December 27, 2024 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, line Fred from by Tom Rue the two
two five. You're up?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, hello mister Barry, Yes, sir Fred, Yeah, I was
just calling to talk about a little a little bit
of music. I guess. I'm sure you know the song
Man of Constant So yes, yeah, it was played in
that in that crazy movie. But did you know that
there was a rock version of that song?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It was a Soggy Mountain Boys. What is it? Soggy
Mountain Boys? Yeah, soggy bottom Boys. Uh, yes, I do.
Who did it?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
The charm City Devils?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay? Is it a good version? Oh?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I think so. I mean when I first heard it,
I thought I lost my other love and mind that.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I have a theory, Fred, that two thirds of the
people that know that song know it because of the
movie Old Brother Where Art though, which was really good?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, for sure, really good.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You got it? Roman, All right, here we go. Hold on, Fred,
I haven't heard this kind of swamp rock feel to it.
I mean, and you know when it kind of minister Boss,
(01:35):
it goes kind of headbanger. It comes out of swamp
rock and goes headbanger. I like that. This is like
what thirty eight Special could have been. Yeah, like Asus Spades. Uh,
you're not thinking a lemon. You're nothing of Motor Hill. Yeah. Yeah,
(01:57):
although motor that doesn't have a Southern vibe. This has
a little bit of a swampy somewhere between. Somewhere between
Wayne Tubs and Tom Petty. Might be along the It
might be on the Flora Bama coast or something. Pirates
of the Caribbean. H Anyway, why'd you bring that up? Fred?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh? I don't know. I just thought about we were talking.
You were talking about music one day, I don't know,
last week or something, and that song jumped into my
into my mind.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I love the fact that the phone call. You know, Fred,
My boys are now fifteen and sixteen, and so they
know that when we go places, people are gonna come
up and say hello. And they've stopped saying it. But
they used to say to me. They'd say, Dad, you
know that guy? And I say no. He said, why
did he just come up and start talking to you?
And I said, well he listens to me. Well how's
(02:52):
he know what you look like? He looked me up
and I say, but these people talk to you like
they know you. I said, Michael, if your dad does
his job. Well, then that's the way I want people
to feel that way. The way we do our show.
The stage is not elevated. Right, we're in the round
and everyone is around us like break dancing and everyone.
(03:13):
Well it sounded good, you know, because you're in the round.
So everyone is around and we're all there together. Right,
we're at the bar and everybody has a seat, nobody's
higher or lower than anyone else, and we're talking about
things that people feel comfortable with. So great call, Fred,
Where do you live in Baton Rouge?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Where they live?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Since? And where's that?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
God? I don't even know what to me about subdivision?
It's near what's hospital?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Oh? Okay? Are you from Baton Rouge originally?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
No? No, no, North Carolina? Where Greensboro?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
You don't like to ask answering personal questions, Fred, I
like that. Do you know there's a new head of
the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce. She's our friend.
That's how I know, Anna Johnson. Oh no, sir, you
should call up there and say I hear y'all have
a new director and she's really good, Anna Johnson. Fred,
thanks for the call, my man. I love that he
(04:11):
just picked up the phone. Hey, have you heard this song?
That's perfect to me? Brother Bill and Brian, you're up?
Go ahead?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Hey, amen, what you just said? You know why you're
so personable because I feel like your family, Michael, and
that's how Rush used to be. And I know we
don't like you to compare to Rush. That's exactly how
you are. You tell us about your kids. You don't
talk about your dog. I guess you don't have a dog,
but your gun.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I mean, you talk about everything.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
That's why we all love you. But anyway, hold on.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I just want to make something to her because people
say this often. It's not that I don't want to
be compared to Rush. That's the highest honor. I feel
awkward if someone I don't want anybody thinking that I
myself do that because that is presumptuous and I am
not a humble man or immodest, but I feel that
that would be a little bit overstepping my bounds, or
(05:00):
maybe a lot over. But I appreciate that I got it.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And I never would have found you if we wouldn't
have lost Rush, because I was just hooked the Rush
and I needed someone else. Although you're not on between
eleven and two that's how I found you. I'm so
glad I did. But so Gringoes, Old's Jerky, and oh,
your your knowledge, you know I'm in the convenience store business.
Your knowledge of Aga Khani's and the Smileyes, I'm just fascinated.
(05:26):
You're just so right on a lot. And that's another thing.
Rush knew what he was talking about, and so do you.
But tell me about Gringoes. There's a lot of Mexican restaurants.
What's your what's your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, full disclosure. The owner, Russell Lebara, is a very
very close friend of mine. He's he's like family. He
really is family, as is Jonathan Kim, his wife Monica,
his kids, Derek, I don't know Stephen as well, but
his son Derek, and Skyler his wife. I mean, the
whole family. I know all the cousins, brothers, Moises, Roland, Chris,
(06:00):
his sister, the whole family, like they are family. You know.
