Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You. What's going on, y'all? Corpse Christie originals. Back at it again with here, here with Elvago coming to you live from the produce Streamlabs studio here downtown Corpus Christi, Texas. Super excited. Obviously, a brand new setup we got here. Elvago with us. Alex from Elvago Burgers and barbecue, located at 47 one Baretta.
They're in Motown, representing the old town, right?
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Welcome to the show, man.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Thank you, bro. Appreciate you inviting me to come.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I've been wanting you to come. I've been checking out your food, man. It looks good. I tried your food the other day. That burger was bomb, bro. The patties were.
So what's the inspiration for the type of food that you make, man?
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Just being a fat ass man?
Pretty much, man.
Just started coming up with different things to get ideas and threw it together and just tried it out and it was good. And there's some stuff on my menu I hadn't even tried, tell you the truth.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: There's a few things I hadn't even tried. I just came up with it, and people like it. Like the honey bun burger, it was kind of an accident. We were just thinking, like, man, when we were smoking one day when I had the food trailer, we're outside, and I was like, man, what can we come up with? And I think it was my son that told me, hey, we should do a honey bun burger. I said, man, ain't going to taste good, man. And he goes, now let's try it. And he goes, there's a family dollar right there. I gave him some money. Here, go. Got some honey buns. He went over there, came back, and then my homeboy, roach, he told me, man, put some peanut butter on it. So we put some peanut butter on it and we ate it. And I was like, man, it's pretty good, man. It's not something that I would eat all the time, because the sweet and the thing, it's good, but it's just not what.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: It's straight up stoner food, bro. That's exactly what it is.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: It tastes ten times better when you're stoned, right?
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Yeah, that's cool, man.
That's pretty cool that you just come up with the ideas and you put them on your.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Just put them together.
I don't know, man. I just get crazy ideas in my head, man. I'm going to try this. I'm going to do this. And then people like it, man. We get a good responses back from everybody.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: So have you been cooking for a long time? How did you get into.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: I've been cooking all my life, man, since I was a little kid. My mom, I remember, I think I was, like, in fifth grade, and she told me, for me, you're going to die if you don't learn how to cook. So she taught me how to cook. And then I would stay with my dad when my mom would go to Mexico, visit my grandparents. So I would cook. I would cook for me and my dad, you know what I mean? So it just went from there. I just always cooked after that. And then I started barbecuing, and then I got into doing brisket, and I kept on trying different things, and little by little, it started getting better and better and better, and then it just went from there, man.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: So you're originally from California?
[00:02:53] Speaker B: No, I'm here in Texas.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: All right, so you learned how to barbecue in Texas?
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Texas barbecue.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Shit, yeah. Represent.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: I got you, man.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: That's what's up, bro. Yeah. And your stuff is. Well, you don't want to give away the secret, because I was at your shop the other day.
Why is that? Why is that with you guys?
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Because it's unique, bro. It's real unique. I promise you, nobody does it the way I do it. I just came up with this crazy way to do it, and it just worked. And it gives the brisket a real juicy, moist taste to it. And it's like. It's just real good, man.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, definitely. Like I said, I think it was the Fermunda burger that I tried. It had the brisket and then the patties, man. That's awesome. And then the cheese, of course.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: And your fries are crazy, the way you season them first and then. Yeah, that's awesome, man.
So you started in the trade center, is that right?
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I started the trade center, man.
I used to have a detailing company, man, and I did good for years, man. I detailed for years, man. And then Hurricane Harvey hit. All my business was in Aranses pass, and it knocked me down big time, man. I lost a lot of clientele. I had, like, 515 clients during that time.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: And we were, man, it was, like, perfect, man. It was good life for me at that time.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: So detailing, like the car lots?
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Yeah, the car lots. Customers will come, bring their cars to get detailed at the car dealerships. They'll drop them off, get them detailed and stuff, and then we would do all the make ready for the dealership. We washed a lot.
People bring their cars to service, and they'll bring it to us to detail them. We would deal them for the body shop. We do body shop cars. We'll do everything, whatever the dealership wanted. I had 19 people working for me at one time. I had five dealerships that everything was going good crazy.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: So it slowed down because of.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Well, no. Hurricane Harvey quit, hit, and then I lost, like, four dealerships, man. I was only left with one. Yeah, because they were like, oh, we don't need nobody's diesel cars right now. Random pass was a mess during that time. It was bad.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: More than half my clientele, they were winter texts and stuff. They moved. Everybody's homes got destroyed. They moved to San Marcos, Houston, San Antonio. So I was just there, man, just trying to survive. And then it started getting better, just a little bit better, right where I was barely coming afloat. And Covid came, and it just knocked me straight back down, man.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: That same business knocked it even more down.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Even more down, man, where I couldn't do it no more. And then I had a detail shop here downtown. And it was all right, man. But at that time, everybody wanted to get their cars detailed at home. Well, I'm spending money on a shop, and everybody wants us to do home visits and stuff. And it was bad. Everybody was getting sick, and it was horrible, man. So one day I was there, and I was just messing around, doing. Making beard butter and stuff, and I was sending beard products and stuff. That's where I came up with the whole El Bagu at first.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: And a good friend of mine, Joe Moscow, he did a lot of CD covers and stuff for a bunch of rappers back in the days. We were good friends, and I told him my idea. I said, dude, I want to come up with a cool logo. And I came up with the know. So I came up with the logo.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah. What is like, obviously, a lot of people from corporates don't speak a lot of Spanish. Is that slang word?
