Thursday, 3 May 2018

From food trucks to restaurants: El Paso chefs serve up BBQ, ramen and burgers in new digs

Here are the guidelines that food trucks in El Paso need to follow to operate Wochit

The words restaurant owner certainly sound good to Randy Garcia, who opened his brick and mortar location of Chase the Taste in November of 2017 in the Northeast.

But don’t get him wrong.

Garcia still has a strong connection to the food truck that got him where he is today.

"To be honest, I didn’t start cooking until I got the food truck. I had worked in restaurants, but mostly in the front talking to people and a lot of bartending" said Garcia, whose father Jose Luis Garcia is a longtime chef, who works at the Hyatt Place and has worked at other hotels in El Paso and the El Paso Country Club.

Garcia owned his food truck for about three years before opening the restaurant at 10771 Gateway Blvd. S.

"But then low and behold it was a cool thing. I still have the food truck. It’s something that got us to this point…. She’s got a name — Betsy," he said. "It’s kind of hard to let go of her now. She’s kind of a family member."

Betsy, a pistachio green food truck accented with food and desert images, still comes out for special events and catering jobs. But Garcia said he is mostly focusing on the restaurant.

Garcia is part of a growing group of restaurateurs throughout El Paso whose culinary dreams began much the same way: experimentation with menus on food trucks with a long-term goal of opening their own brick and mortar restaurants.

Chase the Taste made the move from food truck to a restaurant in Northeast El Paso. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times

To name a few: there’s Desert Oak Barbecue, Tacoholics and Steve-O’s on the East Side. Kaedema near UTEP, Orange Cow Burger on the West Side, Porkies BBQ in Downtown El Paso and Jonbalaya and Chase the Taste on the Northeast.

Many of these business owners will tell you that starting with a food truck was the smart way.

"It’s a really good way to start and get your food out there. You can get the word out by driving around the city and you can see what the demographics are and what food sells more," said Garcia, who has 15 years experience in the restaurant business working in both national chains such as Applebee’s and Carl’s Jr. to locally owned restaurants such as Ardovino’s Desert Crossing in Sunland Park, N.M. and Crave.

Richard Funk, owner of Desert Oak Barbecue on North Zaragoza, said a food truck was the perfect vehicle to see if El Paso would accept his type of barbecue. A big follower of Austin pitmaster Aaron Franklin, Funk swears by oak wood for smoking meats. And he believes in just salt and pepper and elbow grease. Barbecue sauce, he says, is available but not necessary.

"It was a lower risk to get started that way. We could move our vehicle when we wanted to and we could test the waters. And we are glad that we went that route," said Funk, who credits his wife Suzanne for teaching him how to use a charcoal grill when they were dating.

Funk soon found that people flocked to his food truck, outside the Cowtown Boots, on the East Side, indulging in sandwiches stuffed with one-quarter pound of brisket or barbecue ribs that never seemed to last long.

He even had a sign that read "11 a.m. Friday and Saturday until it’s gone." Usually, within an hour or two.

At that time, he was smoking about five or six briskets a day, which was enough for about 200 sandwiches.

In the summer of 2017, Funk opened his barbecue restaurant on the East Side and added a few more menu items.

MORE: Smash & Roll food truck owners expand to kitchen at Born TX Raised in East El Paso

It’s been a test of trial and error for Funk to figure out how much to cook in the smoker to keep up with the clientele at the restaurant. These days, he does well if he can stay open until 3 p.m., which is still short of closing time at 8 p.m.

Funk said it’s been fun and scary to have his own brick and mortar restaurant.

"It’s kind of scary to take on some debt and all these extra bills. With the food truck, if it doesn’t make it, you can just lock it up and take it home," he said. He rents the location.

Garcia said he opened the restaurant when a good location and the funds were available at the same time. The restaurant is contemporary with rectangular seating area and a colorful mural on an accent wall that pays tribute to Betsy rolling through the city.

"I would like to work on the (food truck) more but right now I want to focus on the restaurant to provide the best food and the best experience we can provide," he said.

Garcia knew what kind of food he wanted to do from the start, something that was familiar to most palates.

"My concept was to do modern American food, comfort food but with our own twist," he said.

His menu consists of a mix of burgers, sandwiches, salads and fish tacos.

"It’s food that is familiar but with some different flavors. We use pico de gallo, chipotle, chile colorado, just a lot of different chiles, even some Hatch green chile," he said. "I really enjoy the spice."

