Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios

Local Legends: The Mongolian Spot, The Taco Truck & More

• Life Safety Associates, Inc. • Episode 52

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In this episode, Jimmy and Megan swap stories about their favorite food finds, from a legendary taco truck on O’Toole to a Mongolian BBQ place tucked beside a questionable pool hall. Since we spend so much time training onsite at client offices across the Bay Area, we’ve been lucky enough to discover some incredible local eats. (Shout out to our amazing clients who always know the best nearby spots) 

But no food adventure is ever just about the food.

Jimmy has a wild tale for you from his firefighter days that starts with a fire call and ends with a stranger asking how to perform a C-section... on a cow... while standing inside a bar... with a giant dog. It’s the kind of unexpected lunch break you don’t forget.

You’ll also hear some strong opinions about red velvet cake, the legacy of San Jose’s burnt almond cake rivalry, and whether ice cream should ever be rolled. Plus, we’ve got personal stories behind some of the best mom-and-pop restaurants we’ve tried, including one taco truck that started as a hot dog cart with just two steam trays.

This episode is a love letter to Bay Area food, and if you're not hungry yet... you will be by the end of this podcast!

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Life Safety Associates specializes in emergency response training for corporate ERT Teams. We help businesses create competent and confident first responders who are ready to handle unexpected emergencies. For more information you find us @lifesafetyassoc or email@lifesafety.com.

Jimmy:

What's happening? It's Jimmy with your girl, megs, with another life and safety podcast Woot woot, woot woot from Megs. So this is the life and safety podcast. Today is more of a life thing and something that I really get to do.

Jimmy:

I don't get to do it a lot anymore, but when I first started at Life Safety and I was doing a lot longer classes, I'd go to lunch with the team or the people would bring lunch in. We got a lot of fat food and now it's just kind of like this I don't, I'm not teaching as much. I guess I should say the long days. You know, we're fortunate enough to have a really good team to do those things for me, so I don't get to go out to have lunch with the teams as much, and there's one particular company I definitely go to lunch with more than everybody else, but we, you know, we always I definitely go to lunch with more than everybody else, but it's always fun to find their hidden treasures or their favorite restaurant places. An d restaurants is always an interesting place to go because it's always social and happy and fun usually. But also lots of drama can happen at a restaurant.

Megan :

Yes, there's tons of youtube videos of like drama on their video um at the restaurants of people choking or proposals gone wrong, or fights, or walking in on your partner with someone else exactly.

Jimmy:

Exactly the drama. So much drama, so much crazy things that can happen. One of my favorite restaurant stories I like to tell people is I think I've told it on this podcast already about the cow C-section.

Megan :

I think so, but that was like one of our first episodes. You should tell it again. Okay, okay, I think so, but that was like one of our first episodes. You should tell it again.

Jimmy:

Okay, so we were on a fire and something that a lot of people don't know is if you work so in the union, you have set times right. So breakfast at 7, lunch at noon, dinner at five, and you know, and if you're at the house, the station for me we would make those meals, and if you're on a fire, and it was longer than two hours past, so like I'd say, at two o'clock and the fire ended, but we were able to put the fire out and do all the things we're supposed to do clean up, we'd go to a restaurant, if the powers to be said. It was cool, and this day we were there. We went to a restaurant out in the Penn Valley area, between Sacramento and Marysville, a place called the Driftwood Inn, and it's a rural-ish area and lots of interesting people would show up there Understood, and we walked up and we looked into this one old car and there was a Denver and Pinscher, I believe it was. It was a giant dog.

Jimmy:

And just destroying the seats. Oh no. And we were like huh, but the seats were pretty trashed already.

Jimmy:

So we were like huh, but the seats were pretty trashed already, so we were like this is an ongoing thing and the Driftwood Inn had a pretty big bar with a restaurant, so that you know the alcohol-fueled incidents that came out of that place were pretty interesting. The local firehouse was very busy with a lot of those things, I'm sure, but we'd driven in to help out in that area, that particular area. So we're sitting there waiting for our table and a gentleman walks up and I've been told that I have that face people can talk to and just people want to walk up to me and talk to me. I inherited that from my father. He just wanted to talk to me and this gentleman walks up to me and he says hey, you guys firefighters. Right, we're like yep gave it away.