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, different parts of Mexico means different things.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:06:19] Speaker B: There's a bunch of different slangs. Remember when I was young, when I was out doing stupid stuff in the streets, hanging out.
Now that you're lazy, you don't want to work, you don't want to do anything.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: That word stuck with me for a long time, and I had forgot about it. But there was a song that came out from El Fantasma and Los os Carnales. It was called Cabroni Vago. That song came on, and I was thinking for a name. I said, man, that'd be a perfect name.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Because I remember it from, I was.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: It just.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: It just stuck. And I just used Elvago. And then that's whenever we came out with the vago devil, the logo with the beard, butter stuff. And it was going good for a while, man. It did real good. And then I was used to making good money, like a lot of money. And I was stressing, and I was at the trade center and I was looking around, I was like, man, what does everybody have? What does everybody have in their hand? What does people need? You know what I mean? Dude, everybody had food in their hands.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Oh, shoot.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Everybody had food in their hands. And I was like, man, I was like, I need to start doing some food in here. And it went from there.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Wow. So it's almost like you have a business mindset as far as. Because it seems like that's how you are, it's just talking to you the.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Past, the last days when you're used to having money, I like to spend money. My wife always complains to me about that, but it's just like, you got to make it to spend it. You know what I mean?
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Yeah. You got to figure out ways. You got to figure out ways to get it in your hand. Yeah, for sure, man. That's awesome. So you started the beard, you got the logo on it, and then you started cooking. Once you figured out, okay, there's probably a product in this. So how did it feel? Or when did you feel like you had a product?
[00:08:09] Speaker B: It was a while, man. Because when we first started, it was only barbecue. It was only barbecue. We had a few items, nothing too crazy. It was just a little bit.
I remember the first day we opened, my mom came and helped me and everybody in my family, they've always backed me up, man. That's one thing I love about my family. My wife, my kids, they've always been there when I need them and stuff. And I didn't know what I got myself into because I've never worked restaurants before, right? Yeah, I knew how to cook, but I never actually ran a restaurant, so I didn't know what I got myself into. It was like, we're supposed to open at twelve that day, and I was already running behind. It was a mess trying to get everything. And we got there, we started setting up, and people were already coming and stuff.
My homeboy, Capone, the old school rapper from Latino jam, he came down to try to help me out and sign autographs, just get people to come over there. Quite a bit of people went over there and we were packed, man. And I was real nervous, and I was like, man, what the hell did I get myself into? You know what I mean? Yeah, it was crazy, man. And after, like, a couple of months went by, and a lot of people started coming, and people were like, man, I love your brisk. Your brisket is so good, man. Your food's so good. Keep on getting compliments like that. Kept on pushing me to want to do it more and more and more. And so it just started evolving.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's cool. Wow.
Do you notice people react to you just based on your appearance?
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, all the time, man.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: How do some people do you notice?
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Yeah, but you know what's so weird, man?
Regular people are looking me like I'm crazy and stuff, which is fine. What? I get it. You know what I mean?
But it's always like the old people, old white people, they'll sit there and they'll just start talking to me and talking to, I'm like, the hell. Okay. And I'll sit there, I'll conversate with them and stuff. And they're real nice and stuff. And it's, like, trippy.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah. And then we were talking the other day, and you're saying I had more problems with when I was working the detail business with that than the food. Yeah.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: I got turned down for a lot of jobs, man, that I could have made really good money on. And I guess because of my parents, they didn't want me.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: They didn't want me messing with their cars. They thought I was going to steal.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: It, do something bad, too.
Yeah, that's funny, bro. Wow.
You can't steal the food, right?
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Yeah, you can't steal the food, man.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
How do you handle, where do you get your food from? Do you get it local?
[00:10:43] Speaker B: I used to get it local. I used to get it from Staples street, and I used to get it from Sam's. I still get a little bit from Sam's, a little bit from Heb and stuff. Heb is, like, one of my main places. I get all, like, buns and tortillas and stuff like that.
