“Ever since we were little, our dad would grab peppers from the tree, he would line us up, and he'd give us each one. He'd say, ‘I'll give 50 bucks to the person who doesn't freak out and needs water.’ So we would take a bite, and we'd try to hold on as long as we could before we would freak out, but in the end, because we'd be freaking out no one ever got the 50 bucks. Even if you won like you wouldn't get the money”
My name is Luis Manuel Gutierrez and my name is Jasmin, and this is Speedy's Tacos!
The cook's really my dad, even at home. When we're growing up my mom hardly cooked, she only ever cooks beans. One day he'll make it one way and the next time it’s different; it's different but really good. If I ever ask him ‘hey last time you made me this really good shrimp dish’ and he'll make it again, it's a totally different thing. It's because he grabs whatever's in the fridge and he just goes with it. He doesn't need to go to the store and buy whatever's in the recipe. He invents it in the moment.
If it's a family business? 100% it is. This was created by my dad, myself, my sister, my brother, and we're in here as much as we can be. The recipes are my dad's, my aunt’s, and my grandma’s. We have a lot of pride working here and we're very happy with what we give out to our clients. Whenever you're here like just not like it's you're coming to our house and this is your house too.
Having businesses like little entrepreneurial things runs in the family. In Mexico my great grandma - that was the thing. Whether it was having a little market, selling clothes - anything - like that's what they would do.
The name was inspired by our uncle. In the kitchen at Tia Juana, our dad’s restaurant across the lot, we used to have a painted sign that said “Speedy’s Cocina” because my uncle's name is Speedy and he works in the kitchen over there. We decided hey well you know what well what about Speedy’s Tacos and boom. The orange sauce is actually my Uncle's sauce. Every time I would go to all these restaurants, I always wanted it to be spicy and no one would ever give me what I wanted. When we opened this place I said, ‘You know what I'm gonna make my own sauce spicy’ and it is his recipe, but I think we make it a little spicier here. We were actually in a magazine where it's like hot foods like in the South Bay and we got like number Two.
We live here. We grew up at Tia Juana. When I was really little, I didn't have a babysitter, so I would go to the kitchen. Then they'd tell me to chop tomatoes and onions and then when it would come to the onions I'd run home. Later my dad had us both working there. My dad's very picky on being clean. We take over from that and our bathrooms need to be spotless. I always tell everyone that the bathrooms at Speedy’s are probably cleaner than the ones in my house.
If you're ever in the Bay, come to Speedy's Tacos. I hope you like it - enjoy the music. We love to play music here and it's always something different. We hope you have fun when you come and eat here and feel the love.”
