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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Day of the Dead at Rancho del Zocalo



Not a food post per se but if you are going to be at Disneyland sometime between now and early November be sure to check out the Day of the Dead-themed Zocalo Park adjacent to Disneyland's Mexican restaurant, Rancho del Zocalo.

According to the park's official press release: "The traditional Mexican 'Dia de los Muertos' is being observed [at] Zocalo Park in Frontierland Sept. 29 through Nov. 2 with banners, lanterns, floral displays, mariachi music, face painting and the 'calaca' skeleton figures that characterize the celebration." Sounds like a good place to eat your Mexican meal at.

Day of the Dead at Rancho del Zocalo Picture #1

Day of the Dead at Rancho del Zocalo Picture #2

Day of the Dead at Rancho del Zocalo Picture #3

flickr Slideshow

We now return you to our regularly scheduled food programming.

UPDATE: The Day of the Dead decorations will be up in 2010 as well through roughly the same date range as they were in 2007.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Taco Rosa Culinary Demonstration


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Friday, October 15, 2010

Ochoa's Chorizo Store

Ochoa's Chorizo Store
220 W. Warner Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92707
(714) 850-0052

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This blog isn't just about Mexican restaurants in Orange County; it's also about Mexican food in Orange County, no matter what type of place it may come from. Reprinted here with permission is a review by Griffin Tamura of Griffin Eats OC and Griffin Sells OC of a store in Santa Ana that specializes in chorizo.


I was driving around Santa Ana recently when I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye. The sign read, "Ochoa's Chorizo Store. OC Best Homemade Style Chorizo" I wasn't able to turn my car into the parking lot fast enough. I went in the store and was amazed by what I saw. With the exception of a few bags of chips and packages of tortillas in the corner, this clean, little shop sells nothing but chorizo. I felt as if I had been transported to some kind of chorizo heaven. Racks and racks of fresh chorizo links were being made behind the counter.


(Photo from Yelp, used with permission from Ochoa's Chorizo)

Ochoa's Chorizo store offers 4 different kinds of chorizo. The 4 types are regular, spicy, chorizo verde (green) and chorizo de pollo (chicken). Other than the chorizo de pollo, all of the chorizo is made with ground pork. The chorizo is sold by the link or half link and ranges between $7.00-$7.50 per link. Each link is about 3 feet long and weighs about 1 1/2 lbs! On my first visit, I purchased some spicy chorizo. It was so good that I returned a week or two later and purchased about 6 lbs. of spicy and chorizo verde.

After my first visit, I came home and researched Ochoa's. Apparently the Ochoa family has been making fresh chorizo in Orange County for over 35 years. They used to sell the chorizo out of their home, but it became so popular that they needed to open a retail location. People apparently drive from all over Southern California to buy this chorizo in bulk. I don't blame them. This chorizo is so good that I would happily drive hours to buy some. Luckily though, it's only about a 15 minute drive from my house.

The chorizo from Ochoa's is not your typical grocery store chorizo that transforms into a neon orange, greasy mess when you cook it. This chorizo is made from lean ground pork. The chorizo crumbles and cooks up nicely, similar to lean ground beef.


(One link of chorizo verde, casing removed, cooking up in a pan.)

The flavor of the chorizo is absolutely amazing. If it's not the best chorizo I have ever had in my entire life, it's pretty darn close. Ochoa's will most likely be the only place I purchase my chorizo from now on. I highly encourage all of you to walk, run, drive or whatever down to Ochoa's as fast as you can to get this chorizo. Oh......and I know you all like to mix chorizo with eggs, but in my opinion this ruins it. Make yourself a burrito or some (corn tortilla) tacos with just chorizo, cilantro, diced onions, cotija cheese and your favorite hot sauce or salsa. It'll blow your mind.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Tortas Sinaloa

Tortas Sinaloa
701 S Harbor Blvd
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 775-6000

