Chronicles of a Charmed Life

I had the distinct pleasure today, to have brunch made for me by the good folks helming one of the newest and finest gourmet food trucks currently out there – Taco Maria. I was introduced to this Mexican moveable feast by the lovely and talented Anais Tangie, who handles marketing and promotion for several of the local farmers’ markets in coastal Orange County. She said, “You have got to try them out.” So I did, as you do.

The first time I checked out Chef Carlos Salgado’s offerings, I was blown away. I remember having his Quesadilla de Tuétano (Bone Marrow and Queso Oaxaca) and a tall glass of their agua fresca del dia, Melon and Lemongrass. It was a perfect snack, on one of those hot, post-Summer/pre-Autumnal afternoons.

I went back today, to try a few more of the menu options, and to get a good handle on what Chef Carlos is up to. Damn glad I did.

A Su Gusto.

Now, I’ve not always been the biggest fan of what’s being passed off as Alta Cuisine in Southern California (are you listening, Javier’s?), but have always respected the badasses out there, like Rick Bayless. Cats like Bayless are constantly exploring the multi-faceted and highly-evolved cooking styles and ingredients of our Southern neighbors. Contrast this with the folks in Crystal Cove, who are charging over $25 for a shrimp enchilada with a side of “Spanish” rice, and you know exactly what I mean. My friends and I have always been of the belief that you can only “sexy up” Mexican food to a certain extent. That is to say, you can only sexy up what we have come to believe is Mexican food, to that certain extent.

Americanized Mexican cuisine has sort of gone the way of Americanized Italian food, hasn’t it? Anyone who watched Bourdain’s episode this last season, where he attempts to divine the provenance of gigantic meatballs, and over-garlic-ed, over-tomato-ed, over-meat-ed cooking would know what I’m saying here. Something has been lost in translation. For my Guero brethren, Mexico is a nation comprised of 31 states, plus Distrito Federal (the capital), each of which has a fiercely different culture, and as a result, a fiercely different culinary bent. Every one of these regions has unique ingredients, and unique preparations of said ingredients, with the unifying factor being only the gustatory satisfaction of its constituents. In our modern, Wild West land grab of gastronomy, my friends, Mexico is one of the new frontiers.

Enter Chef Carlos Salgado. I met and chatted with him briefly this afternoon, while he was knee-deep in the middle of lunch service at the SoCo Farmer’s Market. I told him that once again, I was wowed by his food (which I’ll detail in just a second, slow your roll, homie), and that while at first, I was planning on doing just a normal restaurant review, I’d like to do a light interview with him, in order to beef up my write-up a bit. I wanted him to tell me his story, because I had a feeling it was pretty fucking cool. I was right.

Chef Salgado is OC-born and bred, and was steeped in the restaurant industry from a very early age. His family has owned and operated La Siesta, in Orange, for 25 years. His family comes from from all over Mexico, but the main influences in his cooking come from two principal areas: Jalisco, from whence his mom’s family hails, and Guerrero, where his dad’s family comes from. But before he was a chef, he was a tech geek, with an emphasis in video games. Again, as you do.

In the early 2000s, Salgado bounced around in San Francisco, working for a video game media company, producing online magazines, early social media-type applications, and software/ services for game developers and publishers. But while he was up there, fell in love with the local farmer’s markets, and the general abundance of raw ingredients. Given his background in the restaurant industry, a calling was re-awakened. He knew he had to cook, but with the end goal of going back to the family business, and working with his parents. But, as any great odyssey goes, there were a couple stops before he got there. And what stops they were.

He left the lucrative video game media business, and went to work as a cook in arguably, some of the finest restaurants on the West Coast, if not the world, starting this journey at Vernon Morales’ Winterland. He then moved on to work at double-Michelin-starred Coi, followed immediately by a tour of duty under the highly-influential James Syhabout at Commis. Sidebar: Commis is in Oakland. In my opinion, the East Bay is where food is happening, people, NOT San Francisco. Get over it. Take BART, ditch your reservation at The Slanted Door Embarcadero, and make your way out there. You’re gonna thank me.

Earlier this year, Salgado left Oakland, and came home. It was high time to strike out on his own. He embraced the myriad benefits of a mobile platform, and recognized that the bounty of great ingredients existed down here, as well as they do up North. Add to that mix the fact, that as I mentioned earlier, Mexican food is cruelly mis-represented, and Taco Maria was born.

Taco Maria operates in or near Farmers’ Markets, and they are especially fond of the SoCo Farmers’ Market. They regularly arrive early, see what the farmers have brought to market, and design a menu around those seasonal offerings. Do you see a pattern beginning to form here? Fresh, local, and fucking fun. With that said, let me tell you what we had for brunch today.

Concord Grape and Hibiscus Agua Fresca.

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Aguas Frescas are crucial. Tradtionally, they are made of whatever fresh, highly-aqueous fruits are around. We've all had aguas made from watermelon, canteloupe, and tamarind, but this is the real deal. Concord grapes were being sold at the market today, kids. The subtle, floral note of the hibiscus served to mellow out the classic Alton Brown grape juice that we all grew up with, and still know and love.

Arrachera and Jardineros Tacos.

In my conversation with Chef Carlos, he mentioned that his family prides itself on “the crispy”. You know what he means by this – that caramelization of that piece of pork skin, that one onion that just browns up to that point, that crispy chicken skin – you know. On the left is the Arrachera, a fucking HANGER STEAK-BASED TACO, with crispy bacon and a single, stalwart Shishito pepper holding the standard up for the heat contingent. This was wrapped in two, grilled-just-to-the-point-of-no-return corn tortillitas. Perfect. Next to this is the Jardineros taco, which is basically the only vegetarian option on the menu, outside of the agua fresca and the flan. Suck it up, veggies, meat is delicious. But so is the Jardineros taco. This was a beautiful mash-up of roasted pumpkin, black beans, Cotija cheese, and roasted sunflower seeds. Come on! Who does this? If these two tacos are any indication of the promise of the other two taco offerings, I look forward to next week.

Esquites con Hoja Quemada.

OK, I lied. Vegetarians can eat this dish too. In fact, EVERYONE should eat this dish. Esquites means “freshly shaved corn”. Now I don’t know about you, but I’ll eat just about anything that’s “freshly-shaved”. Add in a butter sauce that gets its overtones from the essence of smoked corn husk, some chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice, and now we have a party. Buckle up, it might get rough.

Chilaquiles de Casa.

I consider myself a chilaquiles snob, for better or for worse. At first glance, it’s relatively simple, right? Some tortillas, some eggs, some salsa, done. WRONG. Like all of the other minimalist dishes of the world, the fewer ingredients, the greater probability that shit will go sideways on you. My standard for chilaquiles has always been Picante Martin. It’s also been the only plausible reason I would ever find myself on Balboa Island, sober. In recent history, I was introduced to Anepalco’s Cafe’s interpretation of the classic dish, which I love, but in a different way. Chef Carlos’ interpretation is right between the two. What I like most about his dish is his use of smoked cumin and his secret blend of Asian spices in the tortilla mix. Stunning. You mix this with a side of the Esquites, and it’s lights out.

One of the last questions I asked Chef Carlos was what he reckoned the future looked like. He said that he believes the mobile platform is the future for him, albeit with more mobile platforms. At some point however, he wants to settle down and open up a brick-and-mortar location. In the meantime, dear readership, you have a rare opportunity to dine with him, and say you knew him when.