Danny Trejo, From Lockup to Donut Shop (Reheat)

Danny Trejo is a Hollywood legend. He's been in nearly 400 films, often playing the kinds of characters you wouldn't want meet in a dark alley. When he was in his seventies, his career took a turn: The L. A. native became a successful restaurateur.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Dan Pashman?

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• 0:43Dan Pashman?

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• 1:16Dan Pashman?

  Hey, everyone. Dan here with another reheat for you, and this one is gonna be a lot of fun. We were getting ready to do a live show in Los Angeles. This is a few years back, and we're thinking, who could be a good guest? We want someone who's, you know, Hollywood, like, ideally like an actor or something, but also more with a special food connection. We zeroed in on Danny Trejo. He's born and raised in LA. He's a legendary actor, best known for being in B-movies like Machete, and also owns a chain of restaurants called Trejo's Tacos. The fun thing about Danny Trejo is that his characters are like these, like, very violent vigilante types or bounty hunters and things like that. He is the sweetest guy in real life. So it was a real treat for me to sit down with him in front of a live audience.

• 1:57Dan Pashman?

  We talked about a lot, from his mom's cooking to his time in prison and his longtime sobriety, as well as the unexpected way that he broke into acting. I think you're gonna love it. And remember, as always, if there's an older Sporkful episode you want us to reheat, send me an email or a voice memo to [email protected]. Tell me your first name, location, what episode of the Sporkful you want to hear, and why. Thanks as always, and enjoy.

• 2:21Dan Pashman?

  This episode contains explicit language. What do you think I was debating this? Should I say "live from Los Angele?" Okay, option one, "live from Los..." Let's workshop this with me. "Live from Los Angeles, California" is option one. "Live from Los Angeles." "A live from downtown Los Angeles." No, we're not technically downtown, no. All right, sorry. Thank God we workshopped this.

• 2:47Dan Pashman?

  All right, all right, here we go.

• 2:51Dan Pashman?

  This is the Spork Fall. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman. Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people, and we are coming to you live from Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles.

• 3:16Dan Pashman?

  Joining me now is one of the legendary character actors in Hollywood. Over the last 30 years, he has been in nearly 400 movies and TV shows, usually playing the kind of guy you would not want to meet in a dark alley. He's best known for his role as a vigilante named Machete in a series of Robert Rodriguez films, a role he played also in the Spy Kids franchise, and also for playing Tortuga in Breaking Bad. He's been in a ton of other films, like Zombie Bride, Zombie Hunter, and Rise of the Zombies, not to mention The Burning Dead, Dead in Tombstone, and Dead Badge. Bottom line, if you get cast in a movie with Danny Trejo in it, there's a pretty good chance your character's not gonna make it to the end. In recent years, he's also become well-known in L.A.

• 4:00Dan Pashman?

  not just for his acting, but for his restaurants. Trejo's Tacos, Trejo's Cantina, and Trejo's Coffee and Donuts, where you can often find him signing autographs and posing for selfies with fans. He's an L.A. native and a beloved figure in this town. Please welcome the one and only Danny Trejo.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  What's up? Los Angeles City of Los Angeles, downtown LA. Damn, it was awesome.

• 4:35Dan Pashman?

  So, thank you so much for being here. We're very excited to have you. So Danny, when I told people you were coming, like, everyone was excited for sure. But I have to say that when I told LA natives, friends of mine who are LA natives, the reaction to the fact that you were gonna be here was on another level of enthusiasm. Like, I actually wrote down some of the things people said, the LA folks said about you. They said, "He's an LA institution. He's a civic treasure. He's the kind of guy who's always throwing out the first pitch at the Dodgers games." One person said, "He deserves a statue in Los Angeles."

• 5:11Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 5:12Dan Pashman?

  What, now, you've been at it for a long time, and you've been here for a long time. I feel like something has happened in the past, I don't know, five years or so, maybe 10 years, that you have like, you have transcended somehow into this iconic figure. Do you know what happened exactly?

• 5:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, all the, all the, uh, kids that watched Spy Kids when it first came out grew up.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  "Hey, we love that guy."