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On the recommendation of Dave Lieberman (from the OC Weekly's Stick A Fork In It blog) I tried out Tortas Sinaloa in Santa Ana recently. I'd driven past it numerous times while traveling on Harbor but could only see its sign from the back, which made it look very bland and almost non-existent compared to the visually hard-to-miss Alberto's (or one of its spinoffs) nearby. When you enter from the front, however, and step inside you see that it's very festive. Jugs of aguas frescas abound and one of the employees seemed dedicated to keeping them all full. I loved the strawberries and cream agua fresca I got, also the carnitas taco with cilantro, onions, guacamole, and radishes. Of course if you go to a place called Tortas Sinaloa you have to try a torta and they have many to choose from. I got the "Fontana" torta with carne asada, panela cheese and avocado. The bun was huge and toasty and the pickled red onions added some zing. The red and green sauce helped too and when I got to the end of it I realized maybe I didn't need the taco I had started out with. It was still good and on future visits I want to try some of their other items such as their chorizo tortas and some of their other fruit drinks. Tortas Sinaloa earns a solid four Speedy Gonzales rating:

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales

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Saturday, September 25, 2010

Barbacoa Items at Taco Bell

Barbacoa items at Taco Bell

Taco Bell seems to be continuing their trend of adding more "authentic" items to their menu or at least items that have some sort of semblance to "authentic" Mexican food items. Whether they should try to or not is a different matter. Some will say, "Hey, let them give it a shot," while others will say, "Taco Bell makes plastic, mass-produced food that can hardly pass as 'Mexican' and they should stay that way and not even attempt to pass themselves off as an authentic taqueria."

As for me, I don't really care. I currently live near a Taco Bell that experiments with test items so I tend to give each one a try. Some items end up making it to every Taco Bell while some are a flash in the pan that I see once and never see anywhere again (i.e., the "International Tacos," the "Doritos Tacos," etc.). Their newest attempt is a line of barbacoa items, a food which itself has Caribbean origins. You can get a barbacoa soft taco, quesadilla, or burrito. I tried the quesadilla and it did have a smoky, tangy flavor to it and very tender shredded beef, although the cheese inside was hardly melted. Just don't call it "barracuda" if you order it. I actually heard somebody ask for a "barracuda burrito" at Chipotle before.

Barbacoa Quesadilla from Taco Bell

As with their Cantina Tacos I wouldn't say to get these when you're able to get better Mexican food elsewhere. But if you're hungry and a Taco Bell is the closest place to eat be aware that there's some new options out there . . . at some Taco Bells . . . and maybe for a limited time only.


UPDATE (April 4, 2011): Here's the new poster they are using for these items:

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Friday, September 17, 2010

Chronic Tacos Now Open at Westcliff Plaza



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Newport Beach, California, September 17, 2010 – Chronic Tacos, a Newport Beach favorite since 2002, has opened at Westcliff Plaza in Newport Beach. The casual restaurant offers fresh, made-to-order Mexican food from authentic, third generation recipes.

The restaurant strives to be an active community partner, and participated in the Annual July 4th Celebration at Mariners Park, and plans to get involved in many other local events to give back to the Newport Beach. "Newport Beach is where Chronic Tacos was born. We love this place and plan on playing a bigger part in the local scene. Don't be surprised if you see us at your next event!" stated Mike Gleich, President of Chronic Tacos.

Chronic Tacos prides itself on serving a full menu of great tasting taqueria style Mexican food in a restaurant that has its own unique style. "It's definitely not your corporate Taco Shop. The restaurant will have many large screen TVs, colorful custom artwork, music and a local Newport staff that will make you feel right at home. The portions are big but the prices are small, added Gleich.

Chronic Tacos offers custom made tacos with the option of flour, corn or wheat tortillas, and a selection of meats, fish or shrimp, veggies and salsa. The menu also features burritos, tostadas, taquitos, enchiladas and other items, along with guacamole made fresh daily. The restaurant will also serve breakfast daily.

This is the second Chronic Tacos in Newport Beach. There are more than 30 locations in four states.

