The director Robert Rodriguez has a new movie out, Grindhouse, which I haven't gotten around to seeing yet, but I did love 2005's Sin City, his adaptation of the Frank Miller comic book. Turns out if you get the Sin City DVD, one of the special features on it is the second episode of Rodriguez's 10-Minute Cooking School, for his Sin City Breakfast Tacos: He makes his tortillas from scratch, and uses both lard and butter! I may have to fight his new girlfriend Rose McGowan for him.... More

The Houston Press' Robb Walsh recently visited local taquería Mexico's Deli, where all the