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Blogs
May 1, 2013
Eat This Now: Pambazo Ahi Crudo at Anepalco's Off Chapman
So I know all of you go to Anepalco's off Main Street in Orange, the first branch of Danny Godinez's coming empire of alta cocina Mexican food. But not enough of you have yet made the trek to the second Anepalco's, the one off Chapman Avenue kitty-korner from UCI Medical Center. That one gets a good ... More >>
Blogs
April 15, 2013
Rick Bayless Insults Yet Another California City's Mexican Food Traditions
My lord, does Rick Bayless want all Mexicans in the United States to hate him or something? Back in 2010, the celebrity chef of Mexican food notoriously said Los Angeles didn't have much of a Mexican food tradition, then denied he ever said that while trashing Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Time ... More >>
Food
April 11, 2013
Taco Nazo: OC's LA Fish Taco Cousin
This La Habra restaurant sells great fish tacos straight outta La Puente
Blogs
January 31, 2013
On the Auction Block: Letter From JFK's Mom Trashing Mexican Food
While doing my research for Taco USA, I came across a fascinating sub-chapter: presidential encounters with Mexican food. Some of our commanders-in-chief lived for the stuff--Richard Nixon, LBJ, and Bill Clinton, especially. Others helped elevate it in status--Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama come to ... More >>
Blogs
January 8, 2013
Tortilla Tuesdays: Nuño Brothers Tortilleria
There some OC Mexican market dynasties--the Gonzalezes of Northgate, the Bonillas of El Toro, El Toro Bravo, and El Camino Real, the Rubalcavas of La Reina and Rubalcava's Bakery, the Zambranos behind Taco Mesa, La Reyna, and Soho Taco--whose imprint is all across Latino OC, whose product travels fa ... More >>
Blogs
January 8, 2013
On the Line: Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria, Part One
Firsts happen all the time. Our interview with Carlos Salgado was the first time a chef brought someone to our meeting (who was lovely, by the way!). It was also the first time we heard of a subject experiencing car trouble on the way to their photo shoot. Actually, it was luxe lonchera trouble whil ... More >>
Blogs
December 20, 2012
Make It Mexican With Roland: Tamales
This is the first installment of Mexican food tutorials with the warm and inspiring Roland Rubalcava of Rubalcava's in Placentia. Roland has agreed to take us through his favorite dishes that he learned how to make from his mother--this way, you no longer have any excuses to eat at a gabacho-fied Me ... More >>
Blogs
December 20, 2012
Tacos de Pescado Los Originales: Naked, Flaked, and Sacred
It's time to take back the fish taco.Enough with the soft, mushy, grilled "healthy" fish tacos. Find a different name for it--tacos de guacareada come to mind--and leave the original tacos de pescado estilo Ensenada alone. A real fish taco is a piece of deep-fried fish--preferably shark, but any moi ... More >>
Blogs
December 7, 2012
Where to Buy Tamales in Orange County This Christmas, 2012 Edition!
This is hilarious. Every year around this time, I get asked where to buy the best tamales in Orange County. Really, the answers rarely change. Below is the article on the subject I did last year, which itself is mostly a retread of a story I did back in 2007. Other plugs I'll give right now are for ... More >>
Blogs
October 24, 2012
Diatribe with Dave: A Soliloquy on Salsa Roja, and Where to Find the Best in OC!
