♪♪ -♪ Maíz ♪ ♪ Dulce maíz ♪ ♪ Abundado ♪ ♪ Listo pa' la tierra cultivar ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Dulce raíz ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Tradition to me is an important part of who we are as humans in general.

Like, to have this history of where you come from, it creates your story of who you are.

♪♪ -I went to school in East Austin up until the second grade.

For middle school, I went to Dobie Middle school, and then from there, I went over to what used to be called Lanier High School.

Now it's Navarro High School.

I started skating and started getting into, like, the skate scene, skate group, like, hanging around everybody that skated.

And Jose, my GM now, he used to skate then, as well.

That's where we met, along with my friend that helped me start Cuantos as well, Alan.

-Luis has always kind of been a quiet guy.

During high school, we knew each other and we skated together, but other than that, we had more of a relationship after high school.

Every time we drive by here, I always think about the boat party we had.

-Oh, yeah.

After high school, me and Jose didn't really continue our friendship as much.

Alan had told Jose that I was doing my first concept and he brought him by and we, like, just reconnected again.

-I told him that I was a cook, and then we ended up just working together side by side ever since that.

You thought of what place we're going to head up?

-We're going to go to the coffee shop with the birria and then... -Like for lunch?

-Taquitos West.

-Oh, okay.

We had always talked about wanting to do something outside of Oyama after that.

-I would talk about visions that I would have for Cuantos for later on in the future.

I told them like, "Hey, I'm going to give this same truck, but a different concept, a whole nother run.

I'm not going to be able to pay y'all on any money anytime soon.

Just know that later on down the road, I'm going to make sure I'm going to take care of you guys."

-For me, I was going to say, no questions asked, let's do it.

It was exciting, really exciting.

But it was a lot of work, too.

[ Chuckles ] -After being in L.A. for almost six or seven years, I started to ask myself, like, "What are you going to do to take that next step to opening your own restaurant?"

I decided I'm going to go to Austin, but if you were going to learn about tacos, you got to go to the heartbeat of where tacos are from, and Mexico was my calling.

Little did I know, like, it would take me through the whole entire country of Mexico learning about tacos and masa, specifically like nixtamalization.

And I remember having a nixtamalized tortilla.

It was that moment in time where I was, like, completely shifted my focus from not only nixtamalized corn, but, like, I want to start finding out about all of these, like, heritage breeds of corn.

You know, they call it maíz criollo in Mexico.

My uncle's friend helped me out, guiding me.

He was like, "Well, you need to go -- If you're going to go, you've got to go to Oaxaca.

Like, all these older styles of corn, you're going to find a lot of it there."

Me and Sara, we try and go back, you know, at least a few times a year.

When we go, definitely go back to Oaxaca.

That is definitely, like, where I feel like we just find a lot of inspiration in.

There's such a beauty to Oaxaca that is unlike any other state.

It's a magical place.

That's the best way I can put it.

It's -- It's magical being there in Oaxaca.

-Used to live right across the freeway right there.

Fox Run.

-Yeah.

Fox Run.

-This was my Cicis.

-[ Laughs ] -This was my shopping center.

That was my ATV right there.

-This is my turf.

-It's my cantón.

Yeah.

-That sounds good.

Did you ever have the Mexican spot?

-Mexican spot?

-Yeah, Natalita's.

-Oh, yeah, for sure.

-Alright, let's get it, boy.

-After you, Papa.

-Let's go.

-In 2010, we finished high school.

A lot of my friends, like, the people that I spent the most of my time together, they leave.

-I've been here one time before with you.

You kept talking about this, like, cheese dish.

We didn't get it last time.

-Oh, we're going to get it.

-With the flaming cheese.

What's it called?

-Saganaki.

-Yeah.

-That whole family that I had and I saw every day, is pretty much gone at this point.

-It's a liquor.

-I end up not really knowing where I'm going or what I'm doing with my life.

-It's ouzo.

-One of my best friends, Ernesto, he ends up getting me a job at a restaurant that he used to work at.

It's The Olive Oil.

It's a Greek restaurant.

-The gyro, instead of the chicken.

That's beef and lamb, like, put together on the trompo.

-That's what I want.

-Yeah.

Alright!

Dude, how cool is that?

-Whoa!

-Yeah.

-I've never seen that before.

-They just pop it open like that.

See, they're like Mexicans, but smarter.

You just go... -I've had Mediterranean food, but this one was just... Dude, this is still, to this day -- till this day, it's still my favorite.

