SAN ANTONIO — If you visit any city in the Lone Star State, you can get an opinion on which Texas town has the best tacos. But if you want an expert opinion on the Mexican food staple, Texas Monthly’s Taco Editor José Ralat is the man you want to follow.
Ralat admits that his title is cool and catchy, but his work is more than just taste tests.
“The stories of the food through the people,” Ralat said, “there's a lot that we don't know. There's a lot that's at risk of being lost, and I want to help preserve that and tell the stories of the food and the people.”
If you read articles written in Texas Monthly or peruse the pictures on Ralat’s social media, you notice an appreciation for the entire food experience.
“I think it's a great start to us recognizing how important the food is and how important the people are behind the food,” Ralat said. “This takes work. This takes a lot of work.”
There are a million ingredients that can go into a taco. But there is one item a taco cannot live without, and searching for a great tortilla is what led Ralat to San Antonio’s Sanitary Tortilla.
“You are going to have something that is amazing,” Sanitary Tortilla Owner Luis Garcia said.
Garcia owns Sanitary Tortilla, a business that has called the Alamo City home since 1925. He and his staff take pride in doing things the “old way.”
The company uses real corn kernels, not just corn flour. That corn is cooked in an alkaline water solution and steeps for hours. Once that process is done, the corn is run through a stone mill.
Sanitary Tortilla claims to be the first in the region to use machines instead of making the tortillas by hand. The process of going inside and using the machines made the process more efficient and cleaner.
“In those days,” Garcia said, “the tortilla manufacturer was in the squares and in the plazas through the chili queens in front of the horses or the cars. So, (the original owner) said, 'You know what, let's create a concept. We are going to change. We are going to start with the sanitary name because we are going to go inside of a warehouse and they are going to be cleaner and safer.'”
In Ralat’s research for a Texas Monthly article about the San Antonio staple, he learned about the history behind the use of "sanitary" in the name. Mexican food was thought of as greasy or not as clean. Many businesses had to confront prejudices and stereotypes. Some of those businesses turned to the name “sanitary” for help.
It’s a name that Garcia is not planning to change.
“We are not going to change,” he said, “It's a tradition.”
This is a business that has been through a lot in almost a century. Today, Garcia says production has slowed as restaurants that use "Sanitary Tortilla" products closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
But there is something about a fresh tortilla that keeps people like Ralat and other locals coming back.
“It's a tradition,” Garcia said. “It's a tradition, especially here in San Antonio.”
Ralat gets to try a lot of different foods from all over Texas, but there is always one food that makes him a little happier than others.
“There's nothing better for me than a warm fresh corn tortilla,” he said.
To learn more about Sanitary Tortilla, you can read Ralat’s article here.