In Praise of the Tortilla: A Los Angeles Times Food Bowl Dinner

Dinner with Chefs Carlos Salgado and Gabriela Cámara - In helping to launch the Los Angeles Times Food Bowl, a thirty-one day celebration of food in and around Los Angeles in May, Taco María will host "In Praise of the Tortilla" on May 3. Our chef Carlos Salgado will collaborate with celebrated chef Gabriela Cámara of Cala in San Francisco and Contramar in Mexico City on a four-course dinner celebrating maíz and tortillas, the very foundation of Mexican cuisine. 

Chef Cámara opened Contramar two decades ago while studying art history in college in Mexico City. Now Contramar is an institution for fresh seafood, and Cala is renowned for its use of sustainable California ingredients.

Tickets are $120 per person and include the four-course dinner, as well as beverages, service charge, and tax.

DINNER WITH GUEST CHEF DANIEL PATTERSON

SEPTEMBER 23 - Join Taco María in welcoming one of chef/owner Carlos Salgado’s greatest mentors, Daniel Patterson, for his first guest chef event in Orange County. The dinner will celebrate Patterson’s newest book, coauthored by perfumer Mandy Aftel, The Art of Flavor: Practices and Principles for Creating Delicious Food. The Art of Flavor is a groundbreaking cooking primer on how to build and layer flavors for the professional and home chef alike. Along with dozens of recipes, The Art of Flavor features thought-provoking stories, tips, and practiced nuances learned from Patterson and Aftel’s years of experience.

Daniel Patterson is the Oakland-based chef and restaurateur behind Alta Group, which includes Alta in the Bay Area and soon, Los Angeles, Alfred’s Steakhouse in San Francisco and Plum Bar in Oakland. He is also the co-founder of the ground-breaking fast food venture LocoL and continues to oversee his acclaimed Bay Area restaurants Aster and the two Michelin-starred Coi. Patterson was recognized as a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 1997 and received a James Beard Award for Best Chef: West in 2014. 

Tickets for the dinner at Taco María will include a five-course menu by Patterson and Salgado, inspired by the book and the chefs’ time together at Coi, as well a copy of The Art of Flavor, and beverage pairings, tax, and service charge. All ticket sales are final.

Please note: for this special dinner, Taco María will not be able to make modifications or substitutions to the menus.  

BEST NEW CHEF SERIES CONTINUES WITH ZOI ANTONITSAS

We are continuing our guest chef dinners with Chef Carlos’s fellow Food & Wine Best New Chefs. Next, we will host Chef Zoi Antonitsas on October 13. Zoi was also named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine in 2015 and the year before, Westward in Seattle, Washington, was named one of Bon Appetit’s Hot 10 New Restaurants while she was the executive chef. Zoi is now the chef and co-owner of Jarr & Co., a sustainable seafood restaurant—and Seattle’s first modern-day craft cannery—coming to the historic Pike Place Market in 2017. 

Known for bright flavors inspired in part by her Greek heritage, Zoi will collaborate with Carlos for a family-style, intimate dinner at Taco María unlike any we’ve had before.  

Tickets for dinner with Chef Zoi Antonitsas are $120, which includes a curated selection of beverages, as well as gratuity, service fee, and tax. Tickets are available online now.

Please note: for this special dinner, Taco María will not be able to make modifications or substitutions to the menus.  

THREE YEARS. THREE CHEFS. THREE ANNIVERSARY DINNERS.

This fall marks Taco María's third anniversary. Over the past three years, the restaurant has taken part of a larger conversation between chefs and restaurants in our time and place here in Southern California, and across borders. We are humbled to have formed deep connections with our colleagues and contemporaries who are creating some of most exciting food in Mexico.