Jimmy:

You see the uniform he says when I left my property I had a calf giving birth and we were like cool. And he goes, when I left, the baby calf was about halfway out but it looked stuck and we were like okay. And we were like was it stuck in mom or was it stuck on a fence? He goes stuck in the mom and we were like okay. And then we got called for our table. So you know about eight or nine of us I think it was ten of us roughly walked in and sat down and my captain looks across at me and he goes people always talk to you. Huh, I go. Yeah, the grocery store happened all the time, happens all the time.

Jimmy:

Still, and I was like that was weird though, the cow that everybody's kind of talking about, like what? Like why would you leave? Like that sounds like kind of a thing. And some of the guys that we were with like actually own cattle and they're like that's weird, like you shouldn't have left that, like that's unfortunately still worn a calf now or something you know, we don't know. So, fast forward about 20 minutes, this gentleman walks up to us and he goes hey, I'm thinking about my calf, okay, and but now when he walks up back up to us, he has that dog that was in the car in the restaurant and the dog's head is like at our table height and I was like sir, only your dog can be in here. And he's like oh no, I'm going to take him to the vet and when I get to the vet I'm going to ask about my calf and we're like that's a great idea, good luck.

Megan :

Go.

Jimmy:

Yeah, and he ask about my calf. And we're like that's a great idea, good luck, go. Yeah. And he goes well, before I go there, I think I'm gonna go check on our cat, my calf and we're like, okay, have a good day, good luck. And he goes. Do you think they would ask us if we, you know, borrow, let me borrow a knife, because they have really sharp knives here. Maybe I can give the calf a C-section. Do you think you can tell me how to give a cow a? C-section.

Jimmy:

And I was like I'm not trained on cows, but you know who is. And a person about two firefighters over from me, a prankster good dude owned cattle. I said he owns cattle. He should probably be able to tell you that was very kind of you. And he starts laughing and he goes I own cattle.

Megan :

Dude owned cattle and said he owns cattle, he should probably be able to tell you.

Jimmy:

That was very kind of you and he starts laughing and he goes I own cattle, he's like, but I've never. It's the first generation of cattle. I've never had a calf yet I knew exactly what to say. It was hilarious and we're like all right, sir, and he's like well, maybe I should call my veterinarian, like that's a good call it's's a great call, in fact, Right he goes do they have a pay phone here?

Jimmy:

This is a pre-cell phone. And I go yeah, man, there's one in the back hallway by the bathroom. He's like do you have a number to a veterinarian? I go, I don't, do not, sir. There's probably a phone book there, though, and maybe you can ask people behind the bar if they have a phone book. It's like oh yeah, that's a good idea. And then my captain who used to like to, you know, stir the pot goes.

Jimmy:

Well, you know, he's a really good researcher pointing at me he should go with you and I'm like I gotta finish my dinner, though, sir, you know we're probably gonna call here pretty soon, and I want to make sure I'm filled up. He's like, yeah, yeah, you stay there. And I'm looking at my captain like you, jerk, but that's how our relationship was, and he goes. So the gentleman goes, okay, and then my captain goes.

Jimmy:

He walks away and goes, hey, sir did you have a veterinarian for your dog, aren't you you gonna go to that? He goes. Oh yeah, that's not till the 27th or something like that, and we're like 27th, I mean, I think it was like the 10th of the month it was like a long ways off. We're like then I'm like, do you think he's drunk? Or I think he's like having a mental issue, because, like, he's all over the place and the cat goes, I don know, but we should probably get out of here. We don't want to find out. We've got to get to our area because we're not even in our first-in area. We're responsible. We've got to get out of here. Oh my gosh, okay, okay.

Jimmy:

So the manager from the restaurant comes over and goes did you guys tell him to ask us for a knife? And we were like, no, oh no, definitely not. Uh, but we did leave, though he was on the phone with his. But he also put his giant dog back in the car and we're like it's getting pretty hot out here. This dog probably should not be in this car. And, uh, the fire engine that was from that area was like, yeah, we're gonna deal with the dog. And they ended up breaking the car window and letting the dog like air, but like it was crazy. But those are just restaurants, right?