I will tell you something that I've told Russell over
the years, and my wife said it's rude the way
I say it, but I'm going to say it and
understand that I mean it as a compliment. I don't
understand why they're so successful, but of the text mechs
(06:21):
empires in Houston. I don't think there is a tex
Mex restaurant in Houston, and Taco Bell doesn't count. I
don't think there's a tex Mex restaurant in the greater
Houston area that does a higher gross sales than Gringos
and Jimmy Chungo's. It's the same guy, same company that
it just kind of changed the concept a little. And
(06:43):
I say to him, Russell, I don't understand what you
do so much better. Is it a lower price point? Maybe,
but guess what, there are people with a lower price point.
Is it your location? Maybe other people could locate right
next to you and they're in you know, they're on Fuquay,
they're out off Mushki. So it's very hard to be
(07:07):
in all different areas of Houston. They're League City. You know,
if you're sitting in New York and you're trying to
sell product to League City, you think that League City
in Texas City would be the same. No, they're very
different demographics. You might think that League City and Tomball
are the same. No, they might be equidistant from town,
but they're very different. Magnolia is a little different than Tomball.
(07:28):
The Woodlands is different than Cyprus. The Woodlands is its
own beast. So I don't know what he does so
much better, but I know he does it better on
a larger scale than anybody, and nobody knows they do.
I think one hundred and thirty five million dollars a
year in sales, that's an insane amount of money. Insane,
(07:50):
and he's got to be good, or Tilman would go
into that space. The fact that Tilman doesn't go into
that space, I think they've closed the Cadillac bars that.
The fact that Tilman does not go into that space
tells you something right and how good he is. And
when I say I don't understand why they're so successful,
it is because they're so good at what they do
without having to yell at you about it or announce.
(08:12):
They're just that good every meal. It's impressive. I mean,
it's overwhelming. It's it's Tom Brady good. Elvis would be
eighty seven. You're just okay now. Indeed, today's In his birthday,
July of nineteen seventy five, two years before his death,
(08:34):
Elvis was shopping for friends and family at memphisis Madison Cadillac.
His favorite dealer, a bank teller. One miny l person
was admiring Elvis's Limo parked outside. When the man himself
wandered over. He took her into the showroom and said
pick one out, and then he picked up the tab.
In total, he dropped one hundred forty thousand dollars that day.
(08:57):
That's the king right there. One hundred forty dollars in
nineteen seventy five. That's a lot of money today. Wo man,
there's a whole lot of money back then. Baytown Lee
eure up.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yes, sir, you were talking about the restaurants that are
owned by Russell Ibarra. Yeah, forty five years ago. I'm
sixty five. But in my twenties and between seventeen and
twenty I used to drive from Baytown to Pasadena to
(09:33):
eat at a restaurant. I can't remember the name, it's
been too long ago. But on the backside of the
building it said Roy and vanzie Ibarra.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Oh, it had been El Toro.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
No, it was not El Toro in those days. It
was Roy and Vanjie Ibarra, unless it was the unfranchised elto.
Is that what they called it?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Well, they didn't French that they owned it. El Toro
wasn't a franchise. They owned those locations.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Okay, see, I didn't know that. I know the El Toro.
Now Here in Baytown there was a family called the Morenos,
and the Morenos ran Levante Monc and they sold their
restaurant to El Toro. But in the day back then,
you couldn't get into Wante Monc on Sunday. The line
(10:25):
went down the building and down the street, and everyone
wanted to eat at Morenos. So Signora Moreno was married
to Virginia. I can't remember her maiden name. But anyway,
those two families were restauranteurs and storekeepers here in Baytown
(10:50):
back in the back in the fifties and forties. So
I'm not sure if Roy and Vangie Ibarra sold to
El Toro or not, but I know that the the
that the Morenos did, and I can't I honestly can't
remember the name of the restaurant in Pasadena, but I
wondered if Russell Ebarra was their son.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
It has to be, yeah, it has to be.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And we drove over there to Roy and Vangie's. They
had recipes that wouldn't quit. The food was delicious, and
the Marinos were the same way they had they had
And when their restaurant closed is when we started going
to Pasadena.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Uh uh.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Zamora Senor that was mister Morino's wife. She was in
Virginia's Zamora and the Zamora family and the Marino family
had this restaurant there in partnership and it was the
finest food you could eat in Baytown. And when they closed,
that's when I started going to Pasadena. And so now
it's all franchised, you know, to El Toro or whatever
(11:53):
is Russell uh By a part of the Eltoral franchise.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, so yeah, I know you're saying franchise, which is
driving me crazy. But so his dad and mom had
the El Toro restaurants and they had the still do
the Mattador brand, Tomali's and chips, tortillas and chips and
those sorts of things, and they still do. They just
(12:20):
bought like a six million dollar Have I shown you this.