The lady that owns the restaurant helps me out a lot, because I'm like, I'm kind of going through this whole rough patch.

Her name is Toula.

So, working at The Olive Oil was actually really cool.

-I want the beef and lamb gyro.

Where is the gyro?

-Just relax.

Just relax.

-Let me -- Let me take care of this.

-Alright, I'm not even going to look at the menu, then.

Just be nice to me.

-Nope.

-For street tacos in Mexico, the tortilla has to be nixtamalized.

I didn't know that I had to use the tortilla if I was saying that I was serving Mexico City-style tacos until I went to Mexico City.

When I came back, I started investigating more about the nixtamalization and obviously trying to find something close to it, as much as possible.

-I think this was one of the first spots that my brother had told me to check out before, like a while back, but... -I was having a really hard time trying to find something here in town.

I had honestly kind of given up.

That's when me and Joann and Amelia went down to San Antonio because she has friends from Saltillo, where she's from, in San Antonio.

They took us to this taqueria, Taquitos West.

♪♪ ♪♪ We had just gotten tacos.

I wasn't trying to, like, take anything from it in any way, but I was just ordering some tacos.

-Jefe, ¿cómo estás?

-Hola, buenas.

¿Qué le vamos a dar?

A sus órdenes.

-Sí, gracias.

Nos da dos platos de uno de cada uno, ¿porfa?

-¿Van a ir con todo?

¿Cebolla y cilantro?

-Con todo, por favor.

-¿Van a ser para aquí o para llevar?

-Para aquí.

-Muy bien.

The plate came by... -Es todo por hoy, primo.

-Gracias.

-Que tengan buen día.

-Igualmente.

...they got set on the table... and just that smell of when I was in Mexico City, like that smelling the tortilla, like, it just caught me like, like I said, without me trying to look for anything anymore.

Like I said, I had already given up.

And after tasting it, I was like, "Man, like, these...

These are it.

This is what I've been looking for."

So I went over to the taquero and I asked him if he could share where he got them from.

And, you know, thankfully, he gave me a business card of San Antonio Colonial, and I went straight over.

It was around whenever the family was closing the shop, so I was able to catch Raymundo and his wife.

[ Bell tolls ] -¿Está celebrando Semana Santa esta semana?

-Sí.

-¿Sí?

-Pues qué bueno.

Pero ya la pusieron a trabajar.

¿Está haciendo pescado?

-¿Oh, sí?

-Se come pescado, ¿no?, en Semana Santa.

-Sí, ya lo había comprado.

-¿Ya molieron todo el maíz para el día?

¿Para los tacos hoy?

-Ya.

-¿Sí?

-Ya se molió.

Ganarle a hacer tortillas como van a sacar el puesto para vender helados y... -¿Nos acompañas a ver las tortillas?

-Sí.

-Vamos.

♪♪ [ Laughter ] -¿Verdad?

Quihúbole, ¿cómo estás?

-Bien.

-¿Qué dices?

-At Nixta, all our corn, the majority of it that we get is grown there in Oaxaca, specifically in a little town called San Martín.

We have this company that's called Agropa that we work with directly, who gives us direct access to these farmers, specifically in Oaxaca.

-Sí.

-Yo soy José Carlos Martínez Leyva.

Soy oaxaqueño.

-Para eso son.

-¿Verdad?

Ellas son hermanas de Hugo.

Soy empresario.

Me dedico a exportar fuera de Oaxaca productos oaxaqueños de la gastronomía hacia Estados Unidos.

Los chefs y los cocineros que están en Estados Unidos muchos de ellos son de ascendencia mexicana, y buscan en su cocina una identidad.

Y lo encuentran en el maíz.

♪♪ -Being down in Mexico, the biggest thing I had gone there for, you know, was tacos.

So, what is the foundation for tacos?

The tortilla was the canvas for everything.

-Boy!

Ooh!

-No andes tocando eso.

Pásame eso que está ahí.

-¿Cuál?

-Esta.

-¿Te la paso?

-Sí.

-Alright.

Check this out.

This is the coolest thing.

-Whoa!

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] -That thing is so good.

-It's amazing.

-Alright.

-Alright.

-Would you all like to order?

-Thank you.

Yes.

-And also, if we can get started with some spanakopita.

Bro, this thing... is crazy.

-I was a very stubborn kid.

I did things my way or no way.

Like, that's just how I was.

I started living on my own in between like 16 and 17, throughout end of junior year and senior year of high school.