But meat prices have been going up like crazy. And I was at Staple street, and the owner, he really didn't want to go lower on the price, whatever. Even though I try to convince him that, hey, I'm not buying it for personal. I'm buying it to resell it. So for him to give me a wholesale price. And he didn't want to do it. He didn't want to do it, so I cut him out, and I went to his supplier, supplier in Houston. I gave them a call, whatever. And Margie, she's the one that runs that. She set me up, and she took care of me, man. I get all my meat from them.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: That's cool. And you got to have a minimum and all that stuff.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Wow. That's cool, man. So how do you feel? So you did that. You tried the food truck, right? Did you try the food board first, man? Dude, bad taste in your mouth.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: It just wasn't for me, man.
For the people that do it, man. Yeah, they're bad motherfuckers, man. I just couldn't, man.
It was too confined for me, and for what I wanted to do, it was too small to cook all the stuff. There's no way I could have the menu I have now in a food truck. It's a lot. Then with the generator, and then I hated cooking on propane.
And then we forget the ice for the ice chest. Forget this. We're there, and like, oh, we only got one tank. And then we're over here running across town trying to get it filled up, and this place is closed. And, uhaul, oh, we lost the key. And then you got to go downtown, and then it was just running around everywhere. And I hated it, man. I hated hook up the trailer and know, wash it out every day, and then prep the food inside the house, put it in the trailer, and then try to do some in the trailer, and then at the end of the day, take it back out. I would get my son. Hey, Gavron, come help me. He's like, all right, dad. Come out there, help me get all the stuff, take it inside.
And then my wife's there waiting for me, and I just didn't like it, man. It just wasn't for me, bro.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: So you've mentioned your son. Is it like a family run business?
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Yeah, man.
Me, my wife, my brother, my son weddle, his girlfriend, my other daughter, and my kids, they come help because they go to school and stuff, but when they're there, they go around there, they really don't help. They just want food.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: You got to feed them, dad. You got to feed them. Yeah.
So we were talking earlier, before we started.
Some people would go up to your store and be like, hey, do you have anything healthy?
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Oh, man. I know, dude. I feel bad. Sometimes people come in, and they expect the traditional barbecue restaurant. They're like, do you have, like, a three meat plate? I'm like, nah, man. We're not that kind of restaurant, bro. You got to look at the menu. You know what I mean? It's different over here. Yeah, we got barbecue items, but it's not specifically a barbecue. Barbecue place.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
It's almost like your stuff is like art. It's like art, like culinary, like an art.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: It's like a fat ass's dream. Dripping Mac and cheese. Everything's cheese, man. Cheese, cheese, cheese.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: That's funny, man.
So you tried the food truck, and then you went to the place that you're at now?
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I was at the trade center, and I was doing the food truck the same time as the trade center.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: What was that like being at the trade center? What was trade center?
[00:14:13] Speaker B: It was cool at, man. Like, I really, really liked it, bro. And Mr. Pyle had passed away, the original owner, and they sold it to somebody else. And after they took over, it just wasn't the same no more, man.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Wow. Crazy, man. So, do you find yourself dealing with, I guess, haters?
How do you deal with that?
I know everybody's got them. Everybody in this room has got them. How do you deal with.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: I just don't understand why. You know what I mean? I understand everybody's trying to make it. Everybody wants to be on top. And I get that, bro, but why go to the extent of trying to damage somebody's what they work for? You know what I mean? I've had the comptroller called on me. I've had the health department called on me.
It gets ridiculous after a while.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Yeah, comptroller, that's like your taxes.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Oh, man. Fuck with them, bro.
I've dealt with some gangsters in my life, bro. With them, they're worse, man.
We'll shut your place down. We'll put you in jail.
I'm not joking. They do. You can ask anybody that's in this business. They do that, man. They're like, oh, man, we'll freeze your account. You better come. You better have our money. We can. We can go with the police officer. We'll walk in. We'll go to your cash register. I'm like, God damn.
Shit, man. Dude, I owed them, like, $36. They showed up to my house, man, and we were moving and shit, right? It made it look I was trying to get away from them, right? They pulled up in the car, and they get down there.
I was like, can I help you? Where were the comptroller? I was like, ma'am, I only owe you $36, man. I'll have to you this weekend. Like, calm down, man. Now, you got to be paying on time, and I told him, I said, why you got to be like that, man? I said, why you got to make all these threats? You know what I mean? I've been giving you $500 a week. I'm like, calm down, man.
Somebody that was at the trade center, he was new. He came in, whatever. And I try to be cool with the guy. I ain't going to say no names. You know what I mean? I was trying to be cool with the guy. Whatever.