They just bought I think a six or eight million
dollar tortilla machine. And this thing looks like an assembly
line from General Motors. It starts with one end on
one end with flour and it goes to the other end. Oh,
(12:41):
I just got a message from Russell. His dad's cousin
was Roy. He owned Ricardo's. That's what you're thinking of
is Ricardo's.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Ah so yea, that's what.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
You're thinking of Ricardo's. And Russell said that was his
dad's cousin. But anyway, so Russussell's parents owned El Toro
and all the kids grew up in the business and
are still in the business. His sister still in the business,
his brother Moses, they're all still at El Toro. Is
that El Toro? His brother Roland is there, and then
(13:19):
he's got other brothers. Troy I think has one, and
then he's got a brother Victor, and he's got a
brother that lives in Palestine. They are all they all
went off and they went off and did their own
and then Russell started gringoes in was it one Ramon? Oh,
(13:41):
here we go. My dad's cousin was Roy. He owned
Ricardo's in Pasadena. Moreno's is today the El Toro tortilla
plant and Commissary. So that's that Russell left. Russell ran
the tortilla factory and then he starts guarded his own restaurant,
which was greenos in one, and now that has I
(14:05):
think they do one hundred and fifty million dollars a
year in revenues, which if you think about how competitive
that space is, that is I'm just I'm blown away
when I when I look at how difficult it is
to succeed in a restaurant that you can be there for.
So my friend Arturo Buada, he owns Artural badas on
(14:31):
I think it's on Del Moni. It's behind Regel's Barbecue, which,
by the way, the best ruben in the entire city. Well,
Kenyan Ziggi's is good too, but on Thursdays they do
a reuben at kennyan Ziggy's, I mean at Regels Russ
Regel veteran right there at Voss and Del Money, and
(14:54):
they only do it on one day and they sell
out every time, and it is phenomenal. Mind. Brandon Leighew
and I were talking last night and he said, is
this the best ruben in town? I said, well, there's
two fantastic rubens in town, and one of them is
Kenny and Ziggy's, and the other one a very different
style of ruben, more of a barbecue style. Ruben is
at Regels. But anyway, directly behind there is Arturo Boadas.
(15:18):
Arturo had Besso, he had not Selero. What was it?
It was named the number one restaurant in the country
by Esquire magazines. Celero, oh, how can I not forget this? Anyway,
Then they had Basso, Then he had Arturo's in Uptown,
and now he has Arturo Boadas, which is smaller, and
(15:40):
it's him and his nephew is the lead waiter. And
Arturo's in the kitchen and they have a small staff
in small bistro style place, and he kills it. Every
meal is phenomenal. But literally every meal Arturo makes. What
has to be the most difficult thing is to builds
where your restaurant can kill it for every plate, for
(16:07):
every customer, night after night, day after day, with the
interchangeable parts of different cooks coming in, different bus boys,
different waiters, different you think about, Okay, here it is
Victor owns Iguana Joe's, and I think that's out North
Houston somewhere like Barber's Hill or somewhere there. And Troy
(16:31):
owns Johnny Tomas Tomamas, you know those Hispanic families like that,
the big Hispanic entrepreneurial families. You don't see that the
way you used to. They'd own restaurants, the whole family
would come up in it, and then they go off and
start new families. There's a lot of those in Houston.
It's kind of a downer of a song, I will
admit that. But he's an Irishman. You know, so many
(16:56):
irishmen had to leave Ironman because the economy collapsed over
a long period of time, and they ended up mostly
in Europe and the United States. And he's gone to
France and he's sitting down beside a graveside of some
guy that Willie McBride. Listen, sweetheart, did you leave us
(17:18):
wife or a sweetheart behind?
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And some faithful heart is your shrine? I'll do you
died back in nineteen sixteen, and that faithful heart? Are
you forever.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Nineteen it's so beautiful?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Or are you stranger without even name?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Because when someone dies young, they remained that age for
you for the rest of your life. So he's talking
about the photo she has this day and faith in
the brown, an old photograph, torn battered and stained and faded,
(18:07):
the yellow with an old coaltee stains strong. He's sitting
down at the graveside of a man he never met
and wondering what could have become of his life. And
is there some woman back in County Court missing him today?
Has she moved on? Is he forever remembered his man?
(18:32):
Irish poetry is the best. Don't even come at me.
They got another one called The Grand Affair. It's about
an irishman who's gone to Europe and he's made a
lot of money. He's become very successful, but he remembers
the early days when when he was struggling. You got it,
Oh man, this is thank y'all for indulging me. But
(18:54):
this is this is really deep, good stuff. I'm coming
through the glass. Play the Grand Affair. I got it? Bono. Yes,
we play a lot of YouTube. So everybody knows there.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Is a Jewish diaspora, the Sephardics who fled in the
Middle East of Northern Africa, and the Asconaism who fled
Germany obviously Russia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, but it's not been
(19:33):
as widely written about, but it should be the Irish diaspora.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
And we know the Irish came here. You know the
blood the Hudson flows green. The biggest Saint Patrick's Day
parade is in New York City. Ever tell you that story?
