Subject:

North-American Food and Cooking

  • Blogs

    June 19, 2013

    Long Beach Lunch: Lola's Mexican Cuisine

    Lola's is the perfect Mexican restaurant for Long Beach's Retro Row with craft beer and frontside parklet seating adding contemporary flair to a menu full of regional Mexican favorites. Brightly colored decor and the sounds of mariachi evoke what may have been rancho life for Lola's founder, the mat ... More >>

  • Food

    June 13, 2013

    Lindo Michoacán #2: Fond of the Fonda

    [Hole In the Wall] This Anaheim restaurant is where Mexicans eat when they want to eat 'regular' Mexican food

  • Columns

    June 6, 2013

    Is There Any Good Mexican Food in England?

    [¡Ask a Mexican!] And what's the difference between Tex-Mex and New Mexican food?

  • Blogs

    June 4, 2013

    Tortilla Tuesdays: Mi Familia Flour Tortillas

    I sat down as I began to write this article, and I wrote down all the adjectives I would use to describe a flour tortilla from an American supermarket. Gummy, stale, dried-out (which takes talent in conjunction with gummy), oily-tasting, nasty. It doesn't seem to matter who makes the tortillas; whe ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 22, 2013

    Long Beach Lunch: Sliced & Diced Eatery

    Occupying an eggplant purple shack in a parking lot surrounded by Mexican restaurants and a vacuum cleaner repair store, Sliced & Diced is a little schizophrenic food shack that could only have happened in Long Beach. Start with two kooky friends--one white, one Latina--who share a mutual love of c ... More >>

  • 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

    March 6, 2013

    Long Beach Lunch: Sal's Gumbo Shack

    Despite the prevalence of Louisiana Fried Chicken locations in Long Beach (a fact that continues to baffle me, as most are also under the same roof as a "Chinese food to go" establishments), there are few places that actually serve Louisiana-style soul food. BBQed meats slathered in sweet and spicy ... More >>

  • 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 Tamales​The 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 Leighty​We 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.com​Since 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 chilaquiles​My 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 >>

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