It was like a dream for someone in high school, right?

Like, I had no parents, like, around.

I had my own place.

Like, it was always the spot where everyone came and hung out.

I worked full time, went to school.

-A gyro's pretty much like a great taco.

-Like a big flour tortilla.

-I finished high school, I graduated, and I just had this overwhelming sense of, like, not knowing my place in the world.

The only thing that I really enjoyed doing back then was, like, seeing somewhere new, traveling somewhere new, trying new food, learning about new cultures.

One of my goals at that time was saving up money to make it down to South America.

I ended up going to like six different countries down there, staying in the Amazon for a while, and I found this host on CouchSurfing in Iquitos that was like, "You can stay with us for free."

What he did was he offered, like, "Do you want to go like have like a real Amazon experience, like rough it in the Amazon?

Like, I know this tribe there."

And I was like, "Yeah, like, that's exactly why I'm here."

He introduced me to this guy named Lino.

He's like, "He's going to take you with him by boat."

He was supposed to go with me.

He's like, "Unfortunately, I forgot that I had something come up.

So I'm going to meet you there later today or tomorrow."

We're going up the Amazon for like four hours and then we finally, like, dock into where they live.

It was very awkward because I felt -- I could feel that they had no idea I was coming.

And so, I'm just waiting for this guy to get there, right?

He doesn't show up the first night.

The second day goes around, doesn't show up the second day.

The third day I'm like, "What the hell is going on here?"

I realized, like, this guy just ditched me.

He literally left me, like, I mean, come on -- -To die.

[ Laughs ] -...to die.

Like, now I felt like a nuisance, right?

Like, I had nothing to give them.

So the only thing I could offer was my help.

I just worked with them every day, and they worked hard.

They took me in as one of their own and we bonded heavily.

So, I ended up being there for like 12 days total until their next trip that they went back into town.

Lino took me on his boat.

He really...

I mean, he saved my life.

Those 12 days out there definitely taught me a ton about gratitude, because those people, they did not have to take me in.

They did not have to, like, make sure that I was okay.

Their sense of community was so strong, it kind of showed me the blueprint of, like, a functioning society.

And then he picked me up from the airport in Texas.

It was the first time I had seen Jose in a long time, and, like, my Spanish was perfect and I couldn't wait to show him.

So, as soon as he picked me up from the airport, he starts speaking to me in English and I just, like, only answered in Spanish.

And it took him a while and he was like... ¿qué pedo?

¿Hablas español?

-And he was just -- I was like, "Sí," and I was perfect.

-It was just weird.

-He was, like, just laughing.

the whole time and, like, I refused to speak English.

-He had, like, no accent.

It was very bizarre.

-It was dope.

-It was very weird.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Hola, buenas.

-Buenos días.

¿Cómo estás, Beto?

Bienvenido.

¿Qué tal?

¿Cómo estás?

Pásenle.

Pásenle.

♪♪ Fíjate que ahorita van a poner en la máquina una tortilla grande que quiero que la veas.

-Sí, sí, porfa.

-Para que la veas ya en producción.

Aparte, pues todas las tortillas chiquitas que estamos produciendo, ¿sí?

¿Quieres ver cómo le hacemos?

-Sí, sí, porfa.

-At S.A. Colonial, I would say they're like family to us at this point.

Yeah, they're real nice people.

They've always been real professional about their work.

They always come through.

Some of the best tortillas I've ever had.

Todas las máquinas hacen tortilla 11, 12, 16 idénticos.

Todas son iguales.

Pero la tortilla que más hacemos es la militar, la que tú buscas, la 11.

Entonces, ahorita hay dos máquinas haciendo 11, y esta con dos.

Mi nombre es Raymundo Escamilla Martínez, y yo soy el dueño del San Antonio Colonial Tortilla Factory.

Yo soy de Monterrey.

Ya somos tercer generación de tortilleros, gracias a Dios.

Estamos enamorados de hacer la tortilla.

Todo esto es artesanal.

Y eso es lo importante, lo bonito.

No está hecho en grandes escalas.

Nuestro objetivo que fue hacer la tortilla de taco especial de nixtamal, 100% nixtamal.

El proceso del nixtamal es simple, pero es complicado cuando quieres ya ver todos los aspectos que te pueden afectar en tu masa, que es nuestro producto final, y luego la tortilla.

♪♪ El proceso es recibir el maíz, y de ahí lo pasamos a las pailas de cocimiento.