Moone was living in England. I said, oh, I'm just
a puddle jump over to Dublin. I'm gonna go to
the Saint pat Street Stay parade in Ireland. I've got
(20:03):
Irish blood in me. This is gonna be great. And
you get there and our Independence Day parade in Orange
was bigger, and I'm standing around, going, what the living
hell on Saint Patrick's Day? Every year I see in
New York it's the biggest parade of the year. What's
going on? And They're like, we're Irish. We don't need
(20:26):
to celebrate it. We're Irish three and sixty five days
a year. Everyone's Irish. What are we gonna do to Cera?
Speaker 6 (20:33):
We're really, really, really really really Irish.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
If you're Irish in a town that's Italian and Jewish
and French and Dominican and Puerto Rican, I'm all right.
But if you're Irish in Ireland, you don't need to
do that. Isn't that funny? But the Irish diaspora, because
the economy collapsed for so long they're doing better now,
(20:56):
but you had to leave to find you from Orange.
That was the case for a long time. You had
to leave to go somewhere. And there is a certain
kindred spirit, a fraternity to leaving, having to leave, not
wanting to leave, but having to leave to go and
(21:19):
find work and send money home and that sort of thing.
And a lot of the Irish went to Amsterdam. It
was very popular because of the ocean going traffic and Amsterdam,
well Rotterdam really, but Amsterdam is a big seaport. So
they would come over on the ships that they'd be
working on and hop off and they would find work.
(21:40):
You know, the Dutch are great businessmen, and they became
the Mexicans of Amsterdam. They became the working class, you
know that they became the day laborers and those sorts
of things, and so a lot of the music that
came out of that, which makes sense, you know, Mexicans
(22:02):
coming to this country and to a lesser degree, Hunt Duran,
Guatemalan's El Salvadorans and the culture and all that sort
of stuff that's not unique to Texas or the United States.
That you go to a restaurant in Norway and your
your hostess or your waiter is from Sweden and they're
trying to get the hell out of Sweden. But they
can't get citizenship yet, so they've come and legally and
(22:23):
they're having to earn there. It goes on all over
the world. Uh, LeAnn, you're up, go Leanne, you're up.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Go there.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Well, Warren, you're up.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Go.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
It's a small thing. I love you, but you got
to correct this. It's not Muski road, it's Miski Road.
I grew up at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in the Heights
and mister misk I was taught as a young boy
to be highly respected and a great great man. I
always had to go up and shake his hand. But
I think I founders out there. But it's kind of
(23:01):
like kuk and Doll. Nobody calls it kok and dogs,
kirkan doll. It's not Mushki road Mishki road, but I like.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
The way Muskie sounds better. No, please, don't please.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
I don't come to Erne, Texas, right.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
No, But that's why we say Arne. When Shirley Q.
Looker first started saying Erne, everybody in Orange now says Arne.
And we know it's wrong. But it became this fun
thing that we do. How about this, how about from
now on, every time I say mushki because I like
to sound a moushki, you'll go, damn it, he knows better, right, Okay,
that I'm gonna put you know, I'm gonna put mushki
(23:41):
Warren right here, and I'm gonna think of mister Mishk
living on muski. How about that?
Speaker 6 (23:46):
I thinks out there, I really do. I think they
were the earliest.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
But anyway, well, no, I have the greatest respect for
mister Mishki who lived on mushki. And that's how that's
how we'll do that. And that'll be for Warren. See,
that'll be our little inside you know how Carolnette would
pull her her her ear. From now on you'll know.
And by the way, I've been told this before, but
by the way, you'll know that when I say muski,
you'll go, that dumb ass, how long has he lived here?
(24:10):
He doesn't know how to pronounce it? And you'll go, oh,
he does. It's just an irritating thing he does. And
that'll be it, right, Alex, you're up.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Go I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
I was laughing at the cook and doll joke. My
mom says cook and doll.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And the way he said cook and doll was pretty funny.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
That's funny. I've not heard that. Yeah, look, Mike, I wondered.
I wondered if Michael, I wanted to thank you for
your sponsors. You know they're great people. Uh, you created
a niche of It's like a circle. It's like a
family of honest businesses that we can go out and
deal with. I gotta tell you, as I'm using almost
everybody Ashley has bent over backwards for us on our.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Business credit card.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
Yes, Connie, what what? What a stellar young lady? Oh
my god? Uh Michael Petris, Uh my father in law?
What he what? An old man?
Speaker 6 (25:01):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He showed me your fall in law is the Army veterans. Yeah, yeah,
I knew it was the daughter in law or the
daughter I guess who had sent me a film and
and the trainer he sent out there? Uh, Myra is
herself a veteran, right and you follow?
Speaker 7 (25:21):
What an aesthetically pleasing young lady?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Who's that? Oh yeah, beautiful and a hell of a trainer.
A hell of a trainer. Absolutely wow? What a great
I really do I appreciate so much when you support
our sponsors, and I really love it when you send
me feedback on It makes me so happy.
