Mike Riccetti
  • The best of Houston dining
    • Guinness pours
    • Italian
    • Steakhouses
    • Wine Bars
  • The margherita pizza project
  • The martini project
  • Musings on Houston Dining
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2018
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2017
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2016
    • The 10 best Inner Loop values
    • Dining recommendations for visitors to Houston
  • Italian restaurant history
  • Italian & Italian-American
  • Entertaining tips
    • Booze basics
    • Styles of Cheeses
    • Handling Those Disruptive Guests
  • Wine
  • Beer
  • Cocktails and Spirits
  • Miscellaneous
  • Blog
  • The best of Houston dining
    • Guinness pours
    • Italian
    • Steakhouses
    • Wine Bars
  • The margherita pizza project
  • The martini project
  • Musings on Houston Dining
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2018
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2017
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2016
    • The 10 best Inner Loop values
    • Dining recommendations for visitors to Houston
  • Italian restaurant history
  • Italian & Italian-American
  • Entertaining tips
    • Booze basics
    • Styles of Cheeses
    • Handling Those Disruptive Guests
  • Wine
  • Beer
  • Cocktails and Spirits
  • Miscellaneous
  • Blog
Mike Riccetti

Mostly food and drink...

...and mostly set in Houston

Sometimes just being the dependable local taco truck provides great comfort

9/1/2017

1 Comment

 
As it was with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a great number of Houstonians from all backgrounds have volunteered their time and made donations beyond what normally be expected.  This extends to the local restaurant, a local industry that supplies something extremely welcome and needed by both those who are in shelters and those who have volunteered.  Reef, long one of my favorites locally, was profiled donating a considerable amount of food yesterday on the PBS Newshour.  Hugo’s, Caracoal and Riel were also mentioned by a volunteer delivery driver, as providing something far tastier than simple sandwiches for those displaced and helping.
 
Even just being open when other restaurants have not been able to do so has been a big help for many.  Today’s New York Times highlights Tacos Tierra Caliente that has been parked for years in front, or just across the street from the West Alabama Ice House, where I have helped host a big crawfish boil each spring for the past quarter century.  I’ve enjoyed a few tacos while in a happy state from Tacos Tierra Caliente, a great and often necessary caloric benefit for a great many Ice House patrons over the years.
 
From today’s Times:
 
A Culinary Stalwart Stays Open in a Time of Need
 
For nine years, the Tacos Tierra Caliente food truck has been parked at the intersection of West Alabama and McDuffie Streets in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood, serving tacos al pastor, tortas and quesadillas seven days a week. The truck’s owners, eight members of the Semano family, take pride in their work — so they had no intention of letting Hurricane Harvey shut them down. Throughout the storm, even as nearly every other business in Houston closed, Tacos Tierra Caliente has kept its normal hours, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Montrose received more than 30 inches of rain over a few days, but it did not flood like other parts of Houston.
 
For several days during the storm, the food truck was the only restaurant open for miles. Word spread on social media. People trooped through the rain and stood in lines of up to 100. Vicente Samano, one of four family members operating the truck on Thursday afternoon, said the family had also given tacos to people who could not afford them.
 
Despite the long lines, the truck never ran out of food. Keeping the truck open was a matter of family and national pride, Mr. Samano said.
 
“That’s the Mexican spirit, the Latino spirit,” he said. “We like to work, whether we’re sick, wet, whatever. We will work no matter what.” On Thursday afternoon, John Mondel, a federal law clerk who had just moved into an apartment down the street, joined the line. “It’s one of the reasons I chose this apartment,” Mr. Mondel said.


Tacos Tierra Caliente proprietor with the estimable Robb Walsh
Picture
1 Comment
John Sweeney
9/4/2017 08:49:30 pm

What a wonderful story of dedicated people working hard to help others when they were in need!

I've had the tacos at Tacos Tierra Caliente and they're superb!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Mike Riccetti is a longtime Houston-based food writer and former editor for Zagat, and not incidentally the author of three editions of Houston Dining on the Cheap.

    Picture

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All
    Beer
    Cocktails
    Italian
    Margherita Pizzas
    Recipes
    Restaurants
    Wine

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.