• 5:43Speaker 01

  I've got still kids like five and six years old coming up and going, "Hey, you're in Spy Kids." You know, so they're still watching it.

• 5:49Dan Pashman?

  So, let's, let's, let's go back. Let's go back to early days Danny Trejo growing up in Los Angeles. Tell me about food from your, in your house growing up.

• 5:57Speaker 01

  Well, my mom, my mom was one of the just excellent cooks, just unbelievable cook. And, uh, in Latino family, and most families really, as you, you know, you eat really big dinners like at the first of the month, you know, but by the, by the end of the month, you're kind of surviving, you're mixing stuff. What is this, Mom? Never mind, just give me a...

• 6:24Speaker 01

  We had "out the cupboard", and then we had "we mix it", and then we had "eat it and shut up."

• 6:31Dan Pashman?

  So, so, so, so tell me a classic, really delicious, first of the month meal.

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Oh, God, like enchiladas with, uh, carne asada and breakfast, two eggs on top. That's what you can do with enchiladas. You can always just put two eggs on top of them and it's breakfast.

• 6:51Dan Pashman?

  And tell me a classic end of the month when you were fishing through the cupboard on your own. What would you put together?

• 6:56Speaker 01

  Well, then you like migas and that's like tortillas and eggs and, and sauce and you're mixed up together. You know, and stuff like that. Just, it's a, it's a combination. You know, I didn't know what was in it. It was delicious.

• 7:11Dan Pashman?

  Right.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  Uh, nopales, which are actually cactus that you cut up, boil, take the sticky stuff out of them and, and cut them up and put them in eggs and those are, that's delicious wrapped up in a tortilla. It's funny, I, I didn't know what a hot dog was. I remember the first time they handed me a hot dog. I said, what is this? It was a bun and a weenie. I always, I always had a hot dog wrapped up in a tortilla.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  A tortilla and you eat it with a hot dog or you can like deep fry it and it's like a, you know, it's a really good hot dog.

• 7:50Dan Pashman?

  So your mom was a great cook.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, she was awesome.

• 7:52Dan Pashman?

  What about your dad? What was his role in the household?

• 7:55Speaker 01

  My dad was like the Mexican Archie Bunker. But, cause my mom, me and my mom would always joke about starting a restaurant. I'd say, Mom, you should start a restaurant and, and we would like start talking about what we would do. My dad, hey, hey, hey, I got a, I got a beautiful stove right there. Go cook anything you want. I'll eat it. I mean, it was like funny because this was in the 50s and you know, women weren't, not that they weren't allowed to work. My dad had six brothers and if your wife worked, all the other brothers would like, hey, well, she wears the pants too. Well, you know, they, they would like, they would like actually make fun of you. And I remember I couldn't, I, me, I just couldn't understand why.

• 8:39Speaker 01

  So we would just, every time I wanted to piss my dad off, we would just talk about starting a restaurant.

• 8:47Dan Pashman?

  And tell me about your Uncle Gilbert.

• 8:49Speaker 01

  That was my pal. That was my mentor, my uh, uh, my best friend. And he just happened to be a drug addict and an armed robber, you know, so.

• 9:01Speaker 01

  But you know what, to be fair, it's like, I think the only thing that was gonna, gonna beat me to juvenile hall or to jail was the headlights on a bus. Because I was, it wasn't, I wasn't a bad kid. I just, I just was afflicted with something. I think I had ADD before anybody knew what ADD was.

• 9:24Dan Pashman?

  So you ended up in juvie?

• 9:26Speaker 01

  Juvie, yeah.

• 9:26Dan Pashman?

  And then you had a number of offenses, you ended up in prison.

• 9:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, use of heroin, use of drugs, use of, you know.

• 9:33Dan Pashman?

  You were on a bad path.

• 9:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 9:37Dan Pashman?

  What is the role of food in prison?

• 9:42Speaker 01

  Lot of starch.

• 9:45Speaker 01

  Basically, a lot of wardens will tell you that if you keep convicts full, you keep them happy. They're not as, as, uh, most riots in prisons start from food, food riots.