Megan :

so that's a good restaurant thing.

Jimmy:

So the cool thing for me is when I go to the client is they show me really cool restaurants, restaurants I never would have tried or gone to. Case in point, I got to go to a Mongolian barbecue spot in Santa Clara off El Camino and it was next to an old one would say seedy, one could say questionable pool hall. And when we first got there the guys were like come on, man, this is like the best Mongolian in the area. And I was like I think I know what Mongolian barbecue is, but I don't know what Mongolian barbecue is. And we walked in and one of our students goes yeah, yeah, yeah, don't go to that bar.

Jimmy:

You'll probably get beat up, and I was like what he was like yeah, yeah, don't go there. But the Mongolian barbecue place ended up being a phenomenal spot to go to for multiple occasions. I got to go there. I got to take the kids there. Nice, that's really fun. Where else have we got to go?

Megan :

Oh, you took me to now one of my favorite taco truck stands. Yeah, the one. That way, that was really helpful. Huh, where do we always get tacos? When you get tacos Out of the tool, yeah, yeah, we have a good taco spot.

Jimmy:

You know the taco truck craze, it's real. Yeah, there's lots of taco trucks in our area, but around life safety there's the one in front of on O'Toole Street, in front of on O'Toole Street and in front of the Ryder building, and that one's really cool because when I was a seasonal firefighter years and years and years ago, I worked with my cousin during the winter doing a warehouse job and he took me to this lady at a hot dog cart and he used to call her the burrito lady and come to find out it was the mom that owns this and she started out with that and she only had chili burrito, or I want to say ham and egg burritos or something like that. She started with this little hot dog stand. First she started it right on the corner before I knew her, and then she started with the hot dog stand.

Megan :

A hot dog stand selling burritos Selling burritos.

Jimmy:

She just had this little two things like the steam plates because that's all she could keep them warm. Then she turned it into three or four different types of burritos that she would make probably at home, and then just keep them warm in the little hot dog stand and steam table. Then that became a truck and now she works at a restaurant and she has the truck so that's a really cool story oh yeah, um.

Jimmy:

And then another staple here in the area is california sourdough and people that go to californ California sourdough know about sourdough. Actually, I don't even know the name of it the place on First Street. I always mess it up. I always just call it the sourdough place on First Street. I'll look it up.

Megan :

I'll look it up.

Jimmy:

It is not the Uncrustable place. That place is great, a little too chain-y acting for me, where it's like California sourdough and the other sourdough place on First Street are both mom-and-pop places. I'm a little bit claustrophobic, so I don't really like the place on First Street because it's a little too small. Yeah, there's a lot. I mean all the burger spots you know, like the local original joe's, san jose spots, the? Um. We were talking to a client the other night and we were talking about the bold night. Anybody remember the bold night?

Jimmy:

um you're yeah, I guess you're probably too young. If that was a steakhouse and one side was like fancy steakhouse side, the other side was like a diner and they had fondue and stuff, I noticed there was fondue and appetizer and their steak obviously I would hope, and I'm trying to think of some other good spots. So if anybody can also reach out, I'm also a big fan of Cougar's House of Pizza. People either love that place or hate that place.

Megan :

My favorite pizza restaurant is Pizza Boca Lupo in San Pedro Square Market. It was one of my best friends in elementary middle school area. Her family started the restaurant, so I remember when it first got started and she they had. They started with like a pizza oven in their backyard and I would get pizza there. Like every time she would have a party or a sleepover or whatever it is, they would make pizza in their little pizza oven and then it became a restaurant and now I think I really enjoy it. It's like Neapolitan-style pizza though, so it's that like thin crust, not the like you know pizza that you get at like you know Domino's or whatever. Yeah, but I prefer that type of pizza, which I know is a hot take. It's a hot take.

Jimmy:

Yeah, it is, it is. If I go to Thin Crust Pizza Pizza, my Heart's, my standby, I'll try your folks, your friend's place, not by San Pedro Square a lot. I should go there more.

