People We Meet: Rafael Quintanar and the taco truck of his dreams

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Rafael Quintanar’s first job was pushing a handcart in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, in central Mexico, selling newspapers, oranges, pumpkin seeds and ice cream.

He was 4 years old and couldn’t 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. 

Nowadays, at 75, Quintanar’s still working. He works five days a week alongside his wife, Magdalena Quintanar, running El Norteño taco truck at a parking lot at the corner of Bryant and Harriet streets, just across from the Hall of Justice.

He gets up at 1 a.m. and starts cooking. By 7 a.m., the truck is open for business. 

The early crowd tends to be construction workers. Residents of the Tahanan, a 145-unit permanent supportive housing complex, stop by throughout the day. 

“Good morning, Rafa!” says a man in a wheelchair, in Spanish.

“Were you at the hospital?” Rafa replied. “That’s what we’ve heard.”

“Yeah,” the man said with a smile.”I got a new wheelchair. Check it out.”

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

“I’ve been coming here almost every day since my company moved here a month ago,” said Jon De La Cruz, a designer who put in an order for three carnitas tacos. “It’s pretty good food and good people. They take care of you.”

“My company moved to the East Bay seven years ago, but I always tell them that it’d be a sin for me not to come by if I’m in San Francisco,” said Gabriel Perez, a construction worker. 

Perez has been a regular for 16 years, he said. “It’s all about the way they cook and how they treat you. I believe they have loyalty to us, their customers.”

“It’s just like Mexico City’s flavor,” added Perez’s brother, Gustavo. 

It’s hot and stuffy inside the truck, and lunch orders keep mounting. Rafael, Magdalena and another man they call “el cocinero” move around each other quietly in a nearly synchronized dance. 

Over the years, El Norteño 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’s been nearly a decade since her death. 

“She was so nice,” said Quintanar. “We used to call her corazonzito.” Little heart.

Quintanar wasn’t always at this location. His first spot, at Eighth and Townsend streets, saw such slow business that he lost his home in South San Francisco. Still, he was committed to making the truck work, he said.

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. 

Business has improved since then.

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.

Quintanar is shy in general, he says. If someone speaks to him in English and he doesn’t understand what they are saying, he’ll just nod and say “Yes, yes.” 

His favorite part of the job is the customers, he says. “To 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,” said Quintanar, in Spanish, as his eyes filled with tears. 

Rafael and Magdalena Quintanar have been married for more than four decades. Though, at times, he needs a little help remembering.

“How long have you been married?” he asked Magdalena as she walked by.

“As long as you have,” Magdalena replied. They two broke into laughter as they shared a hug.

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 “boring” and struck a conversation, the first of thousands.

After about 45 years of marriage, the couple now has six children — some of whom have occasionally helped at the truck — 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. 

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. 

“Ever since I was a little kid, I dreamt of having horses, and I was never able to until, thank God, it happened,” said Rafael Quintanar.

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.

After more than 70 years working, Rafel Quintanar said he has no immediate plans of retiring.

“I’ll die if I stop.” he said. “You gotta stay active.”