• 9:57Dan Pashman?

  But I, I gather that food, one of the challenges in prison, I imagine, is just like, be like, holding on to your humanity. And I would think that food is a big part of, of just like connecting with people.

• 10:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, but my little cousin Gilbert, went to prison when he was 17. And in 1979, he got out two years ago.

• 10:30Speaker 01

  You almost have to

• 10:37Speaker 01

  pass on humanity if you're gonna stay alive. You gotta remember, this is the most inhumane place there is. And uh, it's like predator prey. So how can you be a predator and, and, and uh, be, be human? It is brutal, but, but it's like.

• 11:00Speaker 01

  It's like, this is what I do, this is where I am, this is how I have to live.

• 11:06Dan Pashman?

  And so then, what happened? I mean, you were on, you were on a bad path from a young age.

• 11:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. 1968, I'm in Solidad State Prison, I'm with them nuts, okay? Uh, one of my best friends that I've known since he was, Scott, we were 13 years old. He was from White Fence, and I was from Echo Park, and he was a, he was a little, you know, a little past north or something, you know, normal, and, and, uh, kid named Ray Pacheco, I can say that because he passed away in a robbery, and, uh, and, uh, and then me and another kid named Henry Quijada, who also passed away in a robbery. Uh, and then outside baseball team came in.

• 11:49Speaker 01

  Three people that came to play our team ball, and, and I remember the third baseman was chewing gum. And we're sitting there watching him chew gum. You can't have gum in prison. And, and Ray, who had come down from Tascadero, which is the state mental hospital for the crimine, saying, "That's the one run by the Department of Health. That's not the one. Vacaville is the one run by the state of California, the prison." And, uh, and this guy was chewing gum, and you ever heard these people that, so annoying when they chew gum? It pops.

• 12:27Dan Pashman?

  Yep.

• 12:28Speaker 01

  And here's, Ray's looking at this guy, and he's saying, "God, I wish I had some gum," you know, and he's all like a little kid.

• 12:37Speaker 01

  And, and I remember telling Ray, I don't know why, I just said, "Don't ask that guy for no gum, because he'll kill you." And Ray goes, "What do you mean? That guy knows karate homes."

• 12:52Speaker 01

  Bad dude. I just started teasing Ray a little, right? And Ray says, "I'll get that gum," and I just looked away, and all of a sudden, he just jumped up and ran, and said, "Give me some gum," you know, and that guy says, "This guy..."

• 13:08Speaker 01

  I can't. They told us not to give you. And that's all Ray grabbed his lip, socked him, just started. And in prison, when something happens, you most riots, it's like an explosion. All built up stuff. And everybody just started like throwing stuff and burning stuff and, and pent up aggression. And it was alleged that I threw a rock that hit Lieutenant Givens. And it was alleged that Henry Gijala kicked the coach. And it was alleged that Ray Bachecco

• 13:52Speaker 01

  socked that. That's a gas chamber, all three of those are gas chamber offenses. And I remember when I looked up, I seen Captain Rogers, the captain. He's going like this.

• 14:05Dan Pashman?

  Pointing at you.

• 14:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, he's pointing. And what that does, when he does this, that's a sign for the gun tower to shoot there. You know, and it's kind of like indiscriminate. You know what I mean? And me and Ray and Henry were there. I followed his thing. Whoa. And I remember just like going for the ground and bumping into Ray and knocking, we knocked down. And that was it. And then they drug us to the hole. And I remember just saying.

• 14:36Dan Pashman?

  Solitary confinement.

• 14:37Speaker 01

  Let me die with dignity and I will say your name every day. And I will do whatever I can for my fellow man. I remember, I remember saying that out loud. And, and I thought it was just gonna be a couple of years. You know, and then they were gonna kill me. But God fooled me. And he gave me the rest of my life to keep that promise. And I've, I've held up to my end of the bargain. She sure as hell kept up to his. You know, my life keeps getting better and better.

• 15:11Speaker 01

  I forgot they were here.

