died pretty lonely and unhappy. Because once you build an empire, you get paranoid. The people around you are trying to kill you. Can we buy out Del Taco to stop encroaching on our territory?

And they were like, we have a really successful business for like 60 years that has like fed our family. Good people. And like we're happy. Like why? And have you ever had that taco? Yeah, it's great. It's great.

Dude, it's good as hell. Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. Let's do this taco sushi. And now Evil Cooks pops up there and it's incredible. Yeah. You know, there's one more thing. We found an incredible stat that was countries countries that claim to quote like mexican

food uh and the the top one surprised me one i think this is outside of mexico one united states 86 percent of people say they like mexican food two philippines at 85 percent norway at 84 percent finland at 81 percent and then this one i want to talk about real quick france at 78 percent because have you heard of a parian taco? Oh, what? Dude, I got to pull up. Holy smokes. I got to pull up. Oh, yeah. Maggie, just Google Parisian taco. It's mostly Middle Eastern

restaurant owners or French taco. Middle Eastern restaurant owners who were making kebab and Are you talking about the French taco? The French taco, yeah. Oh, God. Yes. Memo, this is it. This is Mexican food manifest destiny, all right? If you want it to be more popular, you got to deal with the fact that French tacos exist.

It looks like a crunch wrap. Yeah. It looks like a crunch wrap. It is a giant flatbread that is griddled in a panini press, and it is filled with, like, kebab meat, French fries, just any sort of, like, cheese. They'll put, like, camembert in there. They'll do brie. Camembert?

All the French and Middle Eastern delights you could want. And I can't tell you how much I want to go eat a French taco. I got tagged in this like, I don't know, about 50 times when it first came out. And like a lot of like, you know, the bigger Mexican folks on Twitter and stuff were like talking smack about it. And I was just like, low key, 10 out of 10, I would try it. I know. It looks good. I'd try it.

And I remember Sweden was also on this list. Or not Sweden, but Norway and Finland were on this list. And I had a friend from Sweden who she was like, oh, I'm going to make tacos tonight. Would you like to come over? And I was like, I love tacos. I'm in. And I come over and she has a bowl of like rice with ground beef with like laurie's taco seasoning on it and then like sour cream jarred tostito salsa and lettuce and she's like

i made tacos and i was like where's the tortilla tomatoes oh yeah i think probably canned olives too but it was like where are the tortilla there's no tortilla is it like in a bowl it's in a bowl with rice and she's like this is tacos and i was, what do you think a taco is? And she's like, oh, it's Mexican. It has salsa and ground meat. And so for her, that was tacos, you know? I've been to Japanese izakayas that have like taco, it's literally called taco rice. And it's straight up basically what she made. So, I mean, I don't know.

You know, there's going to be some things lost in translation along the way on, you know, what a burrito is, what it isn't, people trying to police authenticity. But at the end of the day, like Mexican food has spread around the entire world. And it's an incredibly diverse cuisine that people can't really pigeonhole to be one thing or another. It's also so versatile. Everybody has a different take on it. So you just see different people's versions of what they think is Mexican food. It's also very interesting. All I've learned is that more people need to eat more Mexican food.

No matter what it is. Just eat it. Churro, churro, churro. I live by that motto. All right, Nicole and Memo, we've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out

what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the world. It's time for a segment we call Opinions Are Like Casserole! Alright Megan, cue up the first voicemail. Hi Josh and Nicole,

this is Joseph. I have an opinion that I am super passionate about, but I've been getting a lot of hate for. I think that it is perfectly okay and normal to eat any form of leftovers cold. Like straight out of the refrigerator, on your couch with a fork,

cold leftovers. Especially, especially I love Taco Bell cold, especially the burritos. Like a quesadilla and it's kind of congealed in the inside. I love it. But everyone looks at me and thinks I'm so weird for doing it. So I want to hear your opinion. I don't think Joseph's weird.

I think he's just lazy. It's one. Like 30 seconds in the microwave, you're done. Quesarito frito. Frio. No, thank you. Okay, wait, wait, wait. There's one, Joseph.

You don't deserve the hate, buddy. You're not weird. You're different. And that makes you beautiful, Joseph, right? That's incredible. But no, that's weird as hell. And I'll tell you why. Taco Bell, there's a lot of grease in it, which is what makes it partly delicious.