All right, line Fred from by Tom Rue the two
two five. You're up?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, hello mister Barry, Yes, sir Fred, Yeah, I was
just calling to talk about a little a little bit
of music. I guess. I'm sure you know the song
Man of Constant So yes, yeah, it was played in
that in that crazy movie. But did you know that
there was a rock version of that song?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It was a Soggy Mountain Boys. What is it? Soggy
Mountain Boys? Yeah, soggy bottom Boys. Uh, yes, I do.
Who did it?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
The charm City Devils?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay? Is it a good version? Oh?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I think so. I mean when I first heard it,
I thought I lost my other love and mind that.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I have a theory, Fred, that two thirds of the
people that know that song know it because of the
movie Old Brother Where Art though, which was really good?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, for sure, really good.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You got it? Roman, All right, here we go. Hold on, Fred,
I haven't heard this kind of swamp rock feel to it.
I mean, and you know when it kind of minister Boss,
(01:35):
it goes kind of headbanger. It comes out of swamp
rock and goes headbanger. I like that. This is like
what thirty eight Special could have been. Yeah, like Asus Spades. Uh,
you're not thinking a lemon. You're nothing of Motor Hill. Yeah. Yeah,
(01:57):
although motor that doesn't have a Southern vibe. This has
a little bit of a swampy somewhere between. Somewhere between
Wayne Tubs and Tom Petty. Might be along the It
might be on the Flora Bama coast or something. Pirates
of the Caribbean. H Anyway, why'd you bring that up? Fred?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh? I don't know. I just thought about we were talking.
You were talking about music one day, I don't know,
last week or something, and that song jumped into my
into my mind.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I love the fact that the phone call. You know, Fred,
My boys are now fifteen and sixteen, and so they
know that when we go places, people are gonna come
up and say hello. And they've stopped saying it. But
they used to say to me. They'd say, Dad, you
know that guy? And I say no. He said, why
did he just come up and start talking to you?
And I said, well he listens to me. Well how's
(02:52):
he know what you look like? He looked me up
and I say, but these people talk to you like
they know you. I said, Michael, if your dad does
his job. Well, then that's the way I want people
to feel that way. The way we do our show.
The stage is not elevated. Right, we're in the round
and everyone is around us like break dancing and everyone.
(03:13):
Well it sounded good, you know, because you're in the round.
So everyone is around and we're all there together. Right,
we're at the bar and everybody has a seat, nobody's
higher or lower than anyone else, and we're talking about
things that people feel comfortable with. So great call, Fred,
Where do you live in Baton Rouge?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Where they live?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Since? And where's that?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
God? I don't even know what to me about subdivision?
It's near what's hospital?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Oh? Okay? Are you from Baton Rouge originally?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
No? No, no, North Carolina? Where Greensboro?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
You don't like to ask answering personal questions, Fred, I
like that. Do you know there's a new head of
the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce. She's our friend.
That's how I know, Anna Johnson. Oh no, sir, you
should call up there and say I hear y'all have
a new director and she's really good, Anna Johnson. Fred,
thanks for the call, my man. I love that he
(04:11):
just picked up the phone. Hey, have you heard this song?
That's perfect to me? Brother Bill and Brian, you're up?
Go ahead?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Hey, amen, what you just said? You know why you're
so personable because I feel like your family, Michael, and
that's how Rush used to be. And I know we
don't like you to compare to Rush. That's exactly how
you are. You tell us about your kids. You don't
talk about your dog. I guess you don't have a dog,
but your gun.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I mean, you talk about everything.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
That's why we all love you. But anyway, hold on.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I just want to make something to her because people
say this often. It's not that I don't want to
be compared to Rush. That's the highest honor. I feel
awkward if someone I don't want anybody thinking that I
myself do that because that is presumptuous and I am
not a humble man or immodest, but I feel that
that would be a little bit overstepping my bounds, or
(05:00):
maybe a lot over. But I appreciate that I got it.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And I never would have found you if we wouldn't
have lost Rush, because I was just hooked the Rush
and I needed someone else. Although you're not on between
eleven and two that's how I found you. I'm so
glad I did. But so Gringoes, Old's Jerky, and oh,
your your knowledge, you know I'm in the convenience store business.
Your knowledge of Aga Khani's and the Smileyes, I'm just fascinated.
(05:26):
You're just so right on a lot. And that's another thing.
Rush knew what he was talking about, and so do you.
But tell me about Gringoes. There's a lot of Mexican restaurants.
What's your what's your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, full disclosure. The owner, Russell Lebara, is a very
very close friend of mine. He's he's like family. He
really is family, as is Jonathan Kim, his wife Monica,
his kids, Derek, I don't know Stephen as well, but
his son Derek, and Skyler his wife. I mean, the
whole family. I know all the cousins, brothers, Moises, Roland, Chris,
(06:00):
his sister, the whole family, like they are family. You know.
