There are more tacos per capita in Austin, Texas than any other city in the U.S. So what would possess a gourmet chef who was used to serving diplomats and dignitaries from every country at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. to buy a used air stream trailer and start selling tacos on the streets of Austin? It was Mike Rypka’s desire to be his own boss and his obsession with really good food. “Even though there are taco shacks on every corner in Austin, there was really nobody doing what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a gourmet taco masquerading as a street taco,” Michael Rypka said. In 2006, Rypka quit his job, and started his own business. He maxed out his credit cards and took out a second lien on his house. He named his taco trailer “Torchy’s Tacos” – a name that came to him in the middle of the night. He parked his food trailer at 5th Street and Baylor in downtown Austin.