Greater Huntington coverage is funded in part by The Farm Italy, a striking neighborhood restaurant and cocktail bar bringing the simplicity, beauty and seasonal freshness of Italian dining to Huntington.
Three years ago, Max Carballo had a few hundred dollars in savings, a passion for cooking and an idea:
Buy a food truck and see what happens.
He never imagined it would lead to a restaurant of his own.
Last month, Carballo opened Taquero Mucho at 15 E. Deer Park Road in Dix Hills, carrying the same name as the Mexican food truck he launched on Fifth Avenue in Bay Shore three years ago near Great South Bay Brewery.
“I opened the truck with the few dollars I had tucked under my pillow and hoped it would be something that helped pay the bills,” Carballo told Greater Long Island. “It has turned into something so much more than that, and I’m so thankful.”
The restaurant’s menu is largely the same as the food truck’s, though the bigger kitchen has allowed Carballo to add a few new items, including lobster tails and short ribs.
Still, when customers ask for his recommendation, he points them toward one of the originals.
“I love our burritos,” he said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s chicken, steak, pastor, chorizo. That’s what I tell everyone who asks me for my opinion.”
Taquero Mucho also offers seasonal specials, both in Bay Shore and Dix Hills.
In the summer, that includes a bacon-wrapped hot dog topped with vegetables, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and Hot Cheetos. Come winter, Carballo serves birria cup o’ noodles, made with broth in place of water and loaded with meat, onions and jalapeños.
Everything, he said, is made fresh each morning.
“That’s the right way to do it,” Carballo said. “If not, then it’s an insult to my customers, and I’m the type of person who doesn’t want to insult anyone.”
But while the food brings people through the door, Carballo said money isn’t what keeps him going.
“I don’t know if anyone is going to believe this, but I don’t cook for money,” he said. “Of course, that’s important, but to me, connecting with my customers is the reason I do this.”
Some of those connections have already caught him off guard since the restaurant opened.
“People have come into the store, taken a bite, and said, ‘Thank you. We needed you here. We needed a place like this,’” Carballo said with a smile. “I was taken aback. I never thought of myself as a chef. I’m just a guy who loves to cook.”
For all the attention his cooking has received, Carballo sees the restaurant as something bigger than a business.
“This is a person who grew up in South Central LA and had nothing,” he said. “Finally I can see a little success, and that’s great for my family, my kids.”
And he knows he didn’t get here alone.
“It would not have happened without everyone who came here and had my food,” he said. “So I say thank you.”
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