The new Chronic Tacos is located in Westcliff Plaza at 1120 Irvine Ave. off Seventeeth, in Newport Beach, and can be reached at (949) 645-8226 (TACO). For more information, please visit www.eatchronictacos.com.


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Friday, September 03, 2010

Sancho's Tacos


Sancho's Tacos
602 Pacific Coast Hwy
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
(714) 536-8226

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There's always restaurants opening up in Orange County and I have found I can't keep up with all the openings. Sancho's opened up several months ago and I heard a lot about it and had numerous people recommending it. It is right across from the beach in Huntington Beach, not far from Main St. (and I think it is in or near where there was an old surfboard shop), and I heard they even gave out free tacos at the recent US Open surfing tournament. Their tacos are unique in that the tortillas they use are somewhere between soft and crisp and they are served open-faced with your choice of meat (steak, chicken, carnitas, or mahi mahi; or a vegetarian option with artichoke, mushrooms and spinach) and a zig-zag of sour cream. Burritos come with pretty much the same fillings. They also have huge, loaded up (and "sawed-off") breakfast burritos that they serve until noon for people like me who aren't morning people.

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Sawed-off Burrito from Sancho's Tacos


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Click here or on any photo in this entry to be taken to the complete flickr photo album (16 photos so far).

Monday, August 30, 2010

OC Restaurant Week


The Orange County Restaurant Association has finalized participation of more than 100 restaurants that will unite for the region’s fastest growing and most anticipated culinary event, Orange County Restaurant Week, featuring the flavors of fall from September 26 through October 2, 2010.

Following are the restaurants confirmed to date – more information can be found on the official Orange County Restaurant Week website, where diners may go to find a full list of participants, menus, location and reservation information. Mexican restaurants are in bold while non-Mexican restaurants known to have at least some Mexican dishes are italicized:

o 118 Degrees

o 230 Forest Avenue

o 320 Main Street

o 50 Forks

o 6ix Park Grill

o Anaheim White House

o Andrei's Conscious Cuisine

o AnQi

o Antonello's

o Belacon

o Bayside

o Bistango

o Bluewater Grill

o Brasserie Pascal

o Canyon

o Canaletto

o Catal

o Cedar Creek

o Cha Cha's Tacos and Tequila

o Commonwealth

o Crystal Jade

o Don the Beachcomber

o Duke's

o ECCO

o El Torito Grill

o Fire and Ice

o French 75

o Geisha House

o Harborside Restaurant

o Haven Gastropub

o Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort

o Il Fornaio

o JT Schmid's Restaurant and Brewery

o Kimera

o K'ya Bistro

o K'ya Street Fare

o Leatherby's

o LUCCA

o Lulu’s Crêperie Café

o Lumberyard

o Mahe

o Mario's by the Sea

o Marmalade

o Marrakesh

o McCormicks and Schmicks

o Medieval Times

o Melting Pot

o Memphis Cafe

o Mozambique

o Mr. Stox

o Nello Cucina

o Newport Landing

o No Ka Oi

o O'Neill's at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club

o Opah

o Original Mike's

o Palm Terrace at The Island Hotel

o Phan's 55

o Pinot Provence

o Pirates Dinner Adventure

o Pizzeria Ortica

o Port

o Prego Ristorante

o Primecut Cafe

o Quattro Cafe

o RA Sushi

o Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen

o Raya at The Ritz Carlton (pan-Latin cuisine)