Every second and fourth Wednesday night of the month, legendary bartender/chef/restaurant insider Dave Mau hosts Dinner with Dave at Memphis at the Santora, where he treats drinkers to a free meal and live music as the evening progresses. To remind ustedes of this great night, Dave treats us ev ... More >>
Blogs
August 21, 2012
Tortilla Tuesday: Flour Tortillas at Rubalcava's Market AKA Best Flour Tortillas in Southern California
In the borderlands, a flour tortilla is sacramental, holy, filling, the true daily bread: fluffy, filling, thick, pliable, toothsome love. In Southern California? Universally, shit.I've eaten tortillas my entire life, and the flour versions have only been consumed out of necessity for quesadillas (d ... More >>
Food
July 5, 2012
Potzol den Cano Has Querétaro Power
[Hole In the Wall] This Santa Ana restaurant is the first outpost of a Mexican chain devoted to pozole—but there's much more
Blogs
June 15, 2012
A Long, Withering Takedown of Rick Bayless on Occasion of Him Receiving an Award from Mexico, or: Rick Bayless, the Michael Bolton of Mexican Food
On June 6, Chef Rick Bayless received from the Mexican government the Order of the Aztec Eagle, Insignia class (lower ranking reserved for non-royals and non-politicians) for his work in promoting Mexican cuisine in general, and Mexican haute cuisine, specifically, in his PBS television series Mexic ... More >>
Blogs
May 18, 2012
Five Tex-Mex Food Specialties That Should Go Nationwide--Or At Least to California
From chili to the combo plate, fajitas to tacos al carbón, the frozen margarita machine to nachos, Texas has long dominated the national conversation on Mexican food in this country. But that's now irretrievably changed, as California and our onslaught of regional Mexican, Korean tacos, Mission bur ... More >>
Food
May 17, 2012
Rubalcava's and the Rise of Primo-Mex
[Hole In the Wall] This Placentia meat market is launching an audacious experiment with Mexican food
Blogs
May 15, 2012
Potzol den Cano: A Home Run In a Bowl (And On a Plate)
My in-laws make the best pozole in the world. This is not open for discussion; anyone who has ever had it at any Gutierrez family gathering knows the truth. Come Christmas time, certain houses from here to Lake Los Angeles smell like what my sister-in-law graciously refers to as "feet and butt s ... More >>
Food
May 10, 2012
Anepalco's Cafe Has Le Mexique
Danny Godinez's second restaurant serves Mexican meals in the French style
Blogs
April 25, 2012
Allerto's Mexican-Indian Comida is All-Halal All The Time!
Go to Allerto's if you're in the area, and you're craving Mexican and/or Indian food. Some might feel like they're making a pit stop on a road trip when entering the 24-hour restaurant. It's probably because it doubles up, with no barrier, to a gas station store. There are about a dozen small tables ... More >>
Blogs
April 23, 2012
Ten Great Mexican-American Combo Plates In Orange County
Sometimes we want regional Mexican food--corundas and pozole from Las Brisas de Apatzingán or thick, rich moles from El Moctezuma--and sometimes we just want the familiar old combination plate with its orangey rice and its goopy beans and its two enchiladas where the sauce runs into the other parts ... More >>
Food
April 5, 2012
How Doritos Were Born At Disneyland
Adapted from 'Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America'
Columns
April 5, 2012
Are There Different Kinds of Mexican Food?
[¡Ask a Mexican!] And how can I get a copy of 'Taco USA'?
Food
April 5, 2012
One Nation, Under Tacos
An excerpt from 'Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America'
Food
April 5, 2012
Taqueria Two Guys Cheeses It
[Hole In the Wall] This Santa Ana Mexican restaurant loves its cheese, damn the authenticity
Blogs
March 19, 2012
Taco Bell Celebrates Its 50th Aniversary This Week; 5 Ways the Bell Helped Mexican Food Become Better in the U.S.
Taco Bell, the Mexican fast-food giant everyone loves to hate, celebrates its 50th anniversary this week and...yeah. Heaven knows it's an easy whipping boy for everything wrong with Mexican food in this country: the bastardized meals, the incessant appropriation (this week: I finally reveal the n ... More >>
Blogs
March 5, 2012
The Five Most Influential Cities in the Development of Mexican Food in the United States
SO...my much-promised book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America finally hits the bookstores next month (April 10), and review copies are slowly making their way around the nation's newsrooms. So I might as well start giving out bits and pieces to entice ustedes to preorder the damn thing ... More >>
Food
March 1, 2012
Taqueria La Poblanita Embraces the Nuevo
[Hole In the Wall] This Anaheim eatery sells quesadillas more deity than tortilla
Blogs
February 23, 2012
Eating Good Mexican-American Food In... Greenwich Village?!