Ahí se le agrega la cal, y se prende.

Se está calentando por alrededor de tres horas, y se deja reposar toda la tarde y noche para molerse al día siguiente en la mañana.

El molino de nixtamal también es muy importante.

El rayado o picado de la piedra que debe de llevar.

Y tiene uno que saber qué piedras tenemos en el molino y qué rayado darle exactamente para que se produzca la masa ideal para la tortilla.

Para mí, la masa ideal para la tortilla es una masa que esté fina.

-So, the tortilla we were using, that's not only the foundation for the taco, but the foundation for Cuantos and our product and something that we're not ever going to go away from.

Ellos van a entrar y van a... -En el caso de Beto, es una situación muy especial.

Muchos clientes han llegado por comentarios de otros taqueros.

Y él también.

Nos sigue mandando gente de Austin referenciándonos.

De tal manera que se ha formado un grupo de amistad, de familia, de amigos muy grande.

Ellos saben que otros consumen nuestra tortilla, que yo les voy a vender a otros, y no hay ningún problema.

O sea, no hay ese tipo de envidia o de celo que la gente sepa que la comunidad -- le podemos llamar así -- la comunidad que se ha formado entre nosotros, el tortillero y los taqueros y los restauranteros, y la gente de la casa.

Y ha sido bien importante.

Me decían: "Raymundo, nos estás mandando al rancho.

Nos estás mandando a las tortillas de mi abuela".

Digo: "De eso se trata".

¿Cuántas te vas a llevar, Beto?

¿Cuántos paquetes quieres?

-Me voy a llevar una reja.

-¿Una reja?

Ora' pues.

Lo bueno es que traes ayudante.

[ Laughter ] -Sí, sí.

Claro que sí.

-Y por allá nos vemos, si Dios quiere.

-Ya estaremos visitando.

-Pa' echarnos unos taquitos.

-Claro que sí.

Ah, bueno.

Mucho gusto saludarte.

♪♪ ♪♪ -We have some very deep roots that are connected to Nixta, which are all part of intersection of Oaxaca, and it all starts with Hugo Gomez.

Hugo Gomez is our corn supplier.

He is the plug for corn at Nixta.

Pieza muy importante para nosotros como Agropa era involucrar a nuestros clientes con nuestros proveedores.

En este caso, con Hugo.

Que lo conocieran.

Porque más allá de que sea un tema romántico, podemos decirlo, de que es un productor de maíz y que los chefs pueden venir a su casa y tomar un desayuno con su mamá, la Sra.

Magdalena, o ir al campo con él.

Eso refuerza mucho la relación.

Ellos saben que su maíz es de aquí.

-The landscape is so beautiful.

It's so lush.

There's so much light and energy in the place.

You know that every piece of what they're doing is so intrinsically tied to the ecosystem of their home and of their farm.

Everything they do is with so much intention and love and care.

Hugo is one of the most, like, light-filled people you'll ever meet.

-Yo me llamo Hugo Gómez Mendez.

Soy originario de San Martín Tilcajete.

Me dedico a lo que es el campo.

Digamos, soy campesino.

Me dedico a la siembra de maíz, pero lo que nos enfocamos más mi familia desde que yo vengo creciendo es en los maíces de colores.

El maíz criollo más que nada, que ya casi se está echando a perder la semilla.

Pero ahí estamos nosotros todavía, ahora sí, echándole ganas para que esto salga adelante.

Más que nada, tenemos que pasarlo, moviéndolo... -People like Hugo are people that need to be championed in this world because there's not a lot of people doing things the way he is.

Like, he could, if he wanted to, just grow GMO corn and make a crapload of money.

At the end of the day, I think he knows, because he's so protective of the lands, that he knows it's not beneficial for him in the long run.

It won't do his future generations of children, like, any good for him to just plant this crappy corn.

-Todo el maíz es del mismo campo, ¿que no?

-De hecho es propio.

Es mío.

-Sí, sí.

Es propio.

Propio.

-Y de alguna manera, él es una persona noble, y nos reconoce a nosotros como una sociedad.

Se compra en Estados Unidos y se le manda a Hugo cada vez que hacemos unos embarques.

Esto protege al maíz de las plagas y del medioambiente.

Para que llegue en buenas condiciones.

-Y es un requirement para, like, el FDA?

-No es un requerimiento especial de alguna agencia de Estados Unidos, ¿no?, pero para nosotros, por la experiencia que tenemos, llegan en muy buena, y se mantiene, en muy buena condición.