o Royal Khyber

o Ruth's Chris Steak House

o Rustica

o Rusty Pelican

o Sage

o Salt Creek Grille

o Sandy's Grill

o Sapori

o Savannah Chophouse

o Seasons 52

o Signature Kitchen

o Simply Fondue

o SOL Cocina

o Sorrento Grille

o South Coast Winery

o Splashes

o Stonehill Tavern

o Summit House

o Sundried Tomato

o Tangata

o TAPS Fish House and Brewery

o The Catch

o The Crow Bar and Kitchen

o The Daily Grill

o The House of Big Fish and Ice Cold Beer

o The Next Door

o The Lido Deck

o The Matador

o The Ritz Restaurant and Garden

o The Rooftop Lounge

o The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar

o Tommy Bahama's Island Grille

o Tradition by Pascal

o Watermarc

o Wildfish Seafood Grille

o Wolfgang Puck

o Zov's

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Blog Redesign

If you've visited this site before and you come here now and see that everything looks very different, yes, the site has a new template now but the content is all the same. I was pretty much forced to update the template this blog uses in order to take care of a number of problems the old, outdated template was experiencing. And, yes, there's still some fine-tuning to be done.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Lucky Habanero Salsa

A week or so ago Linda Saenz, The Salsa Lady, dropped some of her salsas off at my work to taste test. Made with fire-roasted chilies and fresh-cut veggies these salsas are fresh and flavorful. Lucky Habanero Salsa comes in 2 varieties, "Original Hot" which has a good amount of heat, and "Medium" to provide a salsa with a medium level of spiciness for those who need to tone down the heat a little. They also have a salsa verde called "San Blas" and an extra hot variety coming soon to store shelves called "Dragon Lips."

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In the interest of full-disclosure this product was provided free to me. I had about 5-7 chips myself and was able to sample and enjoy each salsa before my co-workers gobbled the remainder of it up. One of them practically guzzled the Dragon Lips salsa.

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Lucky Habanero Salsa can be found at the following local markets:

  • Whole Foods Markets
  • Promelis Markets, Newport Beach
  • Irvine Ranch Market
  • Vicente Foods
  • Mother's Markets
  • The Meat House
  • select BevMo locations
  • Hows Market, Malibu
  • Hi-Time Wine Cellars
  • Marbella Farmers Market in San Juan Capistrano
Official Site

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Taqueria Tapatia


Taqueria Tapatia
202 S Bristol St
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 972-9115

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Here's a little place I went to a few nights ago with a bunch of guys who were hungry for tacos late at night. One of them told me this place stays open until 2am; not quite 24 hours but it should help for a lot of post-10pm food cravings.

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Their specialty is tacos and they have eight different kinds. One of the guys in the group, Steve, got one of each. You can see the al pastor roasting on the spit when you go in. They also have the "real" Mexican meats like lengua and cabeza in addition to the "ordinary" stuff like carne asada, pollo and carnitas.

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All tacos are 93¢ each so with tax added they round up nicely to one dollar. They have some other items like ceviche but be aware that the ceviche is big (pictured above with my carnitas taco and birria taco), not just a little tostada with a little sprinkling of diced seafood on it. Hopefully I can make it back during the daytime and get some better pictures and try some other tacos.

View the whole photo album at flickr.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Del Taco 39¢ Tacos

A few weeks back my uncle told me he saw a Del Taco in Burbank selling tacos for 39 cents when all the others were selling them at 59 cents then about a week ago I saw one in Fountain Valley selling them for 39 cents, but starting today every Del Taco location is selling them for 39 cents.

Del Taco Blows Up the Definition of Value:
For a Limited Time, Regular Tacos Available for the Insane Price of 39 Cents

(Lake Forest, CA) Aug 4, 2010—Never one to back away from the extreme, Del Taco announced today that it is blowing up the definition of value of its popular 59-cent regular taco and – for a limited time – introducing a new, absolutely crazy price of 39-cents.

"Our competition may ask, is Del Taco 'out of control?' Our tacos were already a great value – but 39 cents is insane value," said John Cappasola, Vice President of Marketing at Del Taco. "Actually, we think this promotion is the right idea at just the right time. The economy is at a stand still, and at this price, Del Taco fans can go crazy for our great tasting tacos."

Cappasola wants to remind everyone that the only thing that's changing is the price. "Seasoned beef, freshly grated cheddar cheese and crisp lettuce on a crunchy or soft shell," he said. "It's the same delicious Del Taco taste but now for just 39 cents."

