From a simple shed to success in North Fair Oaks

To many people in Redwood City, Tacos Los Gemelos is another staple of the rich Mexican cuisine of Little Michoacan, a colloquial name for the North Fair Oaks neighborhood due to its large population of migrants from Michoacan, a midwestern state on the coastline of Mexico.

But for Joel Alejandro Vargas Toledo, co-owner of the restaurant, Tacos Los Gemelos is more than just another taco spot in the city. 

Before boasting two restaurants, a cantina and a food truck, Joel’s father, Carlos Vargas, first started selling tacos out of his apartment on Hampshire Street in North Fair Oaks. Carlos Vargas, a migrant from Apatzingan, Michoacan — a town marked by cartel turf wars, violence and economic hardship — learned to make barbacoa, a traditional Mexican dish of slow-cooked beef, from his grandfather, who ran a taco stand in Apatzingan.

Forty years ago

He migrated to the United States 40 years ago and landed in Redwood City. At first, he and his family struggled to find a place of their own. Carlos Vargas, his wife and six kids all lived in the living room area of a house and paid rent for that area alone.

“We were all struggling and sleeping in the living room. My mom would sleep on one couch and my dad would sleep on the other couch,” Joel Vargas said. “We grew up poor and I think my parents struggled a lot raising us because they didn’t have a lot of time to spend with us.”

Before tacos, Carlos Vargas worked installing security systems and became manager. He also did several side gigs like being a DJ, which boosted his popularity in the neighborhood. 

In 2004, Carlos Vargas bought his first home and remodeled it. A shed in the back became a kitchen and he started selling tacos out of it to the neighbors.

“The whole neighborhood liked the tacos,” Jose Vargas said.

The shed kitchen meals connected others like him to their homelands, but word got around to health inspectors who shut down the operation. 

This didn’t stop Carlos Vargas, however. He left his stable job and got a loan for a taco truck in 2007. The truck was christened Tacos Los Gemelos, or The Twin Tacos, in vibrant green letters after the birth of his identical twin sons, Miguel and Jose Vargas.

“It’s funny because they were born in June so they’re Geminis and their sign is twins so it’s perfect,” Joel Vargas said. 

Operating the truck came with its own challenges such as fines because of where and when food trucks were allowed to operate. 

“He was arrested one day because he wouldn’t move. He didn’t want to. They arrested him because he refused to move the taco truck,” Joel Vargas said. 

Brick-and-mortar

While the truck is still in operation, Carlos Vargas opened his first restaurant on Middlefield Road in North Fair Oaks. That restaurant sat in front of El Paisano, another popular restaurant in Redwood City known for its barbacoa. Joel Vargas worked as a cashier there, he said, a big role for him because this meant his dad trusted him with the task. The original location was short-lived and the restaurant moved to 1630 El Camino Real where it remains to this day. 

When Joel Vargas was 14, he wanted to learn how to make the family recipes the same way his father had learned from his father.

“It’s shredded beef, kinda like a stew. It’s marinated in consomme, which is the sauce and broth and you put a lot of spices and condiments,” Joel Vargas said.“It’s what we’re known for. It’s our one of a kind recipe.”

On top of preparing the food, Joel Vargas enjoys the social aspect of being a co-owner of Los Gemelos, “stepping into bigger shoes” and meeting people and creating a dish they can enjoy. 

Trouble

But Joel Vargas wasn’t always a standup business owner known for his work ethic and determination to see his family’s business succeed. In high school, and around the time Tacos los Gemelos #1 moved to its current location at the El Camino Real, he and his brothers were getting into serious trouble with the police.

The Vargas boys were skipping school, participating in street gangs and being overall menaces to the public good. His older brother, Carlos Vargas Jr., went to jail in high school. Joel Vargas and the twins were all on probation at one point but never went to jail. 

This was hard on his dad but he didn’t give up, Joel Vargas said.

“That’s why I feel like I owe them,” he said about his parents. “I feel like I owe him a lot because I made his life very hard.”

The four brothers dropped out of high school to work at the restaurant full time. While he wanted them to succeed in school, he recognized it wasn’t viable and said he would support them if they took the taqueria seriously. Something changed for the four brothers and they put all their energy into growing the family business and cutting ties with anything that was holding them back. 

“I’m proud of my brothers. We grew up rough, but we got out of that hole that we were dragging our parents into,” Joel Vargas said. “I’m very proud of changing my lifestyle for the business. If we wouldn’t have changed our lives, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Second location

The Vargas family then opened Tacos Los Gemelos #2 in the same building that was once El Rincon Tarasco, another popular taco spot that had its roots in Michoacan, a Salvadoran pupuseria and other restaurants in recent years. The high turnover led to Joel Vargas joking the location is cursed but he said the slow business is likely because of market saturation.

“There’s a lot of competition here. On El Camino Real there’s nothing else but McDonalds and El Grullense down the street,” he said. “But it’s not just us struggling. Redwood City is very expensive rentwise. A lot of people want to save money.”

The back portion of the building has a large event hall for private events and they are awaiting a license to sell alcohol. The Tacos Los Gemelos Cantina, formerly the Mardi Gras Lounge, next to their El Camino Real restaurant was owned and operated by the Vargas family for two years. But Joel says that managing two restaurants and a cantina was too much for them, so they are partnering with a company that will take over management and run the day-to-day operations of the bar while preserving the family brand. They are now looking at franchising opportunities.

“A lot of people see us being successful but they don’t see what’s behind the curtain and what’s really going on,” Jose Vargas said. “Day by day, you gotta stay true to yourself, you can’t let nothing change you. We are proud of the men we have become.”