![]() Nick (laughing): Ice cream and shoe leather. Q: What does it taste good on besides all the Mexican food on your menu board? We have to be precise about the kind of peppers that we use. And we have to keep testing the quality when we make it. We still eat at the restaurants every day. Marco: We’ve had people buy a bottle and start drinking shots out of it! Orange Sauce blankets an order of Nacho Fries at the La Victoria located on San Carlos Street in downtown San Jose. Q: They’d better put something in the tip jar if they consume that much. Nick: If they eat here, they can finish a whole bottle if they want. Q: Do you limit the amount of Orange Sauce people use here in the restaurant? He wants to know if we can make the Orange Sauce like we did in 1999. Marcelino (pointing to a text on his phone): This man called me yesterday. Me being curious, I asked her, “What are you going to do with this sauce?” She’s like, “Oh, my son is back in China. We had a lady come into one of the locations, and she walked up to the register and asked if we sold the sauce. But people even bring it back to Mexico with them. Here’s another fun fact: You would think hot sauce would come from Mexico to here. Nick: It’s been all over - New York, Germany, Spain. Q: How far around the world does the love of your Orange Sauce extend? Marcelino: Some places make it hotter and think it’s good. Of course, if it doesn’t have our label, it will never taste the same. We don’t keep track of clones, but there are a lot of them out there and I’ve tried some. Nick: Well, they’re trying to cater to their customers who keep asking for orange sauce. Do you folks taste or keep track of Orange Sauce clones? Q: Many, many restaurants have created their own versions. An employee at La Victoria fills takeout containers with the taqueria’s legendary Orange Sauce. Q: When do you gentlemen find time to sleep? And when there are people downtown for conventions, we sell a lot. They repackage it with the name to give as a favor. People buy it for gifts, for dinners, to keep in the fridge. Q: There’s a busy season for Orange Sauce? During the busy season, we have to make it almost every single day. Nick: About three times a week, at an underground location. Q: How often do you make the sauce? And where? Nick: We make 750 gallons a week, 3,000 gallons a month. Marcelino: No, just up here (pointing to his head). Q: Do you have a copy in a safe deposit box? Q: So how many people in the family know the recipe? ![]() Nick: Thirty to 45 days in the refrigerator. A super taco at La Victoria gets a finishing layer of Orange Sauce. A few years ago there was a rumor started on the internet and everybody kept asking us if we put chorizo grease in the sauce. There have been several rumors over the years about certain ingredients but none are true. Q: Your sauce is vegan, and creamy without dairy and mayonnaise? Q: Always the same kind of chile peppers? Marcelino: It’s made with dried chiles, garlic, white onions. But what can you tell us about the ingredients? Q: We know the exact recipe is top secret. ![]() We sat down with three members of the family - patriarch Marcelino and sons Nick and Marco, who have spent their working lives in the family business - to ask them about the myths and the reality. The spicy concoction may have started off as “orange sauce,” but it’s capital O and S now on the bottle labels and in the hearts, minds (and tummies) of its acolytes. And the Barrita sons tell of a team of bicyclists proudly bringing 20 bottles to a Nevada race as their “made in San Jose” contribution. Before Game 1 of the 2016 Stanley Cup series between the Sharks and Pittsburgh, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo wagered a basket of local products that included La Vic’s Orange Sauce. Over the years, the wildly popular sauce that’s now featured at five locations in San Jose and one in Hayward has made it around the globe and been the subject of bets, trades and internet rumors. Irish pub Slainte rises to pour again in Oakland Friday is reopening day
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