• 15:20Dan Pashman?

  Danny got sober in jail in 1968. He got out a year later. When we come back, we hear how Danny turned his struggles with addiction into a career as a drug counselor. And he tells us about the random encounter on a movie set that landed him his first ever on-screen role. Stick around.

• 15:51Speaker 02

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• 17:24Dan Pashman?

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• 18:03Dan Pashman?

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• 19:14Dan Pashman?

  Welcome back to the Sporkful. I'm Dan Pashman, and I want to let you know that we have two live Sporkful tapings coming up. March 19 in Brooklyn, the special guest Kenji Lopez Alt, and May 1 in Boston at WBUR City Space. Don't know the guest yet in Boston, but when we did a live show in Boston two years ago, we had a packed house and a lot of enthusiasm. Man, we got a great crowd in Boston. So I cannot wait to see all the folks in Boston, and Cambridge, and Somerville, and wherever else you live. So again, March 19 in Brooklyn, May 1 in Boston. Get info on tickets at sporkful.com/events.

• 19:50Dan Pashman?

  Now, let's get back to our live show in LA with actor Danny Trejo. In 1969, Danny got out of prison for the last time. He was 25, he was free, he was sober, and he was determined to stay that way. Do you remember the first thing you ate when you got out?

• 20:07Speaker 01

  My mom, my mom and her dumb cookies. She used to make some delicious cookies, right? And I sat down and, uh, and I remember she says, "Here amigo, I got you some cookies." She made some sugar cookies that I used to love. And I thought, wow, big convict armed robber having cookies and milk at mom.

• 20:34Dan Pashman?

  When he first got out of prison, Danny worked as a drug counselor. So it was his job to help people who were trying to get sober or trying to stay sober. People would call him all the time whenever they were having problems. One day, he heard from a guy who he was counseling, who had just gotten sober. This guy was working on a movie set. It happened to be a movie where many of the actors were playing criminals. Anyway, this guy called Danny and said he was really afraid he was gonna relapse.

• 21:01Speaker 01

  And this kid calls me and just says, "Hey, uh, I'm having a lot of trouble staying clean." And, uh, he was crying. I'll never forget this kid, he called, he, "I have 108 days clean and I think I'm gonna get loaded." Now, I have been out of prison since 1969. This is 1985. Nobody ever called me and said, "I think I'm gonna get loaded." I got calls that sounded like, "Ehhhh."

• 21:39Dan Pashman?

  Too late.

• 21:40Speaker 01

  Oops.

• 21:44Speaker 01

  Honest to God, I used to get calls from bars, right? And you know, like, they start calling at like quarter to two, because in the bar, that's when they yell, "Last call." And you'd hear, "Ay, sucker."

• 21:59Dan Pashman?

  Right.

• 22:00Speaker 01

  "I got drunk," you know? And so, when this kid called, he says, "Wait a minute. You think you're gonna..." "Yeah, I haven't yet." But in 1985, cocaine was rampant. I mean, it was crazy.

• 22:16Dan Pashman?

  I've heard about that.

• 22:17Speaker 01

  You know?

• 22:19Speaker 01

  People that lived through that shit, well, they were really lucky. And so, he said, "Will you come down and hang out?" Yes, I went down, and...

• 22:27Dan Pashman?

  So you get down there?

• 22:28Speaker 01

  And I'm looking around, it's kind of cool, it's kind of funny. Everybody's dressed like convicts. And I remember all their tattoos smeared. "Oh shit, I'm sorry."

• 22:40Speaker 01

  And I run into this guy, Eddie Bunker, right? Who was a writer. And this guy's so familiar, he comes up, he goes, "I know you, you're Danny Traylor." "Oh, yeah." He said, "Danny, I saw you in the lightweight in the Welterweight title up at San Quentin." And I go, "Yeah." "You're Eddie Bunker." I was in prison with this guy.

• 22:58Dan Pashman?

  Right, you were a champion boxer in prison.

• 23:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, don't remind me, please.

• 23:03Speaker 01

  It's a tough sport.