I didn't care. I heard he was saying stuff about me, whatever, right? But this dude went to the extent calling the comptroller. But you know what, bro? Everybody's done something in me. Pretty much helped me out at the end, because when we started, it was during COVID right. The comptroller's office was closed when I went over there, and I talked to my tax lady, and I guess she didn't know. She tells me, just don't charge taxes. Just, you get Eid number, you'll be all right. Trade centers. Get her, bro. They didn't care. They didn't ask me for no, you got your comptroller. They didn't give a shit, right? Just say, pay us, and boom, bomb us. Okay, fine. I was a whole year, bro. I wasn't charging taxes. I was just doing food. Whatever. Well, that fool called the comptroller on me. They went over there, and they're like. They started asking all these questions. Where's your paperwork? I said, man, I ain't got nothing, man. I ain't got no paperwork. I didn't even have a food handlers permit. I have nothing, dude. I just started the business and just ran with it. And I said, man, I ain't a lot of you. I ain't got nothing. Whatever. So they start doing, dude, they sent me a bill, $7,000. Dude. I was like, shit. But I'm glad, dude, that dude did me a favor, because imagine if I would have went another year, I would have owed 14, $15,000. I would have got shut down. I got friends that got shut down for $3,000.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Man, that's crazy how you look at it like that. They were being. Not being good to you, but at the same time, you looked at it.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Well, yeah, you got to, bro. Because in life, man, it's just like, things are always, dude, I've lost everything and got everything back, like, five times in my life. So it's like, before I would get mad, throw a fit, and I still do. Sometimes I get mad. I get all pissed off, and my wife's always like, hey, things are going to get better. And like, no, it's not. No, it's not.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: And it does, you know what I mean?
[00:17:56] Speaker B: It does, you know what I mean? So I'd learn just to get punched in the face. Just get up and just go back at it.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Fuck it. How does your wife deal with you with your business now?
How does she handle it? How does she handle.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Annoy the shit out of her, dude, because she's used to being a housewife, you know what I mean? Now she has to get up and go help me. And then she don't complain, though, you know what I mean? She goes, she helps me, does whatever to help us out. Whatever.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Yeah. I was looking at my phone because I think she's in the chat. She's probably the first one in there. Shout out.
It's awesome, man. Yeah.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: We've been together a long time, man.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Almost 20 years, bro. That's good, man.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Almost 20 years, man.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: I got lucky, man. I got real lucky.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: Did you meet her here in texas?
[00:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I met her here. I met her here at the. It used to be el paraiso, right there on air street. A friend of mine, he invited me to a quinceignetta, and I wasn't going to go, man. I wasn't going to go. And then I went and I saw her and I was all like, hey, you, come here. I didn't know what to say, right? Because when I was younger, I'm not trying to sound like I'm fine or anything, but I never really had to go up to a girl and try to get their attention.
It just happens where her. I was like, fuck, I didn't want to let her go. I was like, hey, you, come here. We started talking, whatever. I got her number, and then we ended up being together, and then I just never left. We just been together since then.
[00:19:18] Speaker A: Wow, man. It's awesome. 20 years, man. How long you been in business so far with elbogo?
[00:19:22] Speaker B: With the restaurant going on? Three years, man.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: Okay, man. You got a lot of support, like, on, like. And it seems like it's mostly the people from, I guess, the west side of town. Yeah. Do you get people coming from all sides of town?
[00:19:38] Speaker B: We've had people come from everywhere, man. It's crazy. TikTok's been a big help, and I have my friend Mark Charles help me out. I've had drippy drew nice from here help me out, and he's done most of my stuff, and I've had people come from out of state to come try the food. And I'm like, what?
[00:19:54] Speaker A: The.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: Guy this couple came in. Oh, we came from Ohio.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: I'm like, Ohio?
[00:20:02] Speaker B: I better put some extra food on there to make them happy. I had families come from Dallas. We saw your food on TikTok. We want to try it out, whatever. And they come over there and they like it.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: That's awesome, man. So how does it make you feel?
[00:20:16] Speaker B: It makes me happy, bro. It really does, man. Because I'm used to always being on the opposite side, you know what I mean?
I was always in trouble when I was a kid. I was always locked up, getting out and just doing stupid shit.
Now things have been going. It's just different. It's weird. I'm already used to it, though, just being normal.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Going to doing all this stuff and being a family man and stuff. I like it, man. I wish I would have done it sooner.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: I find that interesting in people, man, how you can just, like, decide one day, you know what I mean?
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Well, you get tired, bro. You get tired of that shit, man.
And my wife went through with me, too, you know what I mean? Back in 2013, I got in trouble with some stuff. I don't want to get too much into that, but I was looking at some serious time, you know what I mean? And that kind of opened my eyes, because when I was younger, I would get locked up. I didn't give a shit, you know what I mean? Whatever. I'm locked up. I'll get out someday. And then this last time in 2013, when I got locked up, that first night, being locked up, I was like, fuck, man, I'm going to do this shit again.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Fuck, man. And then started thinking about my kids and stuff, and that really fucked with me.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Wow. How many kids did you have at that. .6. Wow.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Four girls, two boys, man.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: So would you say that I guess it was your family that made you to make.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it really was, man. It really was. It was time to grow up and just get out of that shit and just start a different life, just to do something different.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: Now, during that time, I was tattooing. I used to have a tattoo shop. I tattooed for years, man. That's what I thought I was going to do for the rest of my life. And when I had got out from that situation, it was federal stuff, and they told me that they didn't want me work at a tattoo shop. I had to have proof of income. I had to have a check stub.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: And I was paying child support for my first two kids, my older kids, whatever. During that time, I had to get a job, so I started detailing back at Alan Samuels. I was working there before, detailing and stuff.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: And one of the managers there, he saw that I busted my ass and we became really good friends. And when he got moved to Alan Samuels and random pass how I got to Randy's pass when he got over there, he told me, hey, man, he goes, why don't you start your own business, man? I ain't got no money for. He goes, no, no. He goes, I'll give it to you. He goes, just pay me.
