Drive to Thrive: Nourishing Pride with Mis Tacones

In this episode, Pride Northwest Director of Programs and this month's guest host of PrideScape, Ian Morton, guides listeners through a look at one powerful piece of a broader fight for food security, a central focus of Pride Northwest's winter “Drive to Thrive” campaign. The spotlight is on Mis Tacones, a restaurant where food, culture, and social justice intersect in meaningful ways.

Owned by Carlos Reynoso and Polo Banuelos, Mis Tacones brings traditional Chicano and LA-style street food to life with a plant based twist. Beyond their vibrant menu, Carlos and Polo have created a welcoming space that offers free meals to queer and trans people of color and other underserved community members. In this conversation, they share how this initiative began, how their identities shape their work, and what it means to serve their community through food.

This episode also highlights how community efforts contribute to the broader push for food justice and offers a meaningful glimpse into how one organization is addressing food insecurity with heart, creativity and community centered care.

After tuning in:

Learn more about Mis Tacones and support their Pay it Forward program: Mis Tacones PDX.

Mis Tacones is nominated for the VegNews Restaurant Award - a national nomination amongst other vegan businesses in the country! Vote for them here.

About Carlos and Polo:

Carlos Background: "Carlos started doing social advocacy work, because he related personally to the communities he served. As an at-risk gay youth, he'd been incarcerated, struggled with substances, etc. In social services, the burnout rate is high, and the pay is never great, so he would do side jobs in kitchens. It was like two different environments, between the social justice work and the cutthroat nature of the kitchen: where no one cared about your identity. His dream? Creating an environment in the restaurant world, that cared about humanity and valued its staff, customers, and community at large. Being vegan himself for 14 years, as a stance against cruelty in all forms, it fit perfectly with his mission as a whole."

Polo Background: "Polo Banuelos' love for cooking originated at an early age - finding comfort through food & spending quality time in the kitchen with his mother, aunts, and grandma. The importance of spreading joy through family meals and traditional recipes stuck with him, through his own vegan journey. He believes that life should be respected in all forms, including animals."

Mis Tacones backstory: "Mis Tacones was born out of homesickness, a desire to integrate the couple's roots into a new city, after moving to Portland. It was an experiment, an art project, and a call for connection. Their superpower? Coming from hard-working, immigrant families. They knew what it took to run a small business, and that's the community they want to champion."