At 21, Joy Alvarez-Tostado trekked 2,700 miles from Tijuana to Tulum, trying every taqueria he could. That was just the beginning of the Taco 1986's founder to become the greatest taquero of all time.
At least that’s the way it worked for Jorge Umberto Alvarez-Tostado, also known as “Joy” and the culinary force behind the growing Tacos 1986 empire of Southern California.
“My purpose was to try every single taqueria that I could. Backpacking through Mexico was not cheap, but I always had two or three bucks to buy a beer, one of those big ones, and eat two tacos to keep the journey going. Tacos were my prime bite.” If you’ve ever watched Alvarez-Tostado make a taco — a beautiful dance, all lip-smacking air kisses, shadowboxing moves, muscle flexes and hip swaggers in tune to the mood of the crowd and the beat of the taco music in his head — you know that he’s a natural-born taquero.
In Nicaragua, he says, “I met my daughter’s mom, Mariana, and we got married. We have a beautiful daughter now.”“I wasn’t in a good place,” he says. “I was broke, lost and confused. I was going through a divorce. I was 28 years old and I was back living with my parents in Tijuana. I didn’t know if I wanted to pursue the idea of opening a taqueria.”Still, he pulled himself together and made a business plan. “I asked for help from friends, fools and family,” he recalls.
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