Amigos Birria Tacos Venice

How LA Taco Trucks Jumped at the Chance to Feed First Responders | Eater LA

"Theodoro “Teddy” Vásquez, a charismatic taquero and owner of a birria chain with 10 branches, mobilized a food truck on the morning of Saturday, January 11 with a pot of birria de res, corn tortillas, beverages, and a crew of six after finding relief-center addresses on social media. As he says, “I started seeing all this stuff happening, people posting about donating food, water, and other things, so I thought, ‘Why not bring tacos,’” and that hopelessness soon gave way to determination likened to “the 2,500-gallon water dump that helped quell the Sunset Fire.” From 10:30 a.m. until after dark he served over 200 first responders and disaster victims with generous plates of tacos de birria de res, consomé, and café de olla; “My goal was to bring a smile to each face with tacos,” he says. He recounts being diverted by police—“I was thinking it wasn’t going to happen after the police sent me up another street where a sign said [the road was closed],”—before firefighters and attending authorities recognized the truck and gave the go-ahead. He also provided seating and a canopy for cover, and a partner who goes by YL and operates a shop on Windward Avenue in Venice set up a truck near firefighters and first responders and connected with World Central Kitchen to serve beef birria tacos and quesadillas." - Bill Esparza