Anyone who’s ever been to the Red Hook Ball Fields can tell you that the Country Boys’ line is always among the longest. No matter the hour, no matter the weather, if you want food from the Country Boys, you’re going to have to wait. As the winners of the 2009 Vendy Award, they are known citywide and internationally for their huaraches, large handmade, oblong corn tortillas filled with refried beans and topped with your choice of meat or vegetable and chopped lettuce, cotija cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and pico de gallo. But Fernando and Yolanda Martinez weren’t always master cooks. In fact they learned on the job.
Fernando first came to the park as a player. “A friend invited me to come to the park to play. I was young and liked soccer. I came and played and noticed there were people selling.” Fernando quit playing to dedicate himself to building the business. They didn’t have much in the way of startup funds, just enough to buy a few tables: one for the grill, one for their vegetables, and one for their customers.
Watching Yolanda prepare the handmade tortillas is strangely calming. No matter the line, she’s as unflappable as a Zen master. But she didn’t start out that way. Says Fernando, “It was very difficult for her to learn. She was practicing for about a month and finally. She has no problem now.” In the early days of their business, they would travel to Mexico at the end of every year to pick up advice for how to improve their food and technique. On a busy weekend they serve as many as a thousand huaraches. “I never imagined that. When we started we were happy with 100 to 150. Two hundred were too many.”
Prior to starting their business at the ball fields, Fernando and his wife worked in clothing factories in the city. “It was always our idea to have our own little business. We even bought sewing machines, and we started sewing at home.… We would work from Monday to Friday in sewing, and Saturday and Sunday we would come to the park to sell.” The Martinezes are no longer taking sewing home. “Now we dedicate ourselves completely to this. Thank God we are doing well. For the past five years business has increased a lot.
Between the shopping, cleaning, and cooking, their prep work takes all week. Keeping the business running is a family affair. Yolanda and Fernando are joined by their three sons, and Fernando adds, “almost the majority of my brothers are here.” With so many Martinez men involved in the business, you might think that they are the namesake “Country Boys,” but actually it’s the name that came with their truck. When the city stipulated that the vendors needed to be in trucks or carts to continue vending, all of the vendors rushed to find their vehicles. Fernando found a truck that was outfitted with everything, including a name. “When I bought the truck, I asked the owner if he was continuing with this work, and he said he was not continuing, he was going to retire.” The owner told Fernando, “‘I sell you the truck and that’s the end for me.’” Fernando liked the name, so he got the former owner’s permission to continue using it.
“We started from the bottom with only one little table and one grill, my wife and I, alone. We sold very little. $300 to $400, which was a lot for us, but little by little about four years into it, the business started to take off.”
Over the years, the menu at the truck has changed very little. The most notable addition is the “quezahuarache,” a hybrid of a huarache and a quesadilla (basically a huarache with melted mozzarella in addition to crumbly cotija cheese). Huaraches at the ball fields do differ from those served in Mexico: “We have added a lot of things—the lettuce, the pico de gallo, and the guacamole—that people here like a lot.” These additions came as they saw their clientele begin to change. These days there’s less of a soccer community than in years past. “They come to play and leave. Sometimes they bring their own lunch. Well, I understand with the economy it’s not easy.” In years past, most of their clients were Mexican and Central American, but “now 80 percent are white—Hispanics, less … We know that the non-Hispanics are very conscious of healthy food—they like vegetables especially, very little meat—that’s why we started using more vegetables, lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole.” In addition to the traditional meat toppings of spicy chorizo, cecina (salted dried beef), chicharrón (crispy pork skin), and chicken, they also have lighter vegetarian toppings like zucchini, mushrooms, and spinach.
The notoriety from their Vendy win has helped them secure ever-growing legions of fans. During the summer months, there’s “always a line of ten to fifteen persons. And the boys can’t get a rest—that [award] has been very helpful.” Despite the long hours and nonstop work, Fernando still enjoys the ball fields, especially “the fellowship with those who work with me and those who come to buy.” He’s been bowled over by the support of local politicians: “They came when we were having the problems with the city—when they wanted to throw us out—many people to support us, many political leaders—Schumer, Nydia Velázquez, Sara Gonzalez, so that has been helpful.” 2013 marks the last year of the Red Hook Vendors permit for the parks, and there is uncertainty as to what the future holds—if the vendors will be able to secure another long-term permit from the city, if the current vendors will want to return. Fernando says, “At least if we are four or five that could stay together, we will see what we do.” In the meantime, the Country Boys have expanded their presence to the Smorgasburg, a weekly outdoor artisan food market in Williamsburg and “Mister Sunday,” a Sunday afternoon and evening outdoor music and dance party in Gowanus.
Long term, Fernando and Yolanda hope to open a restaurant in Red Hook, but if not there, then in nearby Park Slope or Sunset Park. “Once we have a restaurant, we will feel more at peace,” he says. Even if they expand to a restaurant, they don’t have plans to leave the truck behind. “This will keep on being like my good luck charm. I have a lot of faith on this truck, this place.”
Adapted from Yolanda and Fernando Martinez’s recipe
These enormous, oblong, handmade tortillas are filled with a little bit of refried beans and are easily one of the most popular dishes at the Red Hook Ball Fields. A single huarache requires two paper plates to contain it (and in most cases two eaters to devour it). It doesn’t take many ingredients to make huaraches but it does take practice to make them well. The Martinez family was entirely self-taught, they learned in true trial-by-fire fashion at the ball fields.
Huaraches can be delicate and if the bean filling begins to burst through as you’re rolling it out, pinch a piece of dough from the ends to patch the holes and continue rolling out the huarache. Fortunately huaraches are covered with layers of beans, meat, veggies and cheese so if your results don’t match the perfection of the Martinezes’ versions, it’s unlikely anyone will notice between greedy bites.
1 pound Mexican chorizo
16 ounces (about 3½ cups) masa harina (corn flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup refried beans, divided
½ cup vegetable oil, for frying
1 small head iceberg lettuce, coarsely chopped
5 medium tomatoes, diced
½ medium white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
5 teaspoons fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
½ cup cotija cheese
Heat a large cast-iron skillet on high for about 5 minutes. Remove chorizo from their casing and add to the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high and fry chorizo, breaking it into small pieces with a spatula as it cooks. Cook until browned and crispy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain off grease. You can reserve grease to fry huaraches, if desired.
Place the masa harina in a large bowl and mix with salt. Slowly add about 2¼ cups water and mix with hands to reach right consistency. The dough should be soft but not sticky, and you may need to use more or less water. Form 6 roughly palm-sized, egg-shaped balls. Press your fingers into the center of each one by hand into circles to form a deep trench in the center so the ball of dough resembles a canoe. Add ½ teaspoon of beans to the middle of each ball of dough and pinch the dough to seal and restore the egg shape. Place dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap and press gently to flatten then cover with another large sheet of plastic wrap and use a rolling pin, to stretch the stuffed dough to form a large oval about ¼-inch thick. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or reserved chorizo grease) to a flat grill or large cast-iron skillet and heat over medium-high for 1 minute. Carefully place huarache onto heated surface for about 3 minutes, flip over, and grill for another 2 minutes or until both sides are golden brown.
Spread with a couple of tablespoons of remaining refried beans. Top with chorizo, chopped lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, and cotija cheese.
Same process as the huarache. While the huarache is still on the grill, sprinkle mozzarella cheese over it and let melt for another 2 minutes. Then add the meat and vegetables to your liking.
