CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end, we take you to one more restaurant for our Latin Cuisine series: Southside Barbacoa, one of Carly Smith's favorite places to grab breakfast tacos.
This restaurant is the last in our month-long feature Latin Cuisine celebrating the foods that make our South Texas culture so vibrant and rich, and this morning, Carly Smith took us behind the counter to see what makes this southside staple so tasty.
Current owners Maria and Manuel Aguilar took over Southside Barbacoa in 1997, and the Tex-Mex tradition has continued ever since.
On the weekends, Manuel wakes up at 1 a.m. to start cooking before the breakfast crowd arrives. After all, the barbacoa steams for 12 hours before it's served.
Love is a theme in the kitchen. Spending time with the Aguilars makes it clear that's the secret ingredient in all they do.
"We can't tell the secret, you always have to be in a good mood when you make a tortilla," said Maria.
And it's those smiling faces that keep the customers coming back.
"Whatever you do," Manuel said, "you do it with your heart, with love and everything comes."
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