His signature dish is for those with a hearty appetite — the Borracho Burger, which is piled with Hatch green chile, cheddar, bacon, chorizo, grilled onions, an over-easy egg, tomatoes and chipotle sauce.

Garcia, 34, said transitioning from a food truck to a restaurant has not been challenging. In fact, he says it’s easier to run an establishment.

"Everything is stationary and is here. The vendors bring the food to you and you’re not running around on a kitchen on wheels. It can be hard sometimes when people brake too hard and don’t realize a 13,000 pound truck can’t stop that fast," he said.

On top of all that, the climate is always pleasant for customers.

"It’s a controlled environment and you don’t have to deal with the elements, like wind or rain or that it’s too cold," he said.

María Cortés González may be reached at 546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @EPTMaria on Twitter.

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Monday, 23 April 2018

Sun City Craft Beer Festival in downtown El Paso

Patrons play a game of human foosball in the plaza in front of the El Paso Convention Center during the 6th Annual Sun City Craft Beer Festival Saturday in downtown El Paso. 50 breweries are represented with over 150 types of beers available for tasting, said Nahum Avila, event co-producer. The majority are local breweries but two brewers flew in from Alaska and one from Brooklyn, NY, said Emily Beardmore, sponsorship event manager. Live and DJ music spilled out of loudspeakers as patrons visited the various beer stands, socialized or played games. “You will not be bored and you will not be thirsty,” Beardmore said. General admission is $35 and includes a commemorative glass. Patrons aged 21 years and older are welcome.

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Friday, 13 April 2018

Silver Alert issued for missing El Paso woman, Beatriz Pulido-Medina, of the Lower Valley

Tips on what to do when someone you care about goes missing. Wochit

(Photo: Courtesy El Paso Police Department)

El Paso police on Thursday issued a Silver Alert for a 77-year-old woman with dementia who was last seen Wednesday evening at her Lower Valley home.

Beatriz Pulido-Medina’s family found out Thursday that she was missing, a police news release stated.

More: El Paso police need help finding missing man, Dario Augosto Caire

Pulido-Medina was last seen about 6 p.m. Wednesday at her home in the 700 block of Haverhill Road in the Lancaster area near Del Valle High School, police said.

Pulido-Medina has dementia and is believed to have walked away from her home, police said.

More: Missing person Grace Lopez of Deming disappeared while possibly on way to El Paso in 2017

Pulido-Medina is 5 feet 2 inches tall, 145 pounds, with gray-brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a light green skirt and white sandals.

Anyone with information on Pulido-Medina may call police at 832-4400 or 911.

More: New El Paso mental health crisis response team could lower police shootings and save lives

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Tuesday, 3 April 2018

FC Dallas-El Paso director brings passion, pipeline to Sun City soccer

FC Dallas-El Paso director Mike Lopez talks about how he got his start in directing the sport. Bret Bloomquist/El Paso Times

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Mike Lopez always planned to devote his life to soccer, to teaching the game and growing the sport to all ages.

That’s a path that led the 1989 Bel Air graduate to his current position as director of FC Dallas-El Paso and to director of six different leagues that operate on the east side of El Paso.

The affiliation with FC Dallas will keep him from having too much connection with the USL team coming to El Paso next year, but Lopez is excited to become one of the yet-to-be-named team’s first season-ticket holders.

Saturday morning, at Salvador Rivas Jr. Spray Park on the far east side, he watched over a park full of soccer fields, full of 6-year-olds kicking balls around, knowing that this was where almost two decades of working in the sport led him.

More: San Elizario boys soccer team has high hopes for another state title run

In 1990, "I was with the Patriots, one day the owner came in and asked me if I wanted to do a camp for El Paso Community College," Lopez said. "That’s where he had our practices, so I did it that summer. The year after that they came directly to me, El Paso Community College. Then the YMCA, then people started asking me if I did private training, group training. Yes I do. So I did that. It evolved."

Lopez runs a five-on-five league, a six-on-six league, indoor, 11-on-11 men, 11-on-11 coed and the youth league he was at Saturday. All total, more than 1,000 people participate in the leagues he runs.

The big title is the director of the FC Dallas-El Paso program, which in eight years has sent 24 players to the parent academy in Dallas. Of those, 13 have graduated to college scholarship soccer, four have signed pro contracts, and two, Alejandro Zendejas and Aaron Guillen, played for FC Dallas.