• 23:04Dan Pashman?

  Yeah.

• 23:05Speaker 01

  And so, I was, we started talking, and he says, "Danny, are you still fighting?" And I go, "I'm training, man, I'm 40 years old. I don't want to get hit in the face anymore." And he says, "We need somebody to train one of the actors how to box." I said, "What's it pay?" "Now, you get 50 bucks for acting like a convict, for being an extra." And he says, "320 a day." And when he said that, I said, "How bad you want this guy beat up?"

• 23:38Speaker 01

  I started training an actor named Eric Roberts how to box. And I started choreographing this fight and stuff. I'll never forget, the director would never take his eyes off me. And I kept thinking, does he think I'm gonna steal something? You know, but he watched me and he watched what I did with this actor. So he came and he said, he was a Russian aristocrat, a guy named Andre Kozelowski. Very aristocratic, had leather right here on his.

• 24:08Dan Pashman?

  On his elbows.

• 24:08Speaker 01

  On his elbows and talked like, very soft. He was like, Danny, you fight Eric in movie. And you be in movie. And then he started to walk away and everybody's, he's not sag. I didn't know what sag was.

• 24:25Dan Pashman?

  It's the union for.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, but I didn't know, but I'm never, he goes, make him sag, just like that, make him sag. And walks away.

• 24:35Speaker 01

  And that's where the Russian came out, right?

• 24:37Dan Pashman?

  Right, right, yeah.

• 24:38Speaker 01

  Make him sag or I'll shoot you all. And, and the whole thing changed. People came up and started, Mr. Tre, would you like some coffee? Somebody started combing my hair.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  I mean, it's just all of a sudden now.

• 24:57Dan Pashman?

  Yeah, like I'm a long way from San Quentin.

• 24:59Speaker 01

  What happened here, you know? And yes, I'd like some coffee, two cups.

• 25:05Speaker 01

  And put some Pilates, the little biscuit, biscuits.

• 25:09Dan Pashman?

  Biscottis.

• 25:15Speaker 01

  Hard crackers.

• 25:18Speaker 01

  But, so, so it was, from right then, from that day, I just started working and now they're gonna pay me 320 bucks every time I walk on, because I was sag now, right? So. I will still be like a glorified extra, but I'd get 320. Come on, if I worked, if I worked once a week, you know, that was more money. And plus, I'm still a drug counselor, don't tell anybody, but I'm still working at that job. So it's like, you know, I'm bringing home some money.

• 25:49Dan Pashman?

  One of the things that you're known for as an actor is this ability to, you know, like there's some actors who are like, well, I'm in character and they walk around the set even when they're not shooting.

• 25:59Speaker 01

  I've ran into a few of those.

• 26:00Dan Pashman?

  Yeah, I gather that you have, you, you are still like, you have a reputation as a total sweetheart, but yet you are able to tap into these characters, like it's always just below the surface.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, you never lose it, you know, I mean, it's there. And so I've watched people, I've, I've pulled a couple of people aside and told them, look, if you don't care for your characters, you'll get the shit beat out of them. So you'll lighten up, bro, you know, we, we did a film, I was doing a movie with Mickey Rourke. And, uh, and it was out in the desert and it was hot. And I remember just, uh, doing what I had to do, kill somebody. And then, and then, and then they called lunch, I went over here, I'm playing cards with a bunch of kids, you know. Kid, uh, you have any sixes? No fish, you know, or whatever. And it's, it's, how do you do that? It's, wait a minute, man, I don't want to be that guy. You know, that, that guy, that character, I don't never want to be that guy again.

• 26:59Speaker 01

  That guy's dead, gone, man, God killed him, you know, but he lets me bring him back if it's for the movies, you know?

• 27:06Dan Pashman?

  Right, for, for the right price.

• 27:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:10Dan Pashman?

  So your career builds and builds over time. You become really like this institution and it's just a couple of years ago, as you said, that a producer you worked with, this guy Ash, came to you, you kind of were joking about starting a restaurant. And soon after making this joke about Trejo's Tacos, he shows up with a business plan that doesn't require you to put in any money in, which makes it better than a lot of, a lot of business people think they've got some dumb celebrity, they can just milk them for money.