I will tell you something that I've told Russell over
the years, and my wife said it's rude the way
I say it, but I'm going to say it and
understand that I mean it as a compliment. I don't
understand why they're so successful, but of the text mechs
(06:21):
empires in Houston. I don't think there is a tex
Mex restaurant in Houston, and Taco Bell doesn't count. I
don't think there's a tex Mex restaurant in the greater
Houston area that does a higher gross sales than Gringos
and Jimmy Chungo's. It's the same guy, same company that
it just kind of changed the concept a little. And
(06:43):
I say to him, Russell, I don't understand what you
do so much better. Is it a lower price point? Maybe,
but guess what, there are people with a lower price point.
Is it your location? Maybe other people could locate right
next to you and they're in you know, they're on Fuquay,
they're out off Mushki. So it's very hard to be
(07:07):
in all different areas of Houston. They're League City. You know,
if you're sitting in New York and you're trying to
sell product to League City, you think that League City
in Texas City would be the same. No, they're very
different demographics. You might think that League City and Tomball
are the same. No, they might be equidistant from town,
but they're very different. Magnolia is a little different than Tomball.
(07:28):
The Woodlands is different than Cyprus. The Woodlands is its
own beast. So I don't know what he does so
much better, but I know he does it better on
a larger scale than anybody, and nobody knows they do.
I think one hundred and thirty five million dollars a
year in sales, that's an insane amount of money. Insane,
(07:50):
and he's got to be good, or Tilman would go
into that space. The fact that Tilman doesn't go into
that space, I think they've closed the Cadillac bars that.
The fact that Tilman does not go into that space
tells you something right and how good he is. And
when I say I don't understand why they're so successful,
it is because they're so good at what they do
without having to yell at you about it or announce.
(08:12):
They're just that good every meal. It's impressive. I mean,
it's overwhelming. It's it's Tom Brady good. Elvis would be
eighty seven. You're just okay now. Indeed, today's In his birthday,
July of nineteen seventy five, two years before his death,
(08:34):
Elvis was shopping for friends and family at memphisis Madison Cadillac.
His favorite dealer, a bank teller. One miny l person
was admiring Elvis's Limo parked outside. When the man himself
wandered over. He took her into the showroom and said
pick one out, and then he picked up the tab.
In total, he dropped one hundred forty thousand dollars that day.
(08:57):
That's the king right there. One hundred forty dollars in
nineteen seventy five. That's a lot of money today. Wo man,
there's a whole lot of money back then. Baytown Lee
eure up.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yes, sir, you were talking about the restaurants that are
owned by Russell Ibarra. Yeah, forty five years ago. I'm
sixty five. But in my twenties and between seventeen and
twenty I used to drive from Baytown to Pasadena to
(09:33):
eat at a restaurant. I can't remember the name, it's
been too long ago. But on the backside of the
building it said Roy and vanzie Ibarra.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Oh, it had been El Toro.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
No, it was not El Toro in those days. It
was Roy and Vanjie Ibarra, unless it was the unfranchised elto.
Is that what they called it?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Well, they didn't French that they owned it. El Toro
wasn't a franchise. They owned those locations.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Okay, see, I didn't know that. I know the El Toro.
Now Here in Baytown there was a family called the Morenos,
and the Morenos ran Levante Monc and they sold their
restaurant to El Toro. But in the day back then,
you couldn't get into Wante Monc on Sunday. The line
(10:25):
went down the building and down the street, and everyone
wanted to eat at Morenos. So Signora Moreno was married
to Virginia. I can't remember her maiden name. But anyway,
those two families were restauranteurs and storekeepers here in Baytown
(10:50):
back in the back in the fifties and forties. So
I'm not sure if Roy and Vangie Ibarra sold to
El Toro or not, but I know that the the
that the Morenos did, and I can't I honestly can't
remember the name of the restaurant in Pasadena, but I
wondered if Russell Ebarra was their son.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
It has to be, yeah, it has to be.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And we drove over there to Roy and Vangie's. They
had recipes that wouldn't quit. The food was delicious, and
the Marinos were the same way they had they had
And when their restaurant closed is when we started going
to Pasadena.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Uh uh.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Zamora Senor that was mister Morino's wife. She was in
Virginia's Zamora and the Zamora family and the Marino family
had this restaurant there in partnership and it was the
finest food you could eat in Baytown. And when they closed,
that's when I started going to Pasadena. And so now
it's all franchised, you know, to El Toro or whatever
(11:53):
is Russell uh By a part of the Eltoral franchise.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, so yeah, I know you're saying franchise, which is
driving me crazy. But so his dad and mom had
the El Toro restaurants and they had the still do
the Mattador brand, Tomali's and chips, tortillas and chips and
those sorts of things, and they still do. They just
(12:20):
bought like a six million dollar Have I shown you this.