That’s exactly what FC Dallas pictured eight years ago when it founded its El Paso branch.

"I make sure we follow the curriculum FC Dallas wants us to do, make sure the kids we send out to Dallas are the right kids, that they are good at school, good as a person," Lopez said of his role. "It’s very exciting, very rewarding. There’s a real sense of accomplishment when you see one of your players sign a contract."

More: USL soccer team coming to El Paso, will play at Southwest University Park in 2019

His involvement with young soccer players starts well before that. As a child growing up in the Marmolejo projects, Christmas for him was a new soccer ball. Now he heads back to his childhood home each December and distributes 100 soccer balls to the children of Marmolejo.

"I knew soccer was my opportunity," Lopez said. "There was a lot of bad stuff going on around there, soccer kept me out of trouble. I want these children to get a soccer ball, every Christmas I go there to give back."

What Lopez also finds exciting is the USL coming to El Paso.

"It will definitely be good for El Paso," Lopez said. "There is so much talent here. FC Dallas knows how much talent is here. This is going to open up more opportunities for the talent we have in El Paso. Dallas can only take so many, there is so much more."

And so much of it has, one way or another, been nurtured by Lopez.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at 546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @bretbloomquist on Twitter.

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Monday, 5 March 2018

Bandidos’ secrets, including El Paso ties, spilled in trial by ex-national ranking member

Bandido Motorcycle Club National President Clifton "Dozer" Roberts discusses shooting involving group at Mulligans Wochit

(Photo: Courtesy El Paso Police Department)

A former ranking member of the Bandidos’ national chapter testified at a racketeering trial Thurday that two ex-biker leaders led a racketeering conspiracy that included handing down orders to commit assault.

Justin Cole Forster, 33, was a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club for 10 years, from 2006 until he was arrested in January 2016 with then-national Bandidos president Jeffrey Fay Pike and vice president, John Xavier Portillo.

Six months after his arrest, Forster pleaded guilty to racketeering-related crimes and violated one of the most important rules of the group — he turned on the organization he longed to be a part of since he was 10.

Forster spent hours on the stand on the trial’s third day, explaining the inner workings of the Bandidos, its screening process, its revered vests and patches, and how the Bandidos enforces its rules and protects its territory through intimidation and violence.

He also identified members in local and national chapters who took part in the alleged conspiracy and dealt or used drugs, including Portillo. Most are not charged in the racketeering case. Forster said he rose to be a national sergeant-at-arms in March 2011, tasked with handling security at biker gatherings and meetings and enforcing discipline — even violence — on rival bikers or wayward Bandidos members.

Brass Knuckle and Bandidos vests (Photo: Courtesy El Paso Police Department)

Several marshals kept watch as Pike and Portillo watched Forster answer questions from Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Fuchs that laid out part of the feds’ case.

Asked who is in the Bandidos, Forster said: “A bunch of guys who love to ride a motorcycle. But we’re guys who live by our way. You know, criminals.”

Forster explained it takes months or years to get into the Bandidos, which has a strict screening process requiring members who sponsor a prospect to have known that person for at least five years. Home visits are part of background checks to “make sure you are who you say you are” and to prevent police infiltration.

“We’re a criminal organization,” said Forster, who acknowledged dealing and using methamphetamine. “I mean we’re outlaws. If (police infiltrate) we’d all be in jail.”

Forster ended his day on the stand with Portillo’s lead lawyer, Mark Stevens, challenging his testimony. With his questions, Stevens tried to paint Forster as a meth addict with no credibility and with motivation to lie to get leniency for his own criminal conduct.
Stevens continues his cross-examination of Forster Friday, and Pike’s lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, may begin his.

Brass Knuckle and Bandidos motorcycle club biker vests

Pike and Portillo are charged in a 13-count indictment with racketeering crimes that include sanctioning assaults and ordering three killings, and Forster is the first ex-member to testify in their trial, which is expected to last three months.

Forster said Pike’s orders on “club business” would filter down in a manner that made it seem like Portillo issued the directives.

“He was a buffer,” Forster said of Portillo. “He was out there to take the brunt off (Pike) and to protect him. … In the public eye, it looked like it was (Portillo) running the club.”
Forster testified about some specific incidents in which he carried out orders for “club business.”

