Photo by Professor Salt

The cylindrical god in its El Toro Bravo manifestation

​
Here's to hoping my Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America is hitting the cultural caliente list at the right time--and it is, if you go by recent histories on Mexican food published by mainstream publications. I know Smithsonian Magazine is working on something because they called me for comment about the tamale wagons of 1900s California (but never got my comment . . .). Its blog did a good piece on the history of Fritos, and The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's iPad-only publication, just published a history of the burrito.

But that Daily article, like most Murdoch-owned news efforts, is laughably wrong, relying on half-truths and Wikipidia-ed myths to spin a tale suitable for a gullible public.

To wit:
More >>

Zambrano: Ready to taco you up--even on his birthday!

​
Usually, I don't give a shit about my birthday for reasons no one ever seems to want to understand. But last year, after the accolades heralding my 846th year on this planet, I realized I shared February 3 with a far-more important person: Gabriel Zambrano of Soho Taco. More >>

​
Believe it or not, I've actually been lagging in my plans to promote my much-promised book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America (out April 10) because of my responsibilities with being the editor of your favorite infernal rag and shit. Why, I still have a box of galleys to give out.

Thankfully, others are paying attention, and just got word of a great review from Kirkus Reviews, one of the major trade publications in the book industry.
More >>

Gracias, Disneyland?

​
Over the weekend, I gave my short history of Mexican food in Orange County at the Segerstrom Center's Samueli Stage as part of its hosting of the awesome, ribald Chautauqua! show. Since I doubt I'll ever grace any stage at the Segerstrom again, I decided to focus my 10-minute lecture on OC's two greatest contributions to Mexican food in the United States: Kogi tacos and Doritos.

Now, I wanted to keep the latter story--never before documented completely, one that runs contrary to the official Doritos genesis as endorsed by the Frito-Lay Company--secret until the publication of my book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, but I've got to start drumming up publicity for the pinche tome! And since I spilled the proverbial beans at Samueli, might as well share it with ustedes gentle readers. Anyhoo, behold the abbreviated story of how Disneyland most likely gave America Doritos.
More >>

My resolution for 2012: plug this book every day. Okay...every third day.

​
As you've known for years, 2012 is the year that my much-promised Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America finally gets published. The debut lecture here in OC is April 12 at the Fullerton Public Library--but you can get a brief, brief preview next Friday TOMORROW at the Segerstrom Center for the Art's Samueli Theater, where I will participate in Chautauqua! More >>

Cruising into the future...

​
And I'll end our year-end write-up of lists with this! If it skews a bit toward the Latino side, it's because that's where some of the most exciting cooking was happening in Orange County this year. Enjoy!More >>

​
There are many factors that go into the growing of a great chile pepper: terroir, climate, seeds, proper irrigation and the like. But it seems that the latter attribute is the most important.
More >>

Dave Lieberman

​
There are a hell of a lot of salsas in Mexican cuisine; beyond the usual green salsa verde made with miltomates (tomatillos) and fresh chiles and the usual red salsa roja made with dried chiles, jitomates (tomatoes) and garlic, there's an array of smoky sauces and dips made from all the chiles the Mesoamericans could breed, including salsas de semillas made for gloppy, soupy tacos de guisado. . . .

. . . And then there's salsa de aceite, meant for serious chileheads who want tacos made of tortillas, meat and salsa only.
More >>

​
Because nothing exists on the Internet before three days ago, I'm reprinting a 2009 article I did on the best tamales in Orange County for the holidays--and I'm also ripping off a 2007 article I did on the same subject. I will also note that Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen and Taco María make great high-falutin' tamales, as well. Anyhoo, the retread!

Almost three years ago, I wrote up this round-up of the county's best places to get tamales. Rivera's is unfortunately closed, and I still don't understand why Central and South Americans prepare tamales (with the exception of Nicaraguans and the Guatemalan pache), but the review still holds true. But other places have emerged over the years that belong on the list--let's first start, however, with the two stand-bys:
More >>

Nectar of the gods...

​
"Is horchata good?" the cute gabacha asked me on Sunday as we waited for our respective orders from Taco María. Before I could answer, she followed up quickly: "What is horchata?"

As someone who has imbibed the rice-water drink his whole life, I always get surprise when people don't know what it is--and even more surprised when people don't like it. I explained it to her, noting some people don't like its saccharine tendencies--but then qualified the statement by declaring Taco María's almond horchata one of the best drinks in Orange County RIGHT NOW.
More >>