Sure. There's a lot of those flavors. When that grease gets cold, right? That beef is a solid brick. Not pleasant in the mouth. A lot of unrendered, cold, congealed fat. Mythical. What?

It's a mythical. Nice. I used to do that, though, with Chipotle burritos. Because Chipotle burritos, I was almost going to introduce the idea of Chipotle burritos. Because Chipotle burritos, I was almost going to introduce the idea of Chipotle burritos a wrap. Because, like, how much of the, you know, you get, like, white rice, you know, in there. You get the corn, lettuce. Like, a lot of those ingredients, they're not virgin, too Mexican over there. They put cilantro in the rice a little bit, just a little bit.

You know? I don't think it's a wrap. You know? I don't think it's a wrap. They got both carne asada and grilled steak on the menu. That implies that one of those steaks is not mexican i went to chipotle yesterday and i tasted it and i tasted it it was very limey the oh the carne asada yeah it was very limey i don't like it i like the steak it's cumin and lime it's they just dust it with cumin and lime and suddenly that makes it carne asada and not it It's weird. Listen, some leftovers cold.

I understand. Sometimes, you know, you just got to bite into cold chicken breast because you just don't have time. What? Sometimes you're just going to take a spoonful of cold mashed potatoes because you just don't have patience. And that's okay. But the Taco Bell is where I draw the line personally. I see my face of horror here. Cold chicken breast?

I know. I know. Hold on. Chicken is the one thing that I like really do eat cold. Like I'll eat cold rotisserie chicken, cold fried chicken. Cold rotisserie chicken. That happens sometimes in life. So I guess I'm breaking my own rules.

It happens. If it's not hot, it's got to lose at least a little bit of that chicken grease in it. Yeah, I just go suck it off. A little chicken jello on the outside. The rotisserie chicken that you keep in the fridge, you eat half of it, then the other half you're going to use for, I don't know, a wrap. And you just eat it cold. It's okay.

Listen, Joseph, you are weird for that. But so are we, as we've just found out. Yeah, I'm weird. Yeah, it's fine. Cue up the next one, Maggie. Cold mashed potatoes are gnarly. I love it. I love it.

I can taste it. Cold Taco Bell. That's tough. Hello, hot doggers. My name is Mason, and I'm a longtime fan. I just wanted to let you know my unpopular opinion that gets me in trouble with all of my friends. Whenever I make boxed mac and cheese, like Kraft, the cheap kind, I always put ranch inside of it instead of milk.

Y'all need to try it. Instead of? just let me know what you think about it have a good day keep being awesome guys can I get a hell yes memo no one else

memo has to speak his piece let memo speak his piece how does it even taste is it like sour like I don't I can't imagine like I don't know

I'm trying to picture that I know you're gonna make this now I I have to I'm legally to picture that. I know you're going to make this now. I have to. I'm legally and morally obligated to do it. Instead of? I was going to say they are not substitutes for each other. Instead of?

They don't have the same chemical makeup. Instead of? I don't know. I would add, like, if I had a three to one ratio. I would add a squirt or two. That's fine. Milk to ranch. But instead of, I like, because when you cook boxed mac and cheese, you're like, no, you

boil the pasta first and then you put it in the milk with the butter and the cheese. Dude, that's a lot of ranch. But you don't cook the milk. I feel like I've cooked the pasta directly in the milk and that soaks up a lot of milk. A lot of people do that. Yeah, yeah. No, I see this though. If you're not cooking the pasta in the milk, then, like, yeah, the ranch

is just gonna kind of fuse with all that cheese powder. But it warms. But it warms. Yeah, don't eat a hot ranch. You don't eat a hot ranch? Hot ranch will not turn hot ranch. Well, can it separate because it's mayonnaise-y? Yeah, but you got enough pasta starch to stop it from separating. Thank you so much. So this is, you have to be a really well-trained cook to be able to pull this dish off.

Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta have a steady hand. It's like making, like making risotto in a souffle. I don't think anybody who's substituting ranch in their mac and cheese for milk is a well-trained cook. We don't know that. He might have a Michelin star. Mason sounds pretty legit.

I don't know. Mason, I'm trying it. I'm in. I'm not going to knock it until I try it. First of all, I want to say that message sounded like this is a hotline. I'm not allowed to call because my mom says so. Second, Cheez-Its hurt my tummy.