I hate driving past signs advertising New York pizza. With a couple of very rare exceptions, it's almost never any good, but people have this einredenish--this self-imposed delusion--that places advertising New York pizza will actually be able to produce the chewy, slightly sour crust, the tangy ... More >>
Blogs
February 16, 2012
10 Great Burritos in Orange County
O, cylindrical god!You can hate tacos, not favor hamburgers, even look down on pho, but I dare say anyone who doesn't eat burritos on at least a weekly basis might as well pack up and move to Los Angeles...where you'll find even more burritos. Orange County was burrito country long before those t ... More >>
Food
December 22, 2011
Tepache at El Chilango
[Hole In the Wall] The Mexico City-style mini-chain serves the rare fermented-pineapple drink—yum!
Blogs
December 14, 2011
Where to Buy Tamales in Orange County this Christmas
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 ... More >>
Blogs
November 30, 2011
On the Line: Pedro Resendiz of Tamarindo Truck, Part Two
Day two with Pedro Resendiz gets to the heart of what makes the Tamarindo Truck tick. We tie together family, life experiences and the menu, which differentiates the Resendizes' luxe lonchera from the rest. He also shares his thoughts on receiving criticism (and the importance of having a thick s ... More >>
Blogs
November 17, 2011
Chef Gabbi's Tamale Demo At Orange Farmers Market THIS SATURDAY
Gabbi's Mexican KitchenGabbi's Market TamalesThe Christmas music is already playing at the mall, which means it's tamale-making season here in Southern California. This Saturday at 10:30 a.m., as part of the Chef Demo Series at the Orange Home Grown Farmers Market, Chef Gabbi Patrick of nearby Ga ... More >>
Blogs
September 26, 2011
Five Mexican-Food Empires Started By Americans Ripping Off Unnamed Mexicans
One of the few cases in Mexican-food history in the US where a Mexi wasn't ripped off by gabachos...Michelle posted earlier today about how the man credited with creating Fritos, former Frito-Lay executive, Arch West, just passed away in Dallas. First thing I told her? "The origin story for Dorit ... More >>
Blogs
September 19, 2011
Five Things You're Doing Wrong With Mexican Food
Flick user Ryan LeightyWe love Mexican food 'round here, and not just because I'm doing a book on the history of Mexican food in the United States. It's the native cuisine of Southern California, something many Americans have seamlessly assimilated into their day-to-day lives--and an easy subject ... More >>
Blogs
September 8, 2011
A Brief History of Tamales in Santa Ana
You know that book about the history of Mexican food in the United States that I mention in every other post? I released a brief, brief preview of it in the Food section of today's Los Angeles Times, specifically on the tamale wagons that ruled the streets of Southern California in the late 1890s ... More >>
Food
August 18, 2011
Lupita's Is a PeeWee Pupusa Place
[Hole In the Wall] The Costa Mesa dive specializes in Salvadoran and Guatemalan cuisine
Blogs
June 23, 2011
#81: Quesadilla Chilanga at Alebrije's Grill
ProfessorSalt.comSince nobody could guess the exact name of last week's Guess Where dish, I'll tell you now. It's a quesadilla chilanga from the pink Alebrije's lonchera parked on Cubbon and Main Street in Santa Ana. Some of you guessed almost right, but a quesadilla is not a taco, no ... More >>
Blogs
June 13, 2011
Five Commonly Mispronounced Mexican Food Terms that Americans Shouldn't Mispronounce
There was a time in our nation's history where Mexican restaurants--whether fast-food taco empires or El Torito Cal-Mex ambassadors--published pronunciation guides to aide customers in properly ordering their meals. Some of those places still exist, but you'd have to be an absolute pendejo in thi ... More >>
Food
May 19, 2011
Taqueria Don Victor Makes You Taste the Baa
[Hole In the Wall] At this Huntington Beach treasure, Hidalgo-style cookery shines
Blogs
May 5, 2011
Six Presidential Encounters with Mexican Food, Ranked from Best to Worst
The only president that matters today...So today is Cinco de Mayo blah blah blah blah. But instead of offering you places to drinko, your humble scribe likes learnin' people stuff, you know, the more arcane the better. So what more-random topic than a quick overview of American presidents and the ... More >>
Food
April 7, 2011
Soho Is Where the Taco Is
[Hole In the Wall] Reyna Market in Santa Ana is home to the Zambranos, the best taqueros in Orange County right now
Blogs
April 7, 2011
Ask a Comida Critic: Best Chile Relleno in OC?