For more than 40 years, Del Taco has been offering menu items that appeal to a broad range of tastes with a strong emphasis on quality and value. The menu includes Mexican offerings of tacos, burritos, quesadillas and nachos as well as American favorites like hamburgers, fries and milk shakes. Each item is made to order with quality ingredients including lard-free beans made from scratch daily, real cheddar cheese grated on site, chicken grilled fresh every hour, hand-made salsa and fresh produce.

Consumers can become Del Taco fans on Facebook and receive coupons for free food. For more information, please visit http://www.facebook.com/deltaco or http://www.deltaco.com

Del Taco has more than 515 restaurants in 16 states.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Fullerton Restaurant Week


Get ready for Fullerton Restaurant Week which will be taking place August 1st through 7th. The three Mexican restaurants participating are:

  • Cantina Lounge
  • Matador Cantina
  • Revolucion Mexican Grill & Cantina
Official Site

Saturday, July 24, 2010

El Pollo Loco’s Queso Crunch Burrito


Click coupon for printable image.
Q. What combines soft and crunchy textures with plenty of El Pollo Loco’s flame-grilled deliciousness throughout?

A. El Pollo Loco’s NEW QUESO CRUNCH BURRITO!

Yep-- this crunchy taste sensation returns to El Pollo Loco restaurants on Saturday, July 24th with a new twist-- the opportunity to enjoy it with El Pollo Loco’s citrus-marinated, flame-grilled chicken or Carne Asada.

Available through the end of September, 2010, the QUESO CRUNCH BURRITO combines El Pollo Loco’s citrus-marinated, flame-grilled chicken or Carne Asada with Jack cheese & poblano queso, fresh Pico de Gallo salsa, crispy tortilla strips and optional jalapeno slices. Wrapped in a large flour tortilla, the burrito is grilled to mouthwatering perfection.

To make it easy for you to share this new taste sensation with a friend, check out the below printable coupon for a FREE (you heard us right!) Queso Crunch Burrito with the purchase of a Queso Crunch Burrito of equal or lesser value AND any size drink.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Amorelia Mexican Cafe

Amorelia Mexican Cafe
220 Harbor Blvd C 110
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 646-1422

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About a month ago I was getting ready to finally post a review of Mariscos Puerto Esperanza after having made four visits there when I found out that it had closed down due to lack of business. I don't know if maybe I had posted the review a couple months earlier if enough readers of this blog would've gone to prevent them from closing but I did feel like I hadn't done my small part. I also am not sure if this place I am writing about now is in any danger of running out of clientele but I do know I don't want the same thing to happen to them.

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Tucked away in almost the corner of the K-Mart shopping center on the south-east corner of Harbor and Wilson lies a new cafe that opened just a few months ago. Named after the Mexican city of Morelia but with an 'A' added to the beginning of its name to tie it in with "amore," Amorelia Mexican Cafe is a cozy little joint boasting family recipes, reasonable prices, and butterfly-themed decor to honor the monarch butterflies that migrate from Canada to Morelia every year.

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The restaurant is run by Daniel Paniagua who was born in Morelia and whose mother has provided many of the recipes. Daniel is very personable and if you get him going you can have an interesting conversation about butterflies, ostriches, proper flan cooking techniques, graphic design and more.

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Dishes include flautas:

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Pozole:

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Tortas; a chicken milanesa torta is shown here (okay, the quality's not that great on this photo):

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Huevos rancheros:

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Chile rellenos and tacos (they have the best potato tacos I've ever had and I've overheard several other customers raving about them):

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Mole verde:

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And Taco Tuesdays with $1.50 tacos:

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They are also the only place I know of that has a horchata smoothie:

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For dessert they have, among other selections, tres leches:

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Flan:

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And mango mousse cake, worth the price of admission alone:

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Oh, one other thing: they are concerned about being authentic but they also want to please their clientele so if you go there looking for a burrito and don't see it on the menu don't get up and leave. Just ask and they will make one for you.

View the complete photo album (28 photos so far) at flickr.

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