{"id":339011,"date":"2026-05-30T12:17:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T12:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339011\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T12:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T12:17:52","slug":"people-we-meet-rafael-quintanar-a-taco-truck-fulfilled-his-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339011\/","title":{"rendered":"People We Meet: Rafael Quintanar, a taco truck fulfilled his dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael Quintanar\u2019s first job was pushing a handcart in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, in central Mexico,\u00a0selling newspapers, oranges, pumpkin seeds and ice cream. <\/p>\n

He was 4 years old and couldn\u2019t see over the top of the cart, he said, so he had to crane his neck around one side in order to see where he was going.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nowadays, at 75, Quintanar\u2019s still working. He works five days a week alongside his wife, Magdalena Quintanar, running El Norte\u00f1o taco truck at a parking lot at the corner of Bryant and Harriet streets, just across from the Hall of Justice.<\/p>\n

\"TwoRafael and Magdalena Quintanar at the head of their truck as they take a break between orders. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

He gets up at 1 a.m. and starts cooking. By 7 a.m., the truck is open for business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The early crowd tends to be construction workers. Residents of the Tahanan, a 145-unit permanent supportive housing complex, stop by throughout the day.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cGood morning, Rafa!\u201d says a man in a wheelchair, in Spanish. <\/p>\n

\u201cWere you at the hospital?\u201d Rafa replied. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d the man said with a smile.\u201dI got a new wheelchair. Check it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"El Norte\u00f1o\u2019s chef, who goes by \u201cEl Cocinero,\u201d cooks up some tacos for a customer on May 19, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

The lunch rush starts a little before 11:30 a.m., and is mostly workers at the Hall of Justice and other offices nearby. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been coming here almost every day since my company moved here a month ago,\u201d said Jon De La Cruz, a designer who put in an order for three carnitas tacos. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty good food and good people. They take care of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy company moved to the East Bay seven years ago, but I always tell them that it\u2019d be a sin for me not to come by if I\u2019m in San Francisco,\u201d said Gabriel Perez, a construction worker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perez has been a regular for 16 years, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the way they cook and how they treat you. I believe they have loyalty to us, their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like Mexico City\u2019s flavor,\u201d added Perez\u2019s brother, Gustavo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoLong-time customers and construction workers, Gabriel (left) and Gustavo Perez (right), pose in front of the truck after ordering a \u201ctorta grande\u201d on May 19, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hot and stuffy inside the truck, and lunch orders keep mounting. Rafael, Magdalena and another man they call \u201cel cocinero\u201d move around each other quietly in a nearly synchronized dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the years, El Norte\u00f1o has seen judges retire, Hall of Justice staffers come and go and small children grow up to become customers. Quintanar becomes particularly close with the Spanish speakers. He still remembers public defender Marla Zamora and her regular order (three chorizo tacos), even though it\u2019s been nearly a decade since her death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was so nice,\u201d said Quintanar. \u201cWe used to call her corazonzito.\u201d Little heart.<\/p>\n

Quintanar wasn\u2019t always at this location. His first spot, at Eighth and Townsend streets, saw such slow business\u00a0that he lost his home in South San Francisco. Still, he was committed to making the truck work, he said.<\/p>\n

Slowly but surely, clientele and business started to grow, but within five years of opening, he was forced to relocate because the area was going to be developed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoRafael Quintanar and \u201cEl Cocinero\u201d inside their taco truck preparing meals and taking orders for the customers waiting outside. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

Business has improved since then. <\/p>\n

Quintanar has served food to local politicos like former Mayor London Breed and former District Attorney Kamala Harris, but was also, he said, hired to cater campaign events for then-presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, though he was too shy to ask for a photo with either. <\/p>\n

Quintanar is shy in general, he says. If someone speaks to him in English and he doesn\u2019t understand what they are saying, he\u2019ll just nod and say \u201cYes, yes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

His favorite part of the job is the customers, he says. \u201cTo see men in suits waiting in line with construction workers and other regular folks. Everyone is the same in my eyes. I see it when they wait in the same line to order food at my taco truck,\u201d said Quintanar, in Spanish, as his eyes filled with tears.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AA suited customer stops by the truck, located right in front of the Hall of Justice, in the morning for a quick meal on May 19, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

\"AJorge Urbina, working with parking meter enforcement, stopped by to grab some tacos on May 19, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

\"AA customer orders food at the El Norte\u00f1o taco truck on May 19, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

Rafael and Magdalena Quintanar have been married for more than four decades. Though, at times, he needs a little help remembering.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long have you been married?\u201d he asked Magdalena as she walked by.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you have,\u201d Magdalena replied. They two broke into laughter as they shared a hug.<\/p>\n

The Quintanars met in the heart of the Mission District, outside of the former Cine Latino, across from the New Mission theater. The two walked out of a Pepe Carrasco show they described as \u201cboring\u201d and struck a conversation, the first of thousands.<\/p>\n

After about 45 years of marriage, the couple now has six children \u2014 some of whom have occasionally helped at the truck \u2014 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the hard, early years, the two were able to buy a new place in south San Francisco, then, later, a small ranch near Chico, which helped to fulfill another longtime dream of his.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since I was a little kid, I dreamt of having horses, and I was never able to until, thank God, it happened,\u201d said Rafael Quintanar.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rafael Quintanar in front of his truck on May 19, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n

Now Quintanar has eight horses at the ranch that he rides whenever he finds the time, while listening to Vicente Fernandez, Pedro Infante, Luis Aguilar and Jorge Negrete, his favorite musicians.<\/p>\n

After more than 70 years working, Rafel Quintanar said he has no immediate plans of retiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll die if I stop.\u201d he said. \u201cYou gotta stay active.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael Quintanar\u2019s first job was pushing a handcart in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, in central Mexico,\u00a0selling newspapers, oranges, pumpkin seeds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[387,18362,101,103,102,104,106,105,22638],"class_list":["post-339011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-business","tag-people-we-meet","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-street-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}