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Ramon “Ray” Naranjo’s R&R Tacos is a major player in the San Benito County catering game, becoming a familiar face at sporting and corporate events as well as smaller private events and the Hollister Downtown Association Farmers Market.
Not a chef by profession, his career began 20 years ago when, as a purchasing manager at a refrigeration company, he took on the cooking for one of the firm’s events. The response from his co-workers was better than just “good,” and a chance remark from his employer stuck with him.
“They had a flat top when those were just barely getting popular,” Naranjo said. “I brought some meat and seasoned it my way. After the event, my boss kept telling me, ‘Man, you missed your other life as a chef because you can really cook.’ And things took off from there.”
He gained the concept of “my way” early in life: like many great chefs, Naranjo got his start in cooking as a child, watching his mother and grandmother preparing the family meals.
“They put so much flavor and love into their food,” he said. “They were kind of like me, they liked to cater to people. Growing up, my mom sold food to a couple of companies. I watched how she would make plates for people from every Mexican cuisine you can think of.”
Later, Naranjo transitioned to becoming a social worker, taking on the occasional catering job until 2022, when the strain of doing both forced him to choose between the professions.
“It was just way too much to handle,” he said, “both mentally and physically. Making the change was scary, because you never know what the future holds. We had situations like COVID where everything stopped. But by then, I already had a good following on social media.”
And how good was that following?
Good enough for Naranjo to essentially franchise himself over the years, handling large events like a 300-person feast at a recent agricultural show in San Juan Bautista, catering sports dinners for Hollister and Anzar High Schools, and booking up to eight smaller events a day on weekends.
No business like Naranjo’s can be that successful without backing it up with high-quality food, and the deceptively simple menu of traditional Mexican street food at R&R Tacos bears out the care and quality of preparation.
The biggest seller at the Farmers Market this year has been his birria, which starts with seven pounds of chuck cut into large cubes.
“I cook it like I would a steak,” Naranjo said. “Most people throw the raw meat straight into the water to boil, but my mom taught me to sear it first. I season it, then throw it in the pan with a big blend of spices: oregano, clove, bay leaves, onion, and about 10 garlic cloves.”
The sauce is his own creation, using a dozen dried California chiles for color, along with six to eight guajillo chiles and about four pasilla chiles for spice.
“I roast them in oil rather than boiling them,” he said. “I add in some cumin, pepper, white pepper, sweet pepper, a cinnamon stick, ginger, vinegar, garlic salt, and red chicken bouillon, then blend it all two or three times in a commercial blender, so I don’t need to strain it.”
Prepared fresh, the sauce boils for three to four hours and continues to simmer while Naranjo and crew prep for that day’s event.
Naranjo uses the same chilis for his pastor, which gives it a darker, richer color, adding balsamic vinegar to the mix and introducing the pineapple earlier into the recipe.
“People always add the pineapple at the end,” he said. “I blend the pineapple with everything else in my marinade, and it makes a little bit sweeter mix. Then I just cook it, and it sizzles perfectly.”
Saying “mom always told me you have to improvise to be different,” Naranjo said he enjoys adding a few twists and turns to his recipes, like bringing oregano higher in the flavor profile of his chicken, for example, a spice he said is very much overlooked.
“I’m like a scientist with spices,” he said. “I don’t use measurements. I just know how many times to tap each bottle. Six times for this one, 12 for that one. Like they always say, it’s either a pitch or a punch.”
Another unique take is in his preparation of quesadillas, which shows a very wise appreciation of one of dining’s great gifts: fried cheese.
Rather than folding the cheese into the tortilla and letting it melt inside, Naranjo slaps a handful of cheese directly on the flattop, building the dish from there by adding a choice of meat before topping it off with a tortilla, letting everything brown and steam together.
“I ran into this technique accidentally,” he said. “Once the cheese gets nice and crispy, I turn it around, fold it, and cut it into thirds. My burritos are made the same, with the grilled cheese adhering to the tortilla. Many people are surprised by the way I do it; it’s a whole different flavor.”
Naranjo focuses a lot of attention on his salsas, a nod to his father who would tell him, “Anybody can do tacos, but the salsas are what makes or breaks you.”
He said his red salsa was the hardest to perfect, with a rich mix of tomatoes and chilis that took him over a decade to perfect. But his green salsa is the one that regular customers have been begging him to bottle.
“It is just a straight jalapeño,” Naranjo said, “with no dairy, no avocado. It’s full of flavor and just the tastiest, most perfect blend of spice. It is not an overkill kind of heat, just a quick spice level and then it goes away. And there’s a secret to getting that creamy, which I am not going to tell.”
The menu at R&R Tacos also embraces traditional items like his recently redesigned Alambre bowl, with bell peppers and sweated onions on a base of rice and beans, and his tortas, which feature his signature flat-top grilled cheese.
Naranjo’s plans for the near future include purchasing a food truck, but for now he is still at ground level in his tent, where he can more directly interact with his customers, including regulars who show up every week.
“The main ‘high’ for me,” he said, “is seeing the reactions on people’s faces when they enjoy my food. I don’t want to lose that focus.”
R&R Tacos can be found at the Hollister Downtown Association’s Farmers Market on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. through Oct. 21. Naranjo will also be taking part in the 7th Annual Taco & Chavela Fest at Bolado Park starting at 11 a.m. on Aug. 15.
Naranjo can be contacted for catering at 831-331-1820.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and for giving our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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