And that's know I got into doing.
He was, he was a good man, dude. Alan Stevenson, man, I love that dude, man. He's a badass dude, man.
He loaned me a lot of money. He helped me buy my first house. I paid him everything back, you know what I mean? But he helped me. Yeah, I guess he saw that I was trying to get out of that life, whatever, and he helped me out. If it wasn't for him, I don't know.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: So before, were you willing to accept the type of help that he gave you at that?
[00:23:16] Speaker B: Yeah, dude, because I was desperate, bro, you know what I mean? I was at that point in my life where I went, my wife, I went, my kids, you know what I mean? We're living in my mother in law's house. And I felt like a bum at.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: That time, you know what I mean?
[00:23:25] Speaker B: I was like, damn, I'm at this age, whatever. I know what I'm capable of. Making money, it was illegally during that time, you know what I mean? But I was like, damn, I got to start doing this shit legal because I can't be getting locked up no more. You know what? I'm getting older and shit.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow.
So I guess that changed for you. Like you were saying earlier, it, it's weird being normal. What did you say?
[00:23:46] Speaker B: It's weird being normal. I used to be like, oh, my homeboys. And we're going to go here, we're going to go do this, we're going to go do that. And now it's like, I get out of work and I just want to be with my wife and my kids. I just want to go home.
I'm in bed by 930. Yeah, right now, dude. Right now I'll be smoking, ready to go eat and go to sleep, you.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Know what I mean? Nice.
[00:24:06] Speaker B: Start the day over tomorrow.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. That's awesome.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: But I'm happy, though, you know what I mean? That's what makes me happy, you know what I mean?
[00:24:13] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Just doing that, man, is best feeling in the world for me.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: That's good, man. Man, that's awesome. I like that a lot of people support you also.
Some people don't know your story, you know what I'm saying? And just to be able to have you talk about it, I want to say it helps the brand or the business. I mean, I don't know. What do you think about that?
[00:24:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it does, man. People probably just see, like, this dude is trying to make it. They gave me a try, but then to find out the food really is good, you know what I mean? So I got some people, they come every day to eat, and I'm like, dude, you don't get tired of this? I'm grateful you're coming, man. But dude, you're going to die, like next week already, man, all that grease.
Brisket is greasy. Fucking burgers are greasy. I'm there, I'm thinking about going on a diet, and then I'm like, man, I ain't got time to go buy food. I'm stuck here. I'm like, fuck it. I eat a burger and it's like 10:00 in the morning. 11:00 in the morning, I'm over here eating a brisket sandwich and stuff.
And then it's bad, dude, because I want to drink water, dude. But we got cooler full of cokes.
Mexican cokes are calling me, man, Mexican 108:00 in the morning.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: So are you considering maybe putting a salad on there somewhere?
[00:25:31] Speaker B: I don't know, bro. My other food will be disrespected, bro.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:25:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
And people ask me, hey, man, do you got salads? Like, man, you came, you got lean brisket. Like, dude, I barely trimmed the fat off when I cook my brisket, bro, we can just cut it off, man. We do. Some people come in, they ask for that.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Make people happy.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: Cool. You said you had some business updates or something like that.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: I want to make a new menu probably in a few months. I'm going to let people go off with this one for a while, you know what I mean? I don't want to just overstack things and people get tired of it. Whatever. I want to come up with something new, like every other month, like a new food item and stuff like that.
[00:26:15] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Right now I'm thinking about doing like a waffle as the buns and some chicken and macaroni and cheese and some bacon and syrup on it and stuff. Just different crazy stuff, man. Stuff that you see on TikTok from out of town and stuff. A lot of stuff that people don't. We don't have that.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: There's something different. That's cool, man. And so I think we were talking. So you eventually, you wanted to have other stuff, branch, other than food for.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: Your brand after the beer thing, whatever. When I did the restaurant, I kept the name and everything because, I don't know, I just thought the logo was just so badass. I didn't want to let it go to waste.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: Right.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: I'm still going to do the beard thing. I started doing it again. I have a lot of people asking me for it. It's not because I don't want to do it. It's just, dude, after doing all the restaurants, I'm like, man, I don't want to do anything. Mondays come and I'm detailing cars on Monday, bro. You know what I mean? I never get a day off. And then I make a lot of mess making the beer stuff. My wife's complaining because she's the one that cleans it.
