Danny Trejo, Tacos, Nachos & Coffee

Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle

Rachel Belle

Music Interviews, Arts, Food, Comedy Interviews, Tv & Film, Film Interviews, Comedy, Music, Science, History

4.4 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Danny Trejo has happily played the villain, the bad guy & the mean dude in more than 300 films. And now that he's hit his 70s he's added a new career to his incredibly diverse portfolio: restaurant owner! Danny opened Trejo's Tacos and Trejo's Coffee & Donuts in Los Angeles and was adamant about packing the menu with healthy dishes like vegan jackfruit tacos, cauliflower tacos and horchata sweetened with dates instead of sugar.

But if you're a taco snob who doesn't think vegan Mexican food is authentic, the history books will tell you otherwise. Denise Vallejo, vegan chef/owner of LA's Alchemy Organica, says Mexico didn't have flour tortillas, cheese, pork or sugar until the Spanish invaded. She connects to her ancestors by cooking with pre-colonial ingredients.

And L.A. Taco's editor-in-chief and associate producer of Netflix's Taco Chronicles, Javier Cabral, joins the show to defend $5 fancy tacos. He believes it's merely culinary evolution and a celebration of quality ingredients.

Pick up Danny's new cookbook, Trejo's Tacos: Recipes and Stories From L.A.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Alaska Airlines has teamed up with Hawaiian Airlines to create new nonstop international flights.
0:05.6	Go to Alaskaair.com or Hawaiian Airlines.com and I'll tell you more details later in the show.
0:11.6	Cairo, Seattle. I'm Rachel Bell, and this is your last meal, a show about famous people and the stories behind the foods they love most.
0:31.8	Today on the program, actor and restaurateur Danny Trejo. Now, if you don't know his name, you probably know his face.
0:39.6	Danny has played the bad guy in more than 300 movies, including Heat and Grindhouse.
0:45.7	Oh, and fun fact, last week's guest, Rose McGowan, also starred in Grindhouse.
0:50.7	And Danny played the machete character in everything from Spy Kids to Machete kills.
0:57.2	Oh, and High School Me also thinks it's important to note that he's been in several of Slayer's music videos.
1:03.6	And Danny's latest venture is restaurants.
1:06.6	In 2016, Danny opened Trejo's tacos in Los Angeles.
1:11.4	And then he opened Trejo's Coffee and Donuts.
1:13.7	And he just released his first cookbook, Trejo's Tacos, Recipes and Stories from L.A.
1:19.7	Anthony Bourdain, when he came to eat, he loved the Vad Vakoa Bowl.
1:26.1	And he could eat, boy, he ate ate everything and he said he wouldn't eat
1:29.9	anywhere in LA but my restaurant. Danny's twist on Mexican food is focusing on healthy options.
1:37.1	They serve jackfruit tacos, cauliflower tacos and Trejos doesn't cook with lard. But if you think
1:43.6	vegan tacos aren't authentic...
1:45.8	What is authentic?
1:46.9	Like, what is authentic anything, you know?
1:50.3	Ancestral Mexican food is not really what you think it is.
1:53.8	I chat with Denise Vallejo, the vegan chef owner of L.A.'s Alchemy Organica,
1:59.0	who would like to remind people that the original Mexican food
	...

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