Today we’d like to introduce you to Caesar Ortiz.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Caesar Ortiz and Edgar Cuspinera are a couple of friends who met working in kitchens in Austin. We have both had diverse experiences in our careers and have gained plenty of experience and knowledge working in some of the most eclectic restaurants in the city. (South Congress Cafe, Eberly, Fonda San Miguel, Wu Chow, Salty Sow, Bess Bistro) We both come from latin backgrounds with Edgar being from Monterrey, Mexico and Caesar hailing from El Paso. With Mexican food being our strong point, we dove into the cuisine of other Latin American countries and loved how diverse and flavorful everything was. Culturally, it was amazing to experience how similar but different they all were.
The food from the street is what really attracted us the most. That’s how we got started with MATADOR. We wanted to provide the city with something different from just tacos. You can close your eyes and point any direction in Austin and find a taco shop. So we decided that we wanted to highlight the food that is served in the streets throughout all of Latin America. Being that we are a “food truck” it made sense for us to cook and serve the best Latin Street food we could with local products and not veer to far from traditional preparations. Our menu will forever be changing and adapting. We like to keep things funky and really want everyone to experience Latin food with an open mind. It’s delicious, we promise!!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The concept has been pretty smooth so far. We are about a year late from when we wanted to start but pandemics happen apparently. 😂😂😂 With Covid happening last year, it was all a question on when and where we wanted to get started. We had already acquired the shipping container that was outfitted for a mobile kitchen. With the extra time we had, we were able to do some minor improvements and organize it the best we could all the while working in other kitchens during one of the craziest times of everyone’s life.
There were talks of possibly selling it all and scratching the whole idea entirely. But, we kept at it and then ended up talking with the good folks at Dunlap ATX. The new Lustre Pearl South was in the works and they were looking for food trucks. We threw our name in the hat and here we are! We are beyond grateful for the opportunity and can’t thank them enough for giving us our 1st shot at showcasing the food we love to cook. All we can do now is push forward and be better everyday.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
MATADOR is a Latin kitchen that focuses on food from the streets. Tacos, ceviches, anticuchos, different style of sandwiches, tamales, arepas, pupusas are some of the starting points. We are Chefs who love to cook and eat the many different cuisines of Latin America and proud of the products we have produced and want to continue having our guests experience different flavors that they may have never tried before. We love to be different and want to continue to separate ourselves from the generalization of being a “taco truck” because there are Spanish words on our menu.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Thanksgiving dinner on the beach in Mazatlan, Mexico. No turkey that year. Nothing but amazing seafood!
Contact Info:
- Email: Orders@matadoratx.net
- Instagram: @matadoratx