Someone actually asked this months ago, but it got lost in the pile along with my W-2 (eep!). Anyhoo, the query:What's the best chile relleno in Orange County?I must admit: I never order the dish. A chile relleno is never about subtlety; it's supposed be greasy, gooey, eggy, a glop to be mixed al ... More >>
Blogs
March 29, 2011
Five (Largely Inaccurate) Oxford English Dictionary Entries for Mexican Foods
Last week, I reported on how the Oxford English Dictionary had just included "banh mi" into its august publication, a wonderful, surprising development. Also in the mix was "taquito," and that entry just pissed me off. Oh, I was happy that rolled, fried tacos finally received their due--but ... More >>
Blogs
March 24, 2011
Battle Bad-Ass Chilaquiles: Amorelia Mexican Cafe vs. Taquería Zamora!
Taquería Zamora's epic chilaquilesMy favorite breakfast after pozole is chilaquiles, that beautiful creation of beans, rice, eggs, crema, and tortilla strips of varying degrees of hardness--but it's one I rarely have outside my mother's kitchen. Far too many Mexican restaurants don't understand ... More >>
Blogs
March 4, 2011
A Mexican Dinner in 1890s Orange County with Madame Helena Modjeska
Wikimedia CommonsThe caption says it all...In doing general research for my book on the history of Mexican food in the United States, I've unearthed numerous accounts of non-Mexicans enjoying Mexican food for the first time, or quickly learning how to love the stuff. One of the earlier accounts I ... More >>
Food
March 3, 2011
Taqueria Rigoberto's Is the Loncheros' Lonchera
Eat like a taco-truck employee at this Santa Ana chef favorite
Blogs
February 2, 2011
Taco Asylum Is Tasty--But Not the Taco Part
Taco Asylum's homemade hot sauces, made from the world's two hottest peppers: a bit sludgy, could use more flavor given the heat overwhelms any discernable notes... "Okay, we need to remember that we are here objectively," said one of the Zambrano brothers behind Soho Taco. It wasn't Gabriel. Was ... More >>
Blogs
January 27, 2011
Gabacho Discs of Glory: Battle Grocery Store Flour Tortillas
Last week, your intrepid Forkers received a pitch from a company called Circle Foods selling as Tortillaland and advertising the availability of fresh, uncooked tortillas in the local grocery store. The company's website is a depressing attempt to evoke vaguely Mexican imagery while selling such ... More >>
Blogs
January 25, 2011
Get This In Your Belly: Coloradito de Puerco at El Moctezuma #2
Dave LiebermanI've been to El Moctezuma many times. I'm slowly working my way through its menu of Oaxacan specialities such as memelas; tlayudas; huge, banana-leaf-wrapped tamales; and of course plenty of moles.Until we took a visiting Marylander for Oaxacan food last week, I had never had the co ... More >>
Columns
January 6, 2011
Dumping In the Desert
[¡Ask a Mexican!] Also, a racist tries to bait Gustavo, part MCMXLVIII
More >>

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