Vendor Gallery: Hector Santiago
Posted by Christiane Lauterbach | May 6th, 2010 | Filed under Carts
During last Sunday’s James Brown Bash in the Old Fourth Ward, one of Atlanta’s greatest chefs dished out freshly cooked burritos wrapped in newspapers.
Hector Santiago of Pura Vida on Highland Avenue is that rare chef who can go high and low with the same passion, talent, and energy. His joining the street food movement is wonderful news!
“El Burropollo is inspired by the burritos I used to eat in my uncle’s restaurant, Burritos Robles in El Paso,” Santiago told us. “Yes…my uncle is a Puerto Rican cooking burritos (he’s been married to my Mexican aunt for as long as I can remember)….He first started Burritos Robles about 40 years ago in Ciudad Juarez., then moved his business to El Paso.”
“They were the hottest burritos I had ever eaten,” Santiago remembers, “and what I love about them is that it was 95% meat and a little garnish. I serve mine with sauces to tame it down but in El Paso they do the contrary…they are truly Chile Heads! ”
Vowing to keep the menu simple, with the addition of a fried item so he can recycle his oil into diesel to help keep his cost down, Santiago is deadset on going mobile.
Gracias to Hector and pura vida, y’all!
[photos by Karl Injex]
Tags: atlanta, burritos, Hector Santiago, vendor gallery