And have the recipes changed or am I getting old? Cheez-Its just, like, hurt my tummy now. And is it just me? Love you guys. Bye. Thanks. Thanks. Love you too, man.

Sorry you thought you were calling a sexy hotline. Have you heard our message? No. It's quite sultry. You know, sometimes when you're doing like different voice reads, you give a fun option at the end.

You do a couple normal ones and then you're like, let's do this one like we're fun sex operators. Ours got real sexy. And then we used that one. We did one when we were surfers.

We did one when we were Borat and then for some reason we went with the sex operator one. Yeah, if you don't have the sex operator one, it's bad.

Check out the, we'll put the Borat one eventually. Learn that. Oh, Jesus. I gotta hear this one. What was his opinion? What was he talking about? Jesus, make his tummy hurt.

Oh, yeah, man. No, that's you. That's like, you get older and things just hurt now, you know? The passage of time is linear for us all. We all experience it the same way. You know, my knees hurt now. I don't think it's because shoes got less supportive. You know?

Like, I'm getting old. You know, adjust your diet. You don't need to eat Cheez-Its to live a full life. You know? Like, our chair is getting worse. There's my back really just, you know. Transition to goldfish. Transition back, you know?

Goldfish are more mild probably better on the tummy i think i think we age in a circle cyclical you know oh it's all a circle so the foods that you ate when you were a little babe kind of come back to you whenever you start to get old you know you start to eat mashed butternut squash and stuff and you just accept it yeah cantaloupes you just do it. It's part of life. Yeah. I love how this guy was so worried about his cheeses though because he phoned in

to ask for it and like, guys, is it really me? Is it really me? It's you, buddy. Poor guy, it's you, man.

Sorry. It's you. So we also asked people for their hot taco and burrito opinions so we're going to jump into that. First up,

we got at GeneGenie420. Ah, blaze it, dude. Soft-shell tacos are better, and hard-shell tacos are for people too uppity to admit sometimes a person wants loaded nachos for supper. So they are pro, one, if somebody uses the term soft-shell taco,

you immediately know where they're coming from. They're from an area where it was Taco Bell, and that was it. Yeah, tortilla is not a show. Yeah. So they're saying soft. They're from an area where it was Taco Bell and that was it. Tortilla is not a show. So they're saying soft shell tacos are better than hard shell tacos and that hard shell tacos are people who really just want nachos.

Yeah. I mean, I guess you're talking about a very specific... I know he's talking about a very specific taco, right? Yeah, a soft shell taco. He's talking about the Tito's Tacos, Taco Bell, Tex-Mex taco. But there's all kinds of hard shell tacos too. I mean, that's just one it's hard-shelled taco. He's talking about the Tito's Tacos, Taco Bell, Tex-Mex Taco. But there's all kinds of hard-shelled tacos, too. I mean, that's just one type of hard-shelled taco.

Me, I grew up with hard-shelled tacos, like the deep-fried tacos dorados, like the Maristos Jalisco ones. Those are the best. Those are so good. Damn, those are so good. If you're talking about that, you're wrong. Yeah, yeah. And these other ones, eh, okay, you know, I'll give it to you. It's kind of like a nacho, a folded nacho. I love the really simple just, like, tacos dorados de frijoles.

Just, like, just beans fried. Those are good. Yeah, what's that, like, it's that, like, kind of thinner, like, tomato. Is it salsa jitomate that, like, thin? Yeah, just, like, a little tomato, just a little tomato salsa. Not, like, not very spicy at all, just delicious tomato-y. It soaks into the fried shell. Ah, man.

Dude, in my town, they make like the little tortillas and then they put beans, they fry them. They're really small. Like it's literally a bite each. Really? Like the little Jack in the Box. I was just going to say,

that's called Jack in the Box mini tacos. Yeah. They stole that from Jack in the Box. Yeah. They stole it. My town told us, yeah, totally. But my grandma would send me

to the little plaza in the town and she'd be like, give me a bunch. And I'd get like three dozen and put them in a big plastic bag drop it with like a cabbage that salsa that you're talking about and just eat them like nachos out of the bag so good wow this person's just talking about mouth nachos mouth nachos i mean it happens sometimes you know i'm not too uppity to admit it but i do but i do reach myself for soft tacos i do i don't do hard tacos i just don't love it that much it all depends who's

good at making what yeah you know if you say you're good at making this type of taco meeting that type of taco yeah all right next up we have dog under a table says if you think eating an unheated tortilla is okay i hope you like the unheated tortillas they serve in prison. You know, fair. Just fair. Okay. Does he mean like you're going to jail because you eat unheated tortillas? I think that's what they're implying, right?