They just bought I think a six or eight million
dollar tortilla machine. And this thing looks like an assembly
line from General Motors. It starts with one end on
one end with flour and it goes to the other end. Oh,
(12:41):
I just got a message from Russell. His dad's cousin
was Roy. He owned Ricardo's. That's what you're thinking of
is Ricardo's.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Ah so yea, that's what.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
You're thinking of Ricardo's. And Russell said that was his
dad's cousin. But anyway, so Russussell's parents owned El Toro
and all the kids grew up in the business and
are still in the business. His sister still in the business,
his brother Moses, they're all still at El Toro. Is
that El Toro? His brother Roland is there, and then
(13:19):
he's got other brothers. Troy I think has one, and
then he's got a brother Victor, and he's got a
brother that lives in Palestine. They are all they all
went off and they went off and did their own
and then Russell started gringoes in was it one Ramon? Oh,
(13:41):
here we go. My dad's cousin was Roy. He owned
Ricardo's in Pasadena. Moreno's is today the El Toro tortilla
plant and Commissary. So that's that Russell left. Russell ran
the tortilla factory and then he starts guarded his own restaurant,
which was greenos in one, and now that has I
(14:05):
think they do one hundred and fifty million dollars a
year in revenues, which if you think about how competitive
that space is, that is I'm just I'm blown away
when I when I look at how difficult it is
to succeed in a restaurant that you can be there for.
So my friend Arturo Buada, he owns Artural badas on
(14:31):
I think it's on Del Moni. It's behind Regel's Barbecue, which,
by the way, the best ruben in the entire city. Well,
Kenyan Ziggi's is good too, but on Thursdays they do
a reuben at kennyan Ziggy's, I mean at Regels Russ
Regel veteran right there at Voss and Del Money, and
(14:54):
they only do it on one day and they sell
out every time, and it is phenomenal. Mind. Brandon Leighew
and I were talking last night and he said, is
this the best ruben in town? I said, well, there's
two fantastic rubens in town, and one of them is
Kenny and Ziggy's, and the other one a very different
style of ruben, more of a barbecue style. Ruben is
at Regels. But anyway, directly behind there is Arturo Boadas.
(15:18):
Arturo had Besso, he had not Selero. What was it?
It was named the number one restaurant in the country
by Esquire magazines. Celero, oh, how can I not forget this? Anyway,
Then they had Basso, Then he had Arturo's in Uptown,
and now he has Arturo Boadas, which is smaller, and
(15:40):
it's him and his nephew is the lead waiter. And
Arturo's in the kitchen and they have a small staff
in small bistro style place, and he kills it. Every
meal is phenomenal. But literally every meal Arturo makes. What
has to be the most difficult thing is to builds
where your restaurant can kill it for every plate, for
(16:07):
every customer, night after night, day after day, with the
interchangeable parts of different cooks coming in, different bus boys,
different waiters, different you think about, Okay, here it is
Victor owns Iguana Joe's, and I think that's out North
Houston somewhere like Barber's Hill or somewhere there. And Troy
(16:31):
owns Johnny Tomas Tomamas, you know those Hispanic families like that,
the big Hispanic entrepreneurial families. You don't see that the
way you used to. They'd own restaurants, the whole family
would come up in it, and then they go off and
start new families. There's a lot of those in Houston.
It's kind of a downer of a song, I will
admit that. But he's an Irishman. You know, so many
(16:56):
irishmen had to leave Ironman because the economy collapsed over
a long period of time, and they ended up mostly
in Europe and the United States. And he's gone to
France and he's sitting down beside a graveside of some
guy that Willie McBride. Listen, sweetheart, did you leave us
(17:18):
wife or a sweetheart behind?
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And some faithful heart is your shrine? I'll do you
died back in nineteen sixteen, and that faithful heart? Are
you forever.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Nineteen it's so beautiful?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Or are you stranger without even name?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Because when someone dies young, they remained that age for
you for the rest of your life. So he's talking
about the photo she has this day and faith in
the brown, an old photograph, torn battered and stained and faded,
(18:07):
the yellow with an old coaltee stains strong. He's sitting
down at the graveside of a man he never met
and wondering what could have become of his life. And
is there some woman back in County Court missing him today?
Has she moved on? Is he forever remembered his man?
(18:32):
Irish poetry is the best. Don't even come at me.
They got another one called The Grand Affair. It's about
an irishman who's gone to Europe and he's made a
lot of money. He's become very successful, but he remembers
the early days when when he was struggling. You got it,
Oh man, this is thank y'all for indulging me. But
(18:54):
this is this is really deep, good stuff. I'm coming
through the glass. Play the Grand Affair. I got it? Bono. Yes,
we play a lot of YouTube. So everybody knows there.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Is a Jewish diaspora, the Sephardics who fled in the
Middle East of Northern Africa, and the Asconaism who fled
Germany obviously Russia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, but it's not been
(19:33):
as widely written about, but it should be the Irish diaspora.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
And we know the Irish came here. You know the
blood the Hudson flows green. The biggest Saint Patrick's Day
parade is in New York City. Ever tell you that story?