In celebration of our three years, we have invited three mentors and friends to cook at Taco María. The dinners will be held on October 7, November 11, and December 2, 2016, each with a different award-winning chef from Mexico:

October 7 – Javier Plascencia – We begin the series with Javier Plascencia, whose restaurants in San Diego, Tijuana, and south—including the fine-dining restaurant Misión 19, the original Caesar’s, and the new Bracero in San Diego—highlight the best of Baja, California. The New Yorker called Chef Plascencia “the figurehead of Baja cuisine.” Ticket Price = $160, all-inclusive

November 11 – Diego Hernandez – Our second dinner will feature Diego Hernandez, chef of Corazón de Tierra. Located in the Valle de Guadalupe, Ensenada in Baja, and surrounded by the region’s best wineries, his restaurant is bold, beautiful, and honest, embodying Mexican home-grown locavorism. The restaurant was, deservedly, named one of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants on the San Pellegrino list. Ticket Price = $160, all-inclusive

December 2 – Enrique Olvera – For the final dinner in our three-part series, we are honored and delighted to welcome Enrique Olvera to Orange County. As seen in season two of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, Chef Olvera is perhaps the best-known chef in Mexico. His flagship restaurant Pujol in Mexico City is often named the country’s finest. Recently, he opened Cosme, his first restaurant in the United States, in New York’s Flatiron. Ticket Price = $200, all-inclusive

All three dinners include a selection of beverages, as well as tax, gratuity, and service charge. Please note: for these special events, we will not be able to make modifications or substitutions to the menus.

Tickets for each dinner will be available starting three weeks before the dinner date (now, October 21, and November 11, respectively) via Taco María's website. All ticket sales are final. No ticket sales will be made via phone, but please call the restaurant with any questions.

UPDATE: Tickets for all three dinners are sold out! Thank you for celebrating us. Please check back for more guest chef dinners in the new year. 

DINNER WITH GUEST CHEF JIM CHRISTIANSEN ON MARCH 29

For the next dinner featuring Carlos Salgado's fellow 2015 Food & Wine Best New Chefs, Taco María welcomes Jim Christiansen to Orange County on March 29. Jim is the chef of Heyday in Minneapolis.

From his Midwestern roots in Minnesota, Jim Christiansen’s passion for food started in his own parent’s kitchen. There he learned the valuable lessons of seasonality, nutrition, and love which one must put forth in their own cooking. Jim made his way through many of Minneapolis's finest restaurants before venturing to Copenhagen to perform a short stage at Noma and then traveling throughout Scandinavia. There he was able to fully understand the benefits of foraging for the freshest and highest quality local produce.  

Jim and his team have established Heyday as a multiple award-winning restaurant in its first two years of operations. In addition to being a Best New Chef, Jim was named a James Beard nominee for Best Chef Midwest in 2015 and 2016. 

There will be two seatings, at 6 PM and 9 PM, for this special prix-fixe dinner on March 29. Seats are $80 for the dining room and patio. Seats are $100 for the kitchen counter (available to the first six guests who reserve at each seating). A beverage pairing will be offered for $40.

RESERVATIONS NOW AVAILABLE FOR DINNER WITH GUEST CHEF TIM MASLOW, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9

For the first guest chef dinner of the new year, Taco María welcomes Tim Maslow back to Orange County on February 9. Tim first cooked in Taco María’s kitchen as a part of Indie Chefs Week SoCal in 2014. Tim’s story may sound familiar to those guests who know how Carlos Salgado came to open Taco María. After growing up in his father’s restaurant in Watertown, Massachusetts, Tim went on to cook in some of New York’s finest restaurants, including as the chef de cuisine of Momofuku Ssam Bar. He then returned to the Boston area to go into the family business, working with his dad at his diner Strip-T’s, and opening a second-generation restaurant in Brookline called Ribelle.

Food & Wine calls Ribelle “an ambitious mash-up of Italian, American, and Asian influences.” Tim Maslow and Carlos Salgado were both Food & Wine Best New Chefs in 2015, and Tim’s dinner at Taco María marks the first in a series this spring highlighting the Best New Chefs.

There will be two seatings, at 6 PM and 9 PM, for this special five-course, prix-fixe dinner on February 9. Seats are $80 for the dining room and patio. Seats are $100 for the kitchen counter (available to the first six guests who reserve at each seating). A beverage pairing will be offered for $40.