• 27:37Speaker 01

  Absolutely, absolutely.

• 27:38Dan Pashman?

  And so you open Trejo's Tacos.

• 27:45Dan Pashman?

  What was the, like, what was the opportunity that you saw?

• 27:49Speaker 01

  Free food.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  I mean, you know, I didn't really, I've never ran a restaurant. I was just, I know, and, and people keep asking us, "What's your secret?" We have seven restaurants now, you know what I mean? And they're all doing goods. What's your... And I go, "Secret? Good food." You know, people don't come back for bad food. You know, so we got good food, healthy food. We got vegan, we got vegetarian, and then I work with autistic kids, and, and, um, doctors have said that kids with autism don't do well with gluten. So we got a gluten-free menu. And, and, and, uh, and so we have a lot of families coming in, and moms are so happy because she doesn't

• 28:34Speaker 01

  have to cook three meals. And, and all kids like tacos, you know, it's automatic, you know?

• 28:41Dan Pashman?

  What about the process has been most surprising to you?

• 28:46Speaker 01

  In the restaurant business?

• 28:47Dan Pashman?

  Yeah, well, what did you not expect?

• 28:49Speaker 01

  I think, first of all, it's the staff. First of all, our staff is like just so awesome, right? And, and what I do is, I always send like people in, friends of mine, I just go on, just buy food, whatever you want, you know what I mean? I'll pay for it, but don't, don't let them know. I just tell me how everything is, and, and they come back and tell me, "Everything's good, my staff's good." And then my staff finally said, "Damn, would you please stop sending people in?" I said, "Why? Why?" He said, "The minute they walk in, everybody knows. Looks like they're gonna rob the place, first of all."

• 29:23Speaker 01

  Big tattoo on his neck. All my friends look like, you know, like, kind of thuggish, I guess.

• 29:33Dan Pashman?

  Well, I'll tell you, Danny, I, I, I visited Trejo's Cantina and Trejo's Coffee and Donuts yesterday to do some research, and I, because I'd heard that you sent some friends, I thought maybe you'd, maybe I could help you out, do a little recon for you. Um, I, we had a great experience at both spots. The staff was super nice and friendly, and just like, very pleasant. Um, the tacos were great. I was struck by like, they hit, I had four, four little mini tacos. I did the cauliflower, the jackfruit, the carne asada, and carnitas.

• 30:07Speaker 01

  Delicious.

• 30:08Dan Pashman?

  And yeah, they were all really good and they were all different. You know, they're a nice variation and they all had good texture and crunch. And they also were full of flavor without being heavy. Which is a tough thing with tacos. I love all, I don't discriminate when it comes to tacos. But like, these like had a lot going on without me, making me feel way down.

• 30:30Speaker 01

  Our chef Mason, brilliant at getting my mom's taste, this thing out of this. You know what I mean? It's like, try this, Dan. That's mom, you know, so.

• 30:41Dan Pashman?

  I was impressed with the jackfruit taco. I don't even know what, I would not be able to pick out a jackfruit from a supermarket shelf. I don't know what one looks like.

• 30:49Speaker 01

  Nope. I didn't, I thought they were, I thought it was shredded beef.

• 30:53Dan Pashman?

  Yeah, but it's meaty.

• 30:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:55Dan Pashman?

  It's amazing.

• 30:56Speaker 01

  It's ready to be, you know, like I said, the cauliflower taco is delicious.

• 31:00Dan Pashman?

  Yeah, that one's really good.

• 31:01Speaker 01

  You know, and so, no, you know, no upstanding Mexican say cauliflower taco, this is delicious.

• 31:11Dan Pashman?

  Is that a concern to you? What the quote unquote upstanding Mexican, to use your phrase.

• 31:17Speaker 01

  No, because they all come in going, don't tell anybody, go ahead.

• 31:22Speaker 01

  We have three of those cauliflower tacos.

