THE FILMS I SAW & THE TACOS I ATE

Hello Taco Gear Fans! Let’s cut to the chase. My wife and I went to SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin this year and had a blast. A good friend gifted us two film badges, and being the film geeks we are, we were thrilled to be there.

If you don’t know what SXSW is, here’s a quick description - South by Southwest is an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987, and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. It’s HUGE! Just check it out on www.sxsw.com

WHAT THIS IS

This is a quick list of the films we saw and what we enjoyed about them along with all the tacos we ate and what we loved about them! So take this as it is, a fun Taco Gear reference of our weekend and some taco photos! 

THE 6 FILMS I SAW

Barbecue (Documentary) - We appreciated the fact that this documentary led us through 12 countries showing each of their approaches to the art of roasting meat on fire. Great stuff.

Baby Driver - THIS film was so much fun to watch. From the mind of Edgar Wright, the guy that brought us Hot Fuzz and Sean of the Dead, came a refreshing take on an entertaining film. We instantly felt like we were watching a soon to be cult classic. It was also cool to watch this world premier with Jon Hamm and other actors from the film in the audience.

Small Town Crime - This was a very well written crime drama and one of our favorites. The film focused on the story, the characters and was just an overall badass movie. At the time of the screening, it wasn’t set to hit theaters at all, but since then has been purchased by a big company who plans to release it in theaters.

The Most Hated Women in America - This was based on the true story of Madalyn Murray O’Hair. If you don’t know who she is, she was the founder of American Atheists. The story was very interesting and one we hadn’t heard of.

Nobody Speak: Hulk Hugan, Gawker and Trials of a Free Press - This was a last minute viewing we decided to watch to kill time and boy was it interesting. I’ll even say it was eye opening. This will be on Netflix eventually. If anything about the title interests you, you should definitely check it out.

LIFE - This was the closing film of SXSW. It was awesome and pretty much SCI-FI at it’s best. There’s not a whole lot to say about this other than GO SEE IT! This was also a world premier and it was also fun watching it with the cast in the audience which included Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds.

TACOS I ATE

SXSW TACO MEETUP

First on the list was the many many tacos at the annual SXSW Taco Meetup. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and way too hungry to snap as many pictures as I wanted. There were many taco vendors there who provided so many delicious tacos, but I was able to snap a photo of this one (carnitas) along with the custom koozies we designed for the event.

UNCLE JULIO'S

The second round of tacos on the list was from Uncle Julio’s in downtown Austin. Running around the convention center all day for different events and speakers had us in a pinch, so we ran across the street and sampled these tacos. The meat was really good (carnitas)

JOE'S BAKERY AND COFFEE SHOP

On multiple mornings we went to Joe’s Bakery and Coffee Shop to have some breakfast tacos. It’s no wonder why this place is considered a classic in Austin. These are the best breakfast tacos in Austin according to my taste buds. In this photo, you see 4 (that’s right) 4 breakfast tacos I had. Chicharrones, Barbacoa, and 2 Chorizo Egg & Bacon (my favorite).

TACOS EL QUETZAL

We were killing some time between film screenings and did some exploring. While exploring we found Tacos El Quetzal (trailer) and had some of their Pastor. These were also pretty damn tasty. We also witnessed the workers give a meal to a homeless man that walked by. It was great to see that. Oh, and yes, that's our TACOS trucker hat in the background!

KESOS TACO HOUSE

Kesos Taco House had reached out to us a while back about some custom menu and shirt designs. We had never met them in person, until this weekend. The owner Jhonatan Aldama saw we were in town and invited us to stop by. Jhonatan was super cool and very down to earth. Their tacos were very good. The pork had a lot of flavor and their salsa bar was badass. 

VALENTINA'S TEXT MEX BBQ

FINALLY, we arrived at Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ. This place is my absolute favorite place in Austin. Their brisket tacos are the best I have ever had. Coupled with some smoked corn, it’s safe to say my taste buds, stomach and taco loving heart were extremely satisfied.

THE CHINGONA BY MY SIDE

The best part about this entire journey was that I had the opportunity to experience it with my wife during our 5 year wedding anniversary. For those of you who don’t know, my wife is Elena Flores, founder of www.SewBonita.com. She’s a huge part of what keeps me going at TacoGear.com. Her never ending support is out of this world!

WHAT I LEFT OUT

In addition to everything above, we did get to see the bands Chicano Batman and Nightly which were both amazing. Two of the other major highlights was seeing Gary Vaynerchuck and Casey Neistat speak. Those guys awesome and extremely motivational in their own unique ways. We’re huge fans! Oh yes, there was also a plethora of free shirts, bags, buttons, sunglasses, stickers and so much more at the trade shows and everywhere else.

So there it is, my SXSW experience focused around film and tacos. 

We’ve got some fun stuff lined up for TacoGear.com so stay tuned. Thanks for sticking around to read this and please share it with all your taco loving friends!

"Long Live the Taco!"

Gerald Flores
Founder | Designer | Taco Lover