More: Rift over funds for child with cancer possibly led to fight, officer says in Bandidos case

In 2011, Pike had decided to split the Bandidos’ Western Hemisphere chapters from the Bandidos’ international chapters in Europe and Australia. Some Bandidos in West Texas opposed the split, so Forster and Portillo were summoned to Houston, where Pike dispatched Forster and others to take care of the opponents, Forster said.

Forster said he was given money to buy “burner” cell phones, and the crew took a truck instead of motorcycles and joined with other Pike-supporting nationally ranked Bandidos in Roswell, New Mexico, where they kicked out 16 members of an El Paso chapter, and took their Bandidos vests.

“We asked them if they knew who their president was,” Forster said. “If they didn’t answer right, we took their patches, and they got beat. If they answered Jeff (Pike), they didn’t get beat.”

Later, the patch of the El Paso president was given to Pike and burned, Forster said. Shortly afterward, the Bandidos national chapter had T-shirts made that said Roswell was “One kick-ass party” to memorialize the beat-down.

“We beat them up and made them ride home without seats on their bikes,” Forster said, adding that Pike and Portillo did not participate in the beatings, but witnessed them and laughed.

After his arrest in the racketeering case, Forster said other Bandidos put money in his jail commissary and the member who replaced Pike as president sent four lawyers to represent him. Forster said he turned each away, and the club stopped putting money in his commissary.

Forster also said he asked the feds to be put in the witness protection program, “because there’s no way I can live in San Antonio after this. What I did is unforgivable.”
Asked what he did, he replied, “snitching.”

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedland

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Thursday, 22 February 2018

TxDOT project underway on U.S. 54 in northeast El Paso

EL PASO, Texas – Drivers in northeast El Paso will face with closures and detours in the coming months as the Texas Department of Transportation completes the U.S. 54 Widening and Illumination Project.

An extra lane of traffic will be added from Hondo Pass Avenue to Loop 375 Transmountain, and more lighting will be added to create better visibility.

Improvements to area intersections are planned, including turnarounds at Hondo Pass Avenue, Diana Drive and Loop 375 Transmountain.

TxDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Wright said the project will change entrance and exit ramps to improve the flow of traffic.

"What we’re doing is putting the off-ramp first and the on-ramp second, so that the merge action happens on the Gateway, where traffic is much slower," said Wright. "It’s a much safer condition, and it won’t slow down traffic on the main lanes quite so much."

Area residents can expect a two-mile shared-use northbound path from Hondo Pass to Transmountain.

The $35 million project started in November, and is expected to be complete by March 2019.

To keep up with all closures and detours around El Paso click here to be directed to the KVIA traffic page.

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Monday, 12 February 2018

New Parents See Firsthand Best of Care In Region At University Medical Center And El Paso Children’s Hospital

(Photo: by Leslie Lujan)

Parents Tamara and Anthony Paris, both new to El Paso, wanted the best care for their first baby. During her 25th week of pregnancy, Tamara developed a severe case of preeclampsia, a complication putting her pregnancy at high risk. Her doctors immediately referred her to University Medical Center of El Paso’s state-of-the-art Labor and Delivery Department, where Dr. Lisa Moore, Division Chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Texas Tech, quickly moved to get Tamara’s baby delivered.

Born at 25 weeks and weighing 1 pound, 11 ounces, Noah Rae Paris was born with an unrelenting spirit. Baby Noah Rae was then transferred to the Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at El Paso Children’s Hospital.

“The teamwork between University Medical Center, Texas Tech and El Paso Children’s Hospital has been seamless,” said Anthony Paris Jr. “Knowing my wife was getting the best care from the UMC team and my child was in the hands of the best experts on the floor above me, truly has made this experience much easier to get through.”

For the last three and a half months, Noah Rae has called El Paso Children’s Hospital home. Her dedicated clinical team has watched her grow and make great strides. Mr. Paris was deployed during Noah Rae’s stay, but fortunately special cameras at the hospital (NicVIEW cameras) enabled him to be part of his daughter’s amazing and unrelenting success even from hundreds of miles away.

Noah Rae’s due date was originally scheduled for the first week of February. The Paris’, now in El Paso full time, are ready to welcome their baby girl home this week as originally planned.

Because of the coordinated expert care provided by University Medical Center, Texas Tech Physicians and El Paso Children’s Hospital’s Level IV NICU, Baby Paris is flourishing and ready to take on the world.

Members of the editorial and news staff of the USA Today Network were not involved in the creation of this content.

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