Megan :

They have some cool restaurants in there. They have like um, I was just in there recently, uh, they have like a Philly cheesesteak place and they have um a gelato place and obviously the pizza restaurant there's like a pasta restaurant. They have a lot there. Yeah, like that's a good place to go if you're going with a group of friends who can't decide. There's something for everybody there, sure.

Jimmy:

I haven't really been there since Treatbot, my favorite ice cream place. It was a truck and kind of a small batch ice cream place. Actually, the truck crashed on the freeway. It was in a traffic accident. It never was able to be rebuilt. I think they kind of lost a lot of money on that and they couldn't keep the place in San Pedro Square. But that was amazing. That is salted caramel Oreo cookie ice cream.

Megan :

Fascinating.

Jimmy:

Yeah, so it was, like you know, just like an Oreo cookie thing, but instead of the vanilla ice cream it was like salted caramel ice cream.

Megan :

It was really good, that sounds really good.

Jimmy:

It was really good.

Megan :

Speaking of ice cream, have you tried the rolled ice cream at, like icicles style or anything? Yeah, what is your take on that?

Jimmy:

um so, first off, I'm an old-fashioned ice cream guy.

Megan :

I like a good scooped ice cream like we still go to thrifties fair right like I'm a guy, I mean mint chip from thrifties's is the way to go.

Jimmy:

If Jenny and the kids were here, they would say, yes, jenny also likes the praline and cream from Thrifty's. I'm a rocky road guy.

Megan :

That's fair.

Jimmy:

You know, if you go to our house right now, there's rocky road ice cream in the freezer. We're also big on Moose. Rocky road ice cream in the freezer um, we're also big on moose tracks.

Megan :

Ice cream. Oh yes, I used to have that every time I went to my aunt's house.

Jimmy:

It's the only place I would eat it, but every time I went yeah, I think we actually have chocolate moose tracks right now at the house that's the one.

Megan :

That's the one that she had. The in hers always came in like a black um tub. I don't know what brand it was. I just I would recognize it in the freezer and say, oh, that's what I'm having.

Jimmy:

Yeah, what about Sweet Retreat? It used to be in Las Ganas. I don't know where the other one was, and then now it's at like Snell or Santa Teresa in Blossom Hill.

Megan :

Not familiar with it.

Jimmy:

Good homemade ice cream there, good spot. I'm trying to think of another. Good ice cream spots that are kind of like locally San Jose spots. You know, the client's the one who gets to take me to ice cream. That's true, Right. So, yeah, that's right. But we're an ice cream family, Like you know. If we're going to get a treat or something like that, we're doing that. Yeah, Last night.

Jimmy:

Janie and I went to I think it was called King's Fish House in Valley Fair and we got they had a butter cake ice cream and it kind of had like a really a really good like sorbet. On top of it was actually vanilla french merino ice cream. It's kind of like the sorbet inside of it, if not like and um, I don't know. It was just really really good was there any cake involved?

Jimmy:

yeah, it was a cake, but it's really cool crust on the outside, but then like this lemony sponge cake on the inside, okay, and then it had like whipped cream on the outside, like on the side, like a side piece which was interesting. I was like I should put that on there. Then I had some berries. Jenny swooped the berries like before. I even got a chance.

Megan :

It was kind of way black, but I think I ate most of the cake, so it's going to of, you know, even out um, oh, what's your san jose cake? Place, san jose cake place, my kitchen. Yeah, yeah, I'm a, I'm a baker. Yeah, yeah, what's your? Do you have a san jose cake place?

Jimmy:

I, I like all cake. Can't really go wrong with the cake for me.

Megan :

That's fair.

Jimmy:

To say something super controversial, though right now. I'm not a red velvet guy and I don't like cream cheese frosting. Huh. I'll stomach buttercream frosting if I have to Wink, wink, nod, nod. My favorites whipped cream. Okay, whippedcream frosting. If I have to wink wink, nod, nod. My favorite is whipped cream Okay, whipped cream frosting Okay, but I enjoy, you know, the burnt almond cake from Dick's right.

Megan :

Yes, it's a staple San Jose thing, you know, that's my mom's favorite. Well, there was two competing almond cakes, right, like what was the other place.