Moone was living in England. I said, oh, I'm just
a puddle jump over to Dublin. I'm gonna go to
the Saint pat Street Stay parade in Ireland. I've got
(20:03):
Irish blood in me. This is gonna be great. And
you get there and our Independence Day parade in Orange
was bigger, and I'm standing around, going, what the living
hell on Saint Patrick's Day? Every year I see in
New York it's the biggest parade of the year. What's
going on? And They're like, we're Irish. We don't need
(20:26):
to celebrate it. We're Irish three and sixty five days
a year. Everyone's Irish. What are we gonna do to Cera?
Speaker 6 (20:33):
We're really, really, really really really Irish.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
If you're Irish in a town that's Italian and Jewish
and French and Dominican and Puerto Rican, I'm all right.
But if you're Irish in Ireland, you don't need to
do that. Isn't that funny? But the Irish diaspora, because
the economy collapsed for so long they're doing better now,
(20:56):
but you had to leave to find you from Orange.
That was the case for a long time. You had
to leave to go somewhere. And there is a certain
kindred spirit, a fraternity to leaving, having to leave, not
wanting to leave, but having to leave to go and
(21:19):
find work and send money home and that sort of thing.
And a lot of the Irish went to Amsterdam. It
was very popular because of the ocean going traffic and Amsterdam,
well Rotterdam really, but Amsterdam is a big seaport. So
they would come over on the ships that they'd be
working on and hop off and they would find work.
(21:40):
You know, the Dutch are great businessmen, and they became
the Mexicans of Amsterdam. They became the working class, you
know that they became the day laborers and those sorts
of things, and so a lot of the music that
came out of that, which makes sense, you know, Mexicans
(22:02):
coming to this country and to a lesser degree, Hunt Duran,
Guatemalan's El Salvadorans and the culture and all that sort
of stuff that's not unique to Texas or the United States.
That you go to a restaurant in Norway and your
your hostess or your waiter is from Sweden and they're
trying to get the hell out of Sweden. But they
can't get citizenship yet, so they've come and legally and
(22:23):
they're having to earn there. It goes on all over
the world. Uh, LeAnn, you're up, go Leanne, you're up.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Go there.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Well, Warren, you're up.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Go.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
It's a small thing. I love you, but you got
to correct this. It's not Muski road, it's Miski Road.
I grew up at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in the Heights
and mister misk I was taught as a young boy
to be highly respected and a great great man. I
always had to go up and shake his hand. But
I think I founders out there. But it's kind of
(23:01):
like kuk and Doll. Nobody calls it kok and dogs,
kirkan doll. It's not Mushki road Mishki road, but I like.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
The way Muskie sounds better. No, please, don't please.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
I don't come to Erne, Texas, right.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
No, But that's why we say Arne. When Shirley Q.
Looker first started saying Erne, everybody in Orange now says Arne.
And we know it's wrong. But it became this fun
thing that we do. How about this, how about from
now on, every time I say mushki because I like
to sound a moushki, you'll go, damn it, he knows better, right, Okay,
that I'm gonna put you know, I'm gonna put mushki
(23:41):
Warren right here, and I'm gonna think of mister Mishk
living on muski. How about that?
Speaker 6 (23:46):
I thinks out there, I really do. I think they
were the earliest.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
But anyway, well, no, I have the greatest respect for
mister Mishki who lived on mushki. And that's how that's
how we'll do that. And that'll be for Warren. See,
that'll be our little inside you know how Carolnette would
pull her her her ear. From now on you'll know.
And by the way, I've been told this before, but
by the way, you'll know that when I say muski,
you'll go, that dumb ass, how long has he lived here?
(24:10):
He doesn't know how to pronounce it? And you'll go, oh,
he does. It's just an irritating thing he does. And
that'll be it, right, Alex, you're up.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Go I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
I was laughing at the cook and doll joke. My
mom says cook and doll.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And the way he said cook and doll was pretty funny.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
That's funny. I've not heard that. Yeah, look, Mike, I wondered.
I wondered if Michael, I wanted to thank you for
your sponsors. You know they're great people. Uh, you created
a niche of It's like a circle. It's like a
family of honest businesses that we can go out and
deal with. I gotta tell you, as I'm using almost
everybody Ashley has bent over backwards for us on our.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Business credit card.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
Yes, Connie, what what? What a stellar young lady? Oh
my god? Uh Michael Petris, Uh my father in law?
What he what? An old man?
Speaker 6 (25:01):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He showed me your fall in law is the Army veterans. Yeah, yeah,
I knew it was the daughter in law or the
daughter I guess who had sent me a film and
and the trainer he sent out there? Uh, Myra is
herself a veteran, right and you follow?
Speaker 7 (25:21):
What an aesthetically pleasing young lady?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Who's that? Oh yeah, beautiful and a hell of a trainer.
A hell of a trainer. Absolutely wow? What a great
I really do I appreciate so much when you support
our sponsors, and I really love it when you send
me feedback on It makes me so happy.
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