Bodicita, dude. She's always have to go behind me and clean all my mess.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: Yeah, shout out to her, man. That's awesome, bro. Wow, your story is awesome, bro. I heard a lot of your story the other day, and it's pretty cool how far you come since then.
And I like to highlight that in our city, you know what I mean? And that's one of the reasons why I kind of do this podcast. And when people come on, they're like, oh, I never thought I'd be in a podcast. I'm like, yeah, just come on.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:27:48] Speaker A: You're part of the city, too. There's different people from parts of the city. I remember you put a post earlier today, right? Something about up.
What was it?
Something about how people say certain stuff about your food or about your business or something like that. Do you remember that?
[00:28:05] Speaker B: Trying to think, that long post that I put, yeah, no, sometimes you get rude people and I'm like, man, there's no need for that. You know what I mean?
Nobody that works for me, well, they're on my family, but nobody's rude to nobody. You come, you order, we get your food done. If something messes up, we'll fix it. But every once in a while, you get that rude person that comes in and just acting like an asshole for no reason, you know what I mean? It's only happened like maybe once or twice. I had one guy, when I was at the trade center, I thought it was weird, man. Some guy came over there. He ordered Frito pie, and then he went. He sat down, and I was sitting there talking to somebody, and he looks at it. He looks at this lady, the lady he's with, whatever. And then she gets up, she grabs, she goes back, and she's all, I want my money back. This shit's nasty. I'm like, I wanted to say, bitch.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: You hadn't even tried it, you know what I mean?
[00:28:57] Speaker B: That shit pissed me off because it's, like, disrespectful to me. And I told my daughter, just give her money or whatever, and she was just rude. Like, oh, this shit's nasty, dude. They didn't even touch it. I was watching, dude, I have this thing whenever I give people food, whatever, I watch to see their reactions. I want to know if it's good or not. So I can know to keep on going that route of that style of whatever it is, you know what I mean? And so far, everybody's loved it, you know what I mean? It's just that one time, that lady was all, this shit's nasty. Like, the fuck she was nasty.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess it works both ways too, because you could have some servers that are rude to you, the customer, which doesn't make any sense either, because you got a business.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I know, man. We treat everybody with respect, bro. Everybody has come. Everybody's been real quick. Ever since I've been at this new location, we really haven't had nobody. I had this one girl come in the day she opened up the plate, and she's like, I paid $30 for this. Just one rib and one slice of brisket. And I was like, ma'am? I said, the plate is $23. I said, but you ordered this other side. And I go in too. I goes, those ribs, whatever. And it was a big rib and slice of brisket. I was like, you buy three of those in a pack raw at Heb, and it's like, $60, dude, for Angus, whatever you're paying $23, cook with the brisket. And she mumbles up, and she walked off. You know what I mean? Sometimes you just can't make people happy, you know, what do you.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: So you use Angus. Why do you choose that?
[00:30:23] Speaker B: I've done packer for a long time, but I wanted to go, like, a step over, like, something a little bit better, whatever. And like I said, that food company I get my food from, they cut me a good deal on the Angus, you know, what? I mean, I'm pretty much paying what I used to pay for the packer, but it's a better grade.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: And the meat's more. It's more moist when you cook it. It just comes out a little bit better. You know what I mean?
[00:30:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: It has a better flavor to it, and it's real good. And I want to have the best at everything.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's good.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: I know I get on my brother's nerves, man. I love him to death, but we're not brothers by blood, but I've known this dude all my life, you know what I mean? And I bitch at him for a lot of stuff because, dude, put more rice in there, dude, pull more beans.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Like, dude, what the fuck?
[00:31:07] Speaker B: And he's like, all right, dude. All right.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:31:10] Speaker B: I'm like, man, dude, I said my food has to look good and taste, taste good no matter what. You know what I mean? It has to be good. If the fries are sitting there too long, if you throw that shit in the trash, make some more fries. But I just did it, like, 20 minutes ago. I don't care, dude. It looks like shit, dude, throw that shit out, man. I don't want to give nobody no shitty ass food, you know what I mean? Yeah, I want my stuff to be the best. I'm just real picky about that.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: Yeah. That's why I guess I'm slowly finding myself wanting to eat local because of the service that some places provide.
If you go to waterburger, sometimes I go there in the morning. I wake up at 04:00 a.m. I got to go to work. I get a breakfast burger or whatever. They're just rude, bro. I'm like, damn, I wouldn't get this.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: And there's nobody even there. Like, what the fuck are you bitching about, man? You got a line and you're stressed out.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:31:59] Speaker B: It's just the attitude. It's because a lot of people, they're just not happy. Their jobs are just there, you know what I mean? Because they have to. You know what I mean? So they just like, here. Here's your goddamn food.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:32:09] Speaker B: There's no love put into it. But one thing I hate about Corpus Road that I noticed when I opened up this restaurant, and people always told me about it, but it really showed.