Yeah. He don't know my life. Remember how you feel about unheated tortillas? You talked about the cold tortilla with the wrap. Yeah. I mean, no. Yeah. Yeah.

No, I can't do it. And there's like a really specific why from a cookery perspective. Because you were talking about being in Turkey earlier. Yeah. So like lavash, right? Lavash bread. That's more of a bread. It can withstand being, it can withstand not being heat up and still being heated up and being rolled.

Yeah. Yes. It can. Because there's no fat in it. So that's like the difference is lavash is like water, flour. It's very thin. Yeah. And then there might be a little bit of fat in it. So that's like the difference is lavash is like water, flour, it's very thin. Yeah. And then there might be a little bit of fat in it,

but like tortillas, the things that separates it is like the lard that's in there. Sure. Which is what gives it all that like delicious pliability,

the reason you can see through it, you know, and so when fat is cold, it seizes up. Yep. So like if you ever try and, you know,

fold a cold corn tortilla, it's probably gonna break on you. And so that's why you have to griddle it up. And not only that, I love like griddling it or firing it and then you know, fold a cold corn tortilla, it's probably going to break on you. And so that's why you have to griddle it up. And not only that, I love like griddling it or firing it and then you steam it. You let it sit in a wet towel or something like that. Like tacos al vapor? Yeah, tacos al vapor, yeah. Or like the tacos de canasta.

They're just putting them in there and it's just steaming the whole time. It just gets better that way, man. It eats like a dumpling. Alright, here we go. We got at Almighty Android, breakfast burritos are overrated. I'll still eat them anytime they're offered, though. There.

Yeah. Overrated? I think people go a little too crazy for breakfast burritos. I mean, like, I mean, there's places that make great breakfast burritos. Yeah.

But me personally, a good breakfast burrito for me would have to have beans instead of potatoes. Yeah. You know? And then egg or meat or guisado or even chilaquiles. Yeah. Yeah, that for me would be a great breakfast burrito for me would have to have beans instead of potatoes. Yeah. You know? And then egg or meat or guisado or even chilaquiles. Yeah.

That for me would be a great breakfast burrito. I love chilaquiles in my burritos. I've had it once. It was pork with salsa verde and chilaquiles. And how is it? Let me get this straight. Okay. You like eating tortillas in your burritos.

Yeah. But don't like rice in your burritos. That's right, Memo. Yo, dog, I heard you like tortillas. So you put tort rice in your burritos. That's right, Memo. Yo, dog, I heard you like tortillas. So you put tortillas in your tortillas so you can...

That's right, Memo. You have cracked the code of the coloniety. Look at you. Yeah, man, that's good. That's good eats right there. I think the LA breakfast burrito arguments are all really funny.

Oh, people are obsessed. People are like, Lucky Boy's the best. Corner Cottage is the best. Doubting Thomas is the best. All this, but like, it all depends on who,

on like how hung over the dude flipping the potatoes is that day or how many orders they got in. Yeah. Because we'll order like for catering from Corner Cottage, which a lot of people say is the best.

I do love their salsa. It's just like 90% jalapeno and cilantro. Yeah, that's good. It's great. But we'll order like, you know, 50 burritos for the company and they're trying to put out orders so the potatoes are always undercooked because like

they're trying to run a damn business there sure you know what i mean and so like it all just depends on who's cooking what at the time because they all have roughly the same formula right one's not using like the organic potatoes you know like they're all using the same ingredients to make roughly the same product and they're all delicious but for me a, a lot of them, unless you're going to a place that really specializes, it's like, especially the fancy spots, Kofax Coffee, like smokes the potatoes and has pastrami and that's delicious.

Or Loki that does the, sorry. The cheese wrap one? The, yeah, cheese wrap. Yeah, yeah. But a lot of these places, to me, the floor and the ceiling of a breakfast burrito is almost the same, which is a good thing

because that's what I want. Like In-N-Out. In-N-Out is a staple. I know what I'm getting. It's not the best burger you're ever good thing because that's what I want. Like In-N-Out. In-N-Out is a staple. I know what I'm getting. It's not the best burger you're ever going to have. But I know what I'm getting. You know what you're getting. Yeah.

