Potatoes are Aces
In poker and blackjack, an ace can be used either high or low - as lower than a 2 or higher than a king. When the guys make the family meal at the restaurant, they think of potatoes in a similar way. Sometimes, potatoes are treated as if it's a vegetable, and sometimes its featured as if it's a protein. But ironically, it's rarely used as a starch. Being that potatoes are a New World food, I find it fascinating that it's used so differently than how it's used in European cooking.
For instance, sometimes they make a pasta with a cream sauce, and potatoes are along with the other vegetables. Or, they'll roast potato slices along with chicken in a spicy marinade, but serve rice along with it. Or one time a guy spent a long time making a roasted tomato salsa, blending it, straining it, and roasting the potatoes in it long enough for the salsa to become a crust on the potatoes. And although they don't make them at work, potato tacos are fairly common antojitos.
Another thing that takes getting used to is that while most times, they are cooked through, sometimes they are left quite firm. Again, almost more like a vegetable texture.