“We burn rubber and chipotles” has become a slogan at a Houston taco truck.
Houston (TX) Chronicle
It’s not your typical taco truck
By JENALIA MORENO
Nov. 4, 2008, 7:27AM
(...)
Armando Palacios, who owns the taco truck and Tex-Mex institution Armandos, is out to change that image and at the same time attract more of the city’s fine dining crowd to his white tablecloth restaurant.
“Most people won’t even stop at a taco truck,” Palacios said during an event he catered at the Spanish-inspired Caceres development, where townhomes starting at $600,000 were touted to potential buyers, sellers and scenesters.
When Palacios reopened his Westheimer restaurant in 2007, he wanted to do something different with the catering end of his business.
“Catering is so done, the way it was done 30 years ago, when I got into the business,” said Palacios, who recently opened a second restaurant in Seabrook.
“This is a taco truck which we’ve driven to a $5 million home. You arrive, and the truck becomes part of the party.”
Instead of simply bringing chafing dishes filled with taco fixings to a catering gig, Palacios drives his $100,000 truck and cooks food to a client’s order.
Other taco trucks have catered Houston parties.
“We get calls all the time for parties and different events,” said Bruce Olive, owner of Texas Commissary, where owners of 50 taco trucks park their vehicles, clean and stock them. “People want to rent a truck.”
But Palacios’ truck is a more ostentatious version of the typical taco truck.
Just like MTV program Pimp My Ride upgrades clunkers, Palacios “pimped out” a taco truck, giving it a custom paint job.
He promotes the catering truck with the slogan, “We burn rubber and chipotles.”
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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