• 31:28Dan Pashman?

  Is your mom still with us?

• 31:29Speaker 01

  No, she passed away. She never got to see, I think she got this, the idea, you know, and

• 31:37Speaker 01

  mom was real happy. She was happy. I know right now she's in heaven telling me, see, I told you. I told you, should have started a restaurant.

• 31:47Dan Pashman?

  When, when the place, when you first opened up.

• 31:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:50Dan Pashman?

  I can imagine you were thinking of her.

• 31:51Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. I think of her every day. I mean, it's just like, every time I walk into one, it's like, her vibes are, you know, and I think she's real, real, real happy about the whole thing. So is my dad.

• 32:02Dan Pashman?

  What is it about her vibe or her personality that you feel like translates to the restaurants?

• 32:11Speaker 01

  Friendship. We walk in there just being a friend, being a pal.

• 32:16Dan Pashman?

  So Danny, because you're known as an actor who is so adept at turning on that other side of your personality, I wanted to, I thought it'd be fun if we could see that skill here onstage, live in Los Angeles. So I wrote up a couple of lines inspired by the menu at Trejo's Cantina.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  Hey, I'm not killing none of my staff.

• 32:41Dan Pashman?

  No, I imagine that your character is like Danny Trejo, like restaurateur by day, vigilante by night. And so like right before you, right before you ice somebody, you always say something really badass that relates to the menu of your restaurant. So just let's give a couple of these lines a shot here. Imagine Danny's got a lot of guns and he's just about to ice someone here.

• 33:06Speaker 01

  Your car is about to get a saga.

• 33:15Speaker 01

  Machete don't text. But he does enjoy a nice vegan donut.

• 33:25Speaker 01

  Wow. Hit the road, Jackfruit.

• 33:33Speaker 01

  It's taco time, motherfucker.

• 33:38Dan Pashman?

  Danny Trejo.

• 33:39Speaker 01

  You gotta be a writer, old man.

• 33:45Dan Pashman?

  Well, if you're working on any pictures and need a writer to punch up a script, you call me, Danny. I'll be happy to work food into any line. Well, Danny, it's been so great to have you here. Thank you so much for being here.

• 33:55Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 33:55Dan Pashman?

  Trejo's tacos, Trejo's Cantina, Trejo's Coffee and Donuts, and just about every movie you could ever see. Big hand for Danny Trejo.

• 34:08Dan Pashman?

  Thank you so much to Dynasty Typewriter. Thank you for coming out. Good night.

• 34:20Dan Pashman?

  Special thanks to everyone at Dynasty Typewriter in L.A. for their hospitality during our live show, and special thanks to Christian Torres, who helped produce this episode. This show is produced by me, along with senior producer- Anne Sannie. and associate producer-

• 34:34Speaker 03

  Goffen Putubale.

• 34:35Dan Pashman?

  Our editor is- Gianna Palmer. and our engineer is-

• 34:39Speaker 04

  Jared O'Connell.

• 34:40Dan Pashman?

  Music help from Black Label Music. The Sporkful is a production of Stitcher. Our executive producers are Chris Bannon and Jenny Radlin. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman.

• 34:48Speaker 05

  I'm Jamie Edelman from Las Vegas, Nevada, reminding you to eat more, eat better, and eat more better.

• 35:13Dan Pashman?

  This reheat was produced by- Gianna Palmer. The team that produces The Sporkful today includes me, along with managing producer- Emma Morgenstern. and senior producer- Andres O'Hara. Our engineer is-

• 35:23Speaker 04

  Jared O'Connell.

• 35:24Dan Pashman?

  Music help from Black Label Music. The Sporkful is a production of SiriusXM Podcasts. Our executive producer is Camille Stanley. And hey, did you know you can listen to The Sporkful on the SiriusXM app? Yes, the SiriusXM app, it has all your favorite podcasts, plus over 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, plus live sports coverage. Does your podcasting app have that? And there's interviews with A-list stars and so much more. It's everything you want in a podcast app and music app all rolled into one. And right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman.

• 36:08Speaker 06

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