Jimmy:

The Burn Down.

Megan :

Yes, whichever? Yeah, I don't remember. The one that burned down was my mom's absolute favorite cake and her birthday's coming up actually two days from when we're recording this, and she was like the one thing I want is a burnt almond cake from that place, but I can't have it, and so I'm trying to figure out how to make it. But they burned down and they never released the recipe, and so I think we're going to have to go with the not that place recipe.

Jimmy:

So somebody correct me in the comments or send an email email at lifesafetycom and correct me, but I'm sure I thought that the two owners of the restaurant were brothers.

Megan :

That's what I've heard.

Jimmy:

Or they're related somehow, and it was quote unquote the same recipe but slightly different, and somebody told me that, God, I can't think of the one that burned down either. That's gonna bug me. It's gonna bug me, right and um, that was the reason why they separated and went to two different places because how they made the sponge and uh, I don't know um, but I'm sure somebody will email us, let us know.

Megan :

I'm sure I'm looking it up. I don't know if I'm gonna find it, though, just searching San Jose burned down restaurant almond cake, just burnt almond cake burned down or something like that.

Jimmy:

Yeah, and then Peters, peters, thank you. So we get to go to a lot of good burger spots I'm trying to think of.

Megan :

I'll say something controversial. I'm not a huge fan of burgers. I know you're not, I'm not, so I don't have anything here. I will eat. I will go if that's where the group is going, but I'm not the type of person to choose a burger joint, so I don't know. I mean, I feel like habit has good, but here's the thing I typically get the vegetarian one, so I don't know if that's a good. What's it called like a good barometer?

Megan :

yeah, yeah, but I think yeah but I I like the sides, which means that I like the sides habits, the one with the like, the fried green beans, or whatever things I think so. Or is that a different? One. I like those, and I also like it if they have sweet potato fries. Yeah, I'm not a fan.

Jimmy:

I don't eat sweet potato much. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Well, we were supposed to talk about food spots. We talked about dessert. I guess that's food. Yeah, we talked about pizza, a little bit Uh-huh, and Do you have a favorite burger spot? Funny story. I'm a big fan of Garrett. Uh-huh. I'm getting the Garrett burger. Uh-huh. St John's is great also.

Megan :

The Burger Pit, but they just closed down the Burger Pit. But they just closed down the Burger Pit, another staple that just closed, unfortunately, but they reopened as the Barbecue Pit, and I've heard really good things you have.

Jimmy:

Yes, okay, that was different owners, though.

Megan :

Yeah, oh, I don't think it's the same people, but I've heard good things about the new one.

Jimmy:

Okay.

Megan :

Okay, you can take that with a grain of salt, because I don't like barbecue so.

Jimmy:

Yeah, like barbecue. So yeah, yeah. So we've been kicking around going there checking it out. But it's also kind of nostalgia thing like the kids used to do a little gym in that shopping center next to it and so like if we had a birthday party at the lower gym, which we had multiple, and we'd go from there to the burger pit Because everybody liked burgers and it was easy, and the kids they'd get a kid menu and things like that, corn dogs or whatever it was, I don't remember.

Jimmy:

It was always easy to do, and so we spent a lot of lunches there, a lot of linners, lunch and dinners, a lot of dinners and we actually made a point to go before they closed because it was fun and we really liked that place. For sentimental reasons, I'll go to Burger Bar. It's the bag of burger place, as we like to call it, on First Street and big, so it used to be like 10 burgers for like five bucks or something like that. Yes.

Megan :

I used to live near there.

Jimmy:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then it started by recently and it was like three burgers for like $2 or something like that now or something Still fairly cheap but you know inflation whatever. But I go there like once or twice a year. I'll probably go there on Monday. It's my dad's birthday.

Megan :

So that's one of my dad's spots to go to, so I'll go and have a really cheap burger, really cheap burger.

Jimmy:

And um yeah, let us know your favorite spots to eat and uh, be safe peace, peace.

People on this episode

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Jimmy Rios

Host
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Jenny Rios

Co-host
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Megan Dake-Merklinghaus

Co-host