Corpus rather put out chain restaurants than mom and pops. Dude, I went through hell trying to open up my place, man. I was supposed to open up September. We didn't open up till October.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: How come it took so long?
[00:32:35] Speaker B: Because first of all, to turn on my water and the gas, whatever that I need to do first to get the place up and going before they do inspections and stuff. Dude, it took them a month to turn my shit on, bro, because they had this thing where you can't go in there anymore and make an appointment or nothing. You have to do everything online. So we did it online. We waited. No response. Dude, three weeks, no response. Well, this is in August when we did it, it was like the beginning of August. I was trying to open up September, right? So we waited. We waited, we waited. Nothing. Three weeks went by, nothing. I was like, man, I got to help and get this going. So we called three hour wait, bro. Three hour wait. Well, it wasn't 3 hours, I want to say the first time. It was maybe like 2 hours. We were waiting on the line, whatever, and it was 30 some people ahead of us. And we're waiting. We're waiting, waiting. And then we were like, at number 1819, and then the phone hung up, and then we called back, and there was 40 people ahead of us. I told my son, you just hang up the phone. So we waited. We waited, we waited. And then a couple of days later, I said, you know what? Let's just try. And it took about an hour and a half. We finally got to somebody, and they're like, when did you put your application? I said about three weeks ago. And they're like, no, you didn't. What's the name? And we told the name. Oh, that's me. And then she goes and looks in her computer, and then she tells us, oh, I guess I never got it. Whatever. We're going to go ahead and put you in. You need these papers. You need that paper.
It'd be nice if they gave you a list of what you need, but they don't. It's like a video game, dude. Like you're playing resident evil or something. You got to go over here, you get this one thing, and then you go complete the mission. Then you come back. Then it's, oh, you need this. You're thinking, and you're like, okay, I got this. And we're going to open already. Oh, no, you need to get this. You need a building inspector. Oh, you need for the grease trap. Oh, you need for this. And, dude, that shit is racking up money, dude, I sold my house to do this.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Wow. Oh, my God.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: When I sold my house to do this, you know what I mean?
I was at a trade center. I was tired of being there. Whatever. I felt like it was kind of dead end thing for me. You know what I mean? I got good food. If I go somewhere else, I know it'll do good, whatever. And me and wife talk about it. I told her, hey, we need to just sell the house. Because it started getting real expensive for us towards the end, whatever, because how work was going down and trade centers started changing. So we just say, well, we'll sell the house to do this. And we did. When I first started, I got real discouraged, man. I was like, they say, oh, you need money for this? Oh, you need money for that? Oh, you got to pay this.
We need to send the fire marshal. Fire marshal went over there. You have to pay him. You got to do a yearly pay.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: And then they're like, oh, your fire extinguishers, they're good for a couple of months, but since you're new, I can't permit you. You got to call this number. You call them. Oh, it's going to be $500 for a sticker, for the vent, almost $300. And then for the grease trap, it's another couple of. Then, dude, I'm telling you, dude, every little thing, it was more money and more money and more money. And then you got to pay the health department, too. And it was just racking up the money, and my money was going down. I started getting nervous. I rented this house. We rented a house, and it's embarrassing, dude, to go get a place, and then automatically you're already late paying the rent because you're trying to get this business going. It's not because you're a bum. You don't want to pay. It's just because your money is just going. You're trying to get this business going up, and it's just going and going.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: And going and going. Wow.
I wonder if do other restaurants, mom and pop, do they feel like that toward this?
[00:36:00] Speaker B: I've had quite a few. Tell me. They told me about it first, you know what I mean? And I was like, whatever.
Maybe it was just your experience. But now, dude, they weren't lying, bro. They weren't lying. Know. I don't know who it was, but I know there was this one place.
It was a here. It's here in corpus. A friend of mine was telling me about. It was his friend. I forgot the name of the bar, but they wanted them to have a grease trap. And they were like, we don't even serve food. You know what I mean? And they said, don't matter because some beers have fat in them. And if you pour it down the drain. So it took them eight months to get that grease trap installed, dude. Eight months, bro. But you think about it, you're there. Same thing happened with me, with my landlord. I wasn't open up, but they still wanted the rent money. And I understand it's a business, you know what I mean? You got to do that. But it's harder for the person that's trying to get their business up and running because you got to put more money and more money at the same time. You got to do yourself for your family. You got to feed your family. You got to pay this. If your business ain't up and running, you're eating shit.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: Yeah. So, man, you definitely got it. Wow. It's like, you got to plan ahead, figure out all those expenses before they hit you with.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: And me, dude, my wife always tells me plan things out, and I'm not that kind of person. I just ain't fucking bite the bullet.
[00:37:13] Speaker A: Let's go.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Just jump right in.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: Jump first.
[00:37:16] Speaker B: Fuck it. Whatever happens, happens. You know what I mean?