Por eso siempre lo manejamos.

♪♪ -Sin escoger, digamos.

Apenas va a pasar al proceso de limpia.

-Having that direct relationship with them is this really beautiful thing that we are very fortunate enough to have.

[ Bell tolls in distance ] [ Laughter ] -Siéntate, Magdalena.

-Ay, gracias.

-Wow!

Whoa!

[ Speaks indistinctly ] -Somos muy pocas las personas ya de campesinos, pero gracias a Dios, le digo, no nos ha fallado.

Y se admira la gente que por qué tenemos nosotros el producto, que no lo dejamos caer.

-Es de este tamaño.

"Patricia, me va a durar eso", le digo.

[ Laughter ] -Mucha comida.

-Mucha.

-Muchísima.

Unos platísimos que dan.

Ay, no, le digo, nomás de ver.

-Having something that they know is truthful and knowing something that they truly believe in is also, like, you know, very sacred.

And him, you know, honoring that tradition of legacies of other farmers to continue that on, and hopefully he can pass on this knowledge to other people.

-Para mí es muy importante eso del maíz.

Que no se eche a perder la semilla.

Pues si después se cambian las cosas, pues ya sé por otras personas, ¿no?

Pero mientras que yo esté y me dé Dios fuerza pa' trabajar, yo estaré con esto, lo de mi maíz criollo, lo que es el maíz.

Y es el nativo de San Martín Tilcajete, que no se ha perdido.

♪♪ -Yes.

So, we're going to do a gyro plate.

-Okay.

-And then I was thinking maybe the lamb.

-Yeah, the lamb chops.

-Yeah, let's do that.

Yeah.

-Lamb chops and a gyro plate.

-And if I think of something else... -So, whenever I first got to the U.S., I came in with a -- with a visa, with a visa L-2, which is extended by my parent's visa.

-Thank you.

Yes!

-[ Speaking indistinctly ] -Whenever we get to around 2008, my dad loses his visa.

And by that, because mine is sustained by his visa, all of our visas leave.

I applied for the Dreamers, the DREAM Act, and I get it.

-Try this.

You're gonna love this.

-It's not a status, but what it does is, like, it prevents you from -- it gives you a work permit.

-That tzatziki is...

They make it here.

-It's delicious.

-I get a position in construction.

And then after that, they offered me a position at a warehouse.

I started as a temp and I end up working my way all the way to management.

I end up leaving the warehouse and going up to a trade school.

I don't have the money, but they accept my financial aid.

-You did not.

-Yes, I did!

-I step away for two minutes, and this is what you do?

-I never tried that.

That's new.

-Alright, well, I'm going to try this one first, and I'll tell you how it is.

-No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

-I'll tell you how it is.

-The trade school is, I think, seven months.

I think I'm, like, a good three months into this.

I already got all the books, I'm already in class... -What is that?

-...and they call me into the office and they start telling me that I can't -- like, I need to pay the whole amount because I don't have, like, financial aid.

And I was like, "You guys accepted the financial aid.

Like, how is it not?"

And it is because I'm an immigrant, I'm not allowed to use the federal funding.

And because they're a private school, they're not allowed to take the state funding.

I'm like, this is back to square one.

For some reason, I'm like -- I really remember, like, enjoying working for Toula at The Olive Oil.

-I want to go say hi to some of the people in back.

-¿Qué onda?

¿Qué transa, la banda?

[ Laughter ] ¿Cómo estás, manita?

¿Cómo estamos?

¿Qué onda, mi...?

What's up, cowboy?

[ Laughs ] -"While I figure it out, I'm just going to go back."

And I talked to her and she's like, "Yeah, just go get your clothes.

Come back at five."

At this point, I'm still on the DACA.

And then I leave work because I have to...

...I had to drop off one of my friends.

His uncle convinces me to come in and have a drink with him, and I'm having a drink.

And then when I leave, I get pulled over.

And I get the DWI and I get...

When I try to renew my DACA, they don't allow me, and I don't know if it's because of that.

They don't tell you what it was.

But I mean, that's the only thing that changed.

So, now I'm... Again, I'm lost.

I'm kind of angry at everything that's happening because, I mean, I still have to deal with all of it.

I can't really just walk away from it.

And at one point, I was just like, dude, this is just so much.

It's like, it doesn't matter.

Every time I, like, get back, like, on my feet, something happens and I get knocked down.

♪♪ ♪♪