The New Addiction

He arrives in an empty parking lot filled with potholes, located in the rear of the rustic Eagle’s Nest Saloon in Lawndale. It’s tucked between a liquor store, restaurant and mortuary. He pops open the back of his red pick up truck and pulls out a cooler filled with “asada,” chicken and “al pastor.”

The meat is tossed on the sizzling grill and ready to be chopped into bite-sized pieces with a cleaver.

He places three small square dishes with chopped up onions and cilantro, limes cut into quarters and a salsa, that is his mother’s recipe, on a table adjacent to the grill.

It has been a year since the start of his Taco business and Chris Portillo, 25, an undecided major at El Camino College, says he is currently working on finding customers he could potentially cater for.

Chris a slim, light-skinned young man, started his own taco stand business in April 2015.

“I could not be happier with the results of having my own business,” Chris says.

Although it has been rewarding for Chris to have his business, it hasn’t been without its struggles.

From dealing with broken friendships, losing various jobs, having two DUI’s, moving out of his parents’ house and recovering from drug usage of Ecstasy, Adderall, Xanax, and “Shrooms,” Chris says he has been able to stay positive thanks to his mentor Manny Lisberg, a long-time friend.

Most small business don’t make it past the first year of having started, says Jeffrey M. Pilcher, who teaches food studies in the University of Toronto. In his class, he teaches about the history of the taco.

Jeffrey says that the taco industry has been growing for the past 40 to 50 years but he definitely sees potential for it to increase.

Growth is one thing that Chris has experienced since the age of 23 when he hit a turning point in his life.

Chris’ road to success began the day he got fired from his job and made the decision to leave his house.

He was lying on his bed when he received a phone call from his boss notifying him that he no longer had a job at “Tom Ogatas Swimming Pool Service” in Torrance. One of the main reasons he was fired is because he had two tickets for “driving under the influence.”

Besides having the two tickets, Chris wouldn’t show up to work because he partied all the time. It was the continuous partying, drinking and consumption of drugs that affected not only his workplace but family life as well.

“I was partying a lot because I was making a lot of money,” Chris says.

When Chris lost his job he broke the news to his mother. “Me and your father are tired of it!” she yelled. He made the choice to leave his house and moved in with his friend Logan Grammer who moved to Los Angeles from Chicago for drug rehab.

After a month and a half, he moved back. This was the first time Chris had spoken to his parents since he had moved out.

“My priorities were all screwed up,” Chris says.

It was around this time when he met his girlfriend Brenda Casanova at a party. Brenda helps him occasionally at the taco stand, although she says she’s mostly there for the moral support.

Before the taco business opportunity came about, Chris was juggling jobs unable to keep one for very long.

He worked at a sandwich shop called “Which Wich,” in El Segundo. He also had a job cleaning swimming pools.

Then right before setting up his taco business, he worked at Island’s in Manhattan Beach and Jackson’s in El Segundo.

Chris currently has a job in marketing working for City Dental Care in Lawndale, which he says he loves because it allows him to interact with people. He says this helps him with his taco business.

During his free time, Chris enjoys playing the ukulele and rapping. Chris says the rapping began with a journal about his struggles. He used to write how he felt and it then turned into poetry. The poetry eventually turned into rap.

His friend Marvin Herrarte proposed the taco stand idea to Chris during the time when he was still working at Island’s and Jackson’s. These were jobs he “loved” but quit once he set up his taco business.

The idea eventually turned into the real deal, but Marvin wasn’t cooperating so Chris had to make a choice. He decided to reimburse Marvin everything he had invested and start the business alone.

He borrowed money from his mentor Manny whom he met through a “non-official” surfing club in Manhattan Beach.

“I’ve known Chris for about seven to eight years so when he came up to me and proposed the idea I decided to help him. I saw that he had it in him to succeed in this business and that is something that not many people have,” Manny says.

Manny gives Chris advice and helps him through the journey of starting up and growing his business. Manny says he wants people to make money and does the best to help others selfishly.

“I want to help people make money,” Manny says. “I like to push people to where they are trying to get to.”

Chris spoke to Georgia Anthony, the owner of the Eagle’s Nest Saloon in Lawndale and this is when his business truly began. Chris was a regular customer at the Eagle’s Nest Saloon. At first, Georgia gave him three months to set up his business and didn’t charge him rent.

A year has passed and she still doesn’t charge him a dime because she says they help each other out.

“He supports my business and I support his,” says Georgia, a blonde who owns three businesses dresses casually with jeans and a T‐shirt, . “Everyone likes him, he has charisma, and his food is good.”

Chris, who is gregarious and boisterous, says he loves interacting with the customers.

The name “Crispy’s Tacos” came about when one of Chris’ friends started calling him “Chris P” and the name just stuck to him like a stamp.

The first three months were just going to be a trial run. In the beginning, Chris would set up four times a week in the back lot of the saloon.

Right now he only sets up his taco stand once a week, on Fridays, because of his main job at City Dental Care, but he caters for other people occasionally on the weekends.

Chris sometimes caters for those who are a reflection of his old lifestyle.

There’s an event each month that takes place in Los Angeles which Chris’ friends, Eric Hury and Andrew Piña, host in the House of Gods Venue, a place where up and coming musicians and artists reunite.

During this event, there’s people who pass out because they are drunk and high, Chris says.

This was once Chris’ lifestyle, getting drunk, high and partying all the time, but now he is currently working on growing his taco business by catering for others mostly.

As he is putting his tacos together, Chris pays close attention to detail in order to ensure he is giving each customer what they want.

On a regular basis at the Eagle’s Nest Saloon, Chris wears a plain colored hoodie with a black apron. His dark brown hair peeks out from underneath a golf cap and he puts on clear, disposable gloves.

He chops up the meat into bite-size pieces and he has a look of concentration as if the world around him ceases to exist.

Chris starts to wrap up for the night and the customers start to disappear. He puts away the few ingredients that are leftover, such as the onions, cilantro and limes.

He wipes down the grill and makes sure it is spotless for the next event. He loads up his truck and drives away, leaving the saloon behind.