One more? One more. Okay. IndigoJoe47 says, beans belong in tacos. There. I said it. Beans belong in tacos? Belong.

I don't know about belong. I mean. I like them on the side. I mean, old school tacos used to have like, you know, a little bit of like fresh frijoles de olla. You know, like. Yeah, yeah. You know, just whole beans or cooked whole beans on top of the tacos. Throw a little bit on there.

Yeah. I miss that. LA's kind of lost that. Tacos 1986 does that, right? Tacos 1986 does that? They'll do that with their perron, I believe. Yeah. Which is that kind of a yaki style taco we were talking about earlier.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, but yeah. I mean, I don't know if it belongs. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, you know, beans is like next, next to corn, beans is a cornerstone of Mexican food, too, you know?

Yeah. We all grew up on it. I love just a good shmuck. I mean, one, I think, like, my favorite beans anywhere ever, like, Oaxacan style, whether they like pasta de frijol, like, the just black bean paste that's, like, thin. It's super herby, too, with, like, the avocado leaves. So good. And to me, just, like, smearing that on aby too with like the avocado leaves. So good. And to me, just like smearing that on a tortilla and like picking up a little bit of like barbacoa de borrego or something like that.

Like that's one of the best bites in the world to me. But like you said, the idea of like what belongs. Yeah. That's tough with any food. Like I remember last time I was in Mexico, you'd go to like, you know, a taquer they would have like um like gochujang marinated meats on there no way so a lot of people who think that like oh if you're this is a quick story to wrap a quick story hold up i was at i was at um a taco festival the one that bill throws every year taco tacolandia used to be called landia and now it's called taco i don't forget yeah taco festival

it was a big taco festival. And there were taqueros from Mexico up there. And there's a dude who I think was from like Monterrey. And he was making like a cauliflower al pastor taco. Right. And so, and it had a bunch of kind of fusion ingredients on there. And I remember watching a dude eat that and just be like,

yeah, man, like this isn't like authentic Mexican. Like this isn't authentic Mexican taco though. Like this isn't authentic Mexican taco. Like this isn't authentic. And I was like, the dude flew here from Mexico just to serve you a damn taco. And you're out here being like, is he even Mexican? You're like, get the hell.

People everywhere. You go everywhere. There's people who want to push the limits, who want to push the boundaries, who don't want to be stuck in the same hole making the same food all the time. Like you can have love for tradition, but also if somebody wants to step outside of that and especially if it tastes damn good let it ride baby there's hundreds of different types of tacos and they're constantly evolving especially in

mexico not even outside of mexico so to try to say what's authentic or not or like try to you know put it in a box like that's so boring and it's so lame i always tell people let the taco thrive you know let it grow. Let it breathe. Let it breathe. Let it breathe. You know, free range taco parents.

You got to let it make its own bad decisions. All right, Memo man, thank you so much for joining us. Where can people find you? You can find me

on my IG or Twitter, which is El Dragon de Los Angeles or you can follow LA Taco and you'll see a bunch of my content on there.

I mean, y'all sign up for LA Taco, support local journalism. Also, you get benefits. We're just out of here plugging, because I love being an LA Taco member. Also, Memo will literally personally grill you up chorizo, like he did a couple weeks ago. If you're lucky.

He's not doing it for everybody. I stole a bunch of beers out of your fridge in your office, and that's my bad. Oh, that's where they went. Yeah, straight up. No, that was good. I kept calling your office the VIP room office, and that's my bad. Oh, that's where they went. Yeah, yeah, straight up. No, that was good. Guy, who are you stealing? I kept calling your office the VIP room, and so that was my bad.

Anyways, on that note, thank you for listening to a hot dog with a sandwich. If you want to hear more from us here in the Mythical Kitchen, we've got new episodes every Wednesday. If you want to be featured on Opinions or Like Casseroles, you can hit us up on Twitter at MythicalChef or NHanizadeh with the hashtag OpinionCasserole. And for more Mythical Kitchen, check us out YouTube, where we launch new videos every week. And if you want to leave us a voicemail, give us a ring and leave a brief message at 833-DOGPOD1. That's 833-D-O-G-P-O-D-1! Why did that take you two years to do? We'll see you next time. Yak Shemesh, you've reached the hot dog hotline in Kuzak.

Very nice. Leave us a message and we might just play it in an upcoming episode.