RESERVATIONS NOW AVAILABLE FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE

Ring in the New Year with friends or family at Taco María. The special menu for the evening will feature seven courses and optional wine pairings. Two seatings, at 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., ensure that you can fit an elegant dinner into the rest of your plans for the night. 

SEVEN COURSES $160 ($190 for seats at the kitchen counter, available to the first six guests who reserve at each seating); WINE PAIRINGS $50

CELEBRATE NEW YEAR'S EVE AT TACO MARIA

On December 31, ring in the New Year with friends or family at Taco María. The special menu for the evening will feature seven courses and optional wine pairings. Two seatings, at 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., ensure that you can fit an elegant dinner into the rest of your plans for the night. 

SEVEN COURSES $160 ($190 for seats at the kitchen counter, available to the first six guests who reserve at each seating)

WINE PAIRINGS $50

Reservations will become available at 9 AM on Monday, December 14. Check back here then!

RESERVATIONS NOW AVAILABLE: Dinner with Guest Chef Richie Nakano

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17

Richie Nakano, ramen master and longtime friend of Taco María, will be the featured guest chef on November 17. Nakano is the chef behind Hapa Ramen, the food stand-turned-restaurant that gained a massive and devoted following in the Bay Area. He also writes regularly about being a chef and, just a few weeks ago, was featured on Parts Unknown when Anthony Bourdain visited San Francisco. 

There will be two seatings for this special dinner at 6 PM and 9 PM. Seats are $80 for the dining room and patio. Seats are $100 for the kitchen counter. A beverage pairing will be available for $40.

RESERVATIONS NOW AVAILABLE FOR DINNER WITH GUEST CHEF WES AVILA

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20

Taco María is thrilled to host our next guest chef: Wes Avila. Chef Avila is the owner of Guerrilla Tacos, one of the most beloved taco trucks in Los Angeles. Avila applies his background in fine dining and his love of being a taquero to his menu, and the results have attracted a huge and loyal fan base. Guerrilla Tacos, like Taco María, was named one of Jonathan Gold's 101 Best Restaurants in the Los Angeles Times. 

Given Taco María's roots as a truck, Guerrilla Tacos has a special place in our hearts, and Chef Avila and Carlos Salgado have long been looking forward to collaborating. Together, they are developing a menu of five courses for October 20.  

There will be two seatings for this special dinner at 6 PM and 9 PM. Seats are $80 for the dining room and patio. A beverage pairing will be available for $40. This dinner is sold out, but complete a reservation request (below) to put your name on the waitlist! 

FALL GUEST CHEF DINNERS ANNOUNCED

We're thrilled to announce the fall line-up in Taco María's guest chef series. On October 20, Wes Avila of Guerrilla Tacos in Los Angeles will share our kitchen, and on November 17, Richie Nakano, most recently of Hapa Ramen in San Francisco, will be our guest.

If you didn't catch our first guest chef event with local favorite Eric Samaniego in August, these dinners are your chance to enjoy a one-night-only menu put together by Chef Carlos Salgado and a respected chef from another community. The menus for each dinner will take a prix-fixe, multi-course format. Reservations will be available for the October 20 dinner with Wes Avila on October 6, and reservations will be available for the November 17 dinner with Richie Nakano on November 3. Check back then!

Guest Chef Eric Samaniego at Taco María

Beloved Orange County-based chef and friend of Taco María Eric Samaniego will return to the Taco María kitchen on August 25 for the first in a series of special event dinners this year. Chef Samaniego, who most recently was the chef of Little Sparrow in Santa Ana and who participated in Indie Chefs Week SoCal at Taco María last fall, will collaborate with Carlos Salgado on a five-course, prix-fixe menu for the evening. 

Limited seating will be available at two seatings.

Indie Chefs Week SoCal

October 16, 17, and 18, 2014, Taco María had the honor of hosting Indie Chefs Week SoCal. Indie Chefs Week began two years ago in Austin, Texas, as a face-to-face meeting of the country's best young, aspiring chefs, and for the first time this October, founders Chef Ned Elliot and Crystal Esquivel of Foreign & Domestic took the show on the road, all the way to Taco María. 

Stay tuned for more collaborative dinners and special events at Taco María!