Danny Trejo might be the hardest man in Hollywood, but nothing will have him gushing like an excited teenager more than tacos. After months of anticipation, his famous ‘Trejos Tacos’ has arrived in London, bringing the Cal-Mex flavour and the zip of Machete over to Portobello Road.
Swapping Spy Kids for the restaurant scene in Portobello Road, Trejo has brought his Taco trade to London for its first venture outside of the US, and Secret London videographer Tom Forte caught up with him for his thoughts on all things tacos, movies, and what character he would play in a British movie…
On why he decided to bring Trejo’s Tacos to London…
“I’ve been to London about four times…I’ve done a couple of movies here, and the last movie I did was one called The Muppet’s Most Wanted and I got to stay here a while. I was with Ray Liotta, rest in peace, and we just had a blast – everybody was just so warm and this town is so eclectic… it’s just like LA, basically. If you had sand on one side, it would be Venice Beach on Saturday to Sunday, and one of the producers on a movie that I did – one of my busiest partners – he was from here from here.
We’ve got like five restaurants in LA, one in Detroit, and we did kind of a taste test of Mexican food, and said we gotta get some Mexican food out here… and I think we really brought it. I think we’ve really got what people are going to enjoy, you know?
On his impression of Mexican Culture here in London…
It’s so funny, I’ve met so many people, so many Mexicans that are so proud of me, so like: “Oh, man! We’re so glad you’re here, thank you for the restaurant!” It’s kind of funny because that’s all over the world! Especially, being an actor, people see me and I get welcomed pretty warmly by everybody and that’s kinda cool!
On his favourite British movie…
God, you know I don’t really distinguish… I mean I don’t know really know what a British movie would be called but I’ve seen a lot of movies with British actors.
“Let me put it this way: if you had to insert a bit of Danny Trejo spice into a British film – I’m talking James Bond, Notting Hill, Paddington, what could you add to some of those kind of films?”
Trejo. Danny Trejo.
On bringing Cal-Mex to the UK…
We had a big thing today where they were giving me different British food… and it was like “you’re the same!” Different cooks cook different. So I had to make sure that my cook makes the kind of tacos that I make in the US. So we brought a little bit of Cal-Mex here, and people last night [at the opening] seemed to really enjoy it.
“I hear Robert Rodriguez said ‘you can say more with your face than most actors can say with a sheet of dialogue’… I want to know what sort of faces do you pull when you’re eating your best food?”
Really happy! But it was funny, who said that was Robert Rodriguez! We were doing Desperado. I had no lines in Desperado and I said ‘Robert, I’m your cousin! You don’t give me no damn lines?’ And he said ‘Trejo, you say more with your face than any of these actors can say with [a sheet of dialogue]. If you’re gonna kill somebody, and you look at them, they know they’re gonna die. It’s not like you’re like hmm maybe? And if you’re happy, the expression is on your face.’
If you look at the movie Desperado, every time it’s like ‘Ohhh he’s gonna kill somebody!’ And so it worked out. Steve Buscemi was really funny because when I was coming it at him to stab him, just throw knives at him he [puts his arms in front of him and shouts] ‘WAIT A MINUTE! Is this setup safe?! Because this guy looks like he really wants to kill me!’ Everyone was laughing at him. But we came out with a really a good film, and then the producers said ‘Danny, you didn’t say a word in that movie, and yet you character was so strong, was that an actor’s choice?”… and really I kept telling Rob ‘come on, give me a line, man!’ and he just said ‘No, no, no Danny!’ but when they asked me I said ‘Certainly, that’s one of the choices I made!’
On what makes the ‘hardest man in Hollywood’ soft and gooey inside…
You know what? In the movies I’ll be a bad guy for a minute, and it’s really strange because this director once told me: ‘Danny, you’re going to kick in this door, you’re gonna smack this poker game, you’re gonna smack this guy with your gun, you’re knock this lady down, and then you’re gonna hold your rifle on this guy and you’re just screaming at him on the floor”.
When I got into that guy, I immediately go talk to my kids or pick up a puppy. I can’t stay in that character, I don’t like that character… that character almost got me killed. I don’t really associate with actors that have to stay in character, because then they gotta be rude at lunch! ‘Pass me the fuckin’ salt!
[Joaquin Phoenix], he has to stay in character so he won’t go near the crowd, he’ll go to his trailer. Because he doesn’t wanna be rude and he don’t wanna lose what he’s got.
On the ingredients…
I would tell you all of the ingredients, but then I’d have to kill you.
“Can you tell us a secret?”
It’s not a secret… I love London. I did the Muppets Most Wanted here with Ray Liotta. One of the reasons I fell in love with London is that we had such a great. The city is so eclectic, at times you still think you’re in Los Angeles. Walk two blocks and you can eat at an Indian restaurant, walk three more blocks and here’s a Spanish restaurant. That’s the way LA is.
On a secret spot Danny Trejo likes to visit in London…
Trejos Tacos! On Portobello Road!
How he wants people to leave Trejos Tacos feeling…
When they come to Trejo’s Tacos, I want them to feel like they’re at home. The staff is friendly, and the food’s fresh, and the food’s good. That’s the thing we pride ourselves on. Everybody says: “How have been so lucky? You got seven restaurants!’ That’s not luck, the food is good! There’s no way I’m gonna say “Hi hun, would you like to go to a restaurant I know where there’s some really crappy food!” You say you know some really good food, and you want people to come back and have a good experience. The staff here, you won’t see anybody dragging. It’s working out.
On his favourite taco that we should be trying at Trejo’s Tacos…
I love fish, and our baja fish taco is delicious. Unreal. Remember we’ve got jackfruit, we’ve got vegan, we’ve got vegetarian, we’ve got gluten-free.
On Anthony Bourdain and spicy food…
My pal! Let me tell you something Anthony Bourdain said he wouldn’t eat anywhere in LA but my restaurant! He loved it! He said ‘Man, I went to Mexico and the food was pretty spicy, pretty good’ but what we tried to do was put the spice in but not the hot, not the burning. I like spicy food, but I don’t want just hot food. I like a taste, that comes from my mom, she always would make spicy for the men who wanted to show how big their nuts were, and then for the kids just spice.
More on London and mock cocktails…
I love London, I love everything about it. The food’s gotten better [because Danny Trejo is now in town]. We went to a lot of different shops to get the same ingredients we got in Los Angeles – that’s the one thing that I said we just gotta do it, even if we gotta ship it from LA. We didn’t have to, we found everything we needed and cut deals with them.
We put up a mock drink, because we found that in the pandemic a lot of people were drinking at home, and they kind of overdid it, and they started saying wait a minute, I gotta slow down. But they don’t wanna walk into a club and say ‘Can I have a soda?’ Order a mock cocktail! It worked, and nobody’s asking why are you not drinking!
On his tipple of choice…
Mine is a mock margarita! With no alcohol.
*Please let the record state that this interview closed with Tom Forte highly recommending Danny Trejo try a spicy Margarita for the first time to get a taste of what everyone’s crazy about in London. And we salute him for that*
Find Trejo’s Tacos at 299-301, 299 Portobello Road, W10 5TD (nearest station is Westbourne Park).