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Jorge “Monstro” Ortiz, owner of El Tiger Taqueria, in El Paso, was born for the restaurant industry. He began his kitchen training at three years old, when his grandmother taught him to peel potatoes and carrots and slice squash for soup at her Juárez restaurant, La Cabaña. At five years old, he was tagging along to local mercados to shop for produce and meat with his father, who helped operate the dining establishment. When Ortiz was nine, he began running deliveries. In middle school, he was cooking on the line and washing dishes, mostly on weekends so as to not interfere with his schoolwork. In high school he helped an uncle selling long, bacon-wrapped, whole bean–loaded, meat-blanketed Juárez-style hot dogs cradled in crusty, miniature baguette–like…

The post Inspired by His Luchador Father, This Taquero Serves Dishes That Pack a Punch appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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