That's one thing I need to put myself on because I'm bad about doing that, man.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: I jumped the gun first and like, fucking. Yeah, whatever happens, happens.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: And then later, like, maeve, man, I should have listened to what you said, right?
[00:37:33] Speaker B: I surprised her as I didn't tell nobody, my family, nobody, about the restaurant I was going to open, the trade center.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:37:40] Speaker B: I didn't say nothing. We're there one day and I said, you're probably going to be mad at me. She's like, what? I said, Saturday we're opening up a restaurant, the trade. She's like, what? I said, yeah, she was kind of mad at me at first because it's a big decision, you know what I mean? She's like, never even ran a restaurant before. I'm like, well, we'll see what happens. You know what I mean?
But I learned as I went, you know what I mean? Now it feels like I've been doing it all my life, dude. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's a trip, man.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: That's cool. That's awesome. So do you find yourself, like, learning more business tactics for your business?
[00:38:16] Speaker B: Not really, bro.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: I've just been rolling with it. I look like I know what I'm doing, but I know the cooking part, but the whole business part, I'm not really good at it. And I ain't going to lie, man. I'm not really good at that.
[00:38:30] Speaker A: I talked to several people before, and they're like, yeah, well, we never learned that stuff when we're young. Nobody taught us that stuff. Figuring out as you. Yeah, for sure. That's awesome, man. I'm happy for your business.
So which heb do you shop at?
[00:38:46] Speaker B: The main one I go to all the time is the one that's by my house on Weber.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: Weber?
[00:38:50] Speaker B: Yeah, the little Heb. The old school. He. The old school one hasn't been remodeled.
[00:38:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's been remodeled.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: I like it because I know where everything's at. If I go to another heb, I get pissed. I'm like, God damn. The jalapenos are supposed to be in this out with this one, and it's not the one over or. You know what I mean? Stuff like that. So I'm here running around. So I just go to the ones where I know where everything's at.
[00:39:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:09] Speaker B: So it's either that one or Heb plus. Heb plus the one on the stores. Heb. I go to that one.
[00:39:16] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: Close to my brother.
[00:39:16] Speaker A: There's a plus on.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: No, I'm talking.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: Got you. Yeah, I got you. All right, cool, man. So did you go to school here?
[00:39:24] Speaker B: No, I didn't go to school.
[00:39:25] Speaker A: You're from Victoria, right?
[00:39:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm from Victoria. Okay, Victoria. But I mostly lived in Bloomington. I was raised in Bloomington for a long time, and then when I got older, we moved and then went here and there. I only went to Victoria school because I got kicked out from the other one. Yeah, they had a school called Mitchell Guidance center. Dude, I got sent over there. It was like a juvenile school, man.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: You remember what you did, man? Dude, I was just stupid, man.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: Always getting trouble in school, man. Borticita. My mom, dude, she was always stressed out because I was just always, like, just doing. I don't know what the fuck was wrong with me when I was young, man.
[00:39:56] Speaker A: Yeah, right on, man.
Is there anything else you want to share? Anything else you can think of? You want to share, man?
[00:40:03] Speaker B: That's pretty much it.
It's about the restaurant. Just going to come up. Trying to come up. Know. That's it.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: Yeah, man. That's good. So how do we find you if we're looking for you online?
[00:40:15] Speaker B: On Facebook, man, it says Elvago, barbaraco and barbecue. That was my own one, but Facebook won't let me change it. And I was going to start a new page, but I got a lot of followers on there I don't want to jump over.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: One of them is Elvago Barbacoa.
[00:40:32] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the main one.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: That. Okay. Okay.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: I had Elvago Burger because I used to have two restaurants at the trade center. I had Elvago barbacoa barbecue, and then I had Elvago Burger across from it.
[00:40:44] Speaker A: Okay, so you changed it because you started making burgers and those started flying or what?
[00:40:47] Speaker B: No, I had two restaurants in there, too. Yeah, I had the barbecue place, and then I had the burger place. Yeah, I had both places. I didn't want nobody to get in the food court, dude, so I just took advantage.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: You took both?
[00:40:57] Speaker B: I don't want nobody else in here, man.
[00:40:58] Speaker A: Shit.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: I'm going to take all the clients.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: Take all this.
[00:41:01] Speaker B: I did, man.
We're doing good for a long time, man. But then the vibe started changing, and it just wasn't for me no more, man.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: So that's in Facebook. Instagram. You're not on Instagram much.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: I have an Instagram page for the business that a friend of mine had made. Whatever. But I never really get on. I don't really use Instagram that much. It's there. You know what I mean? But I just don't mess right on Instagram.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: And then TikTok Elvago burgers and barbecue. Right? Cool, man. Well, it was awesome having you on the show. We're almost coming to an end here.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: But, yeah. Thanks for coming on, man.
If nothing else, we'll say goodbye.
[00:41:36] Speaker B: Yeah? Yes, sir.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Appreciate it, man.
[00:41:37] Speaker B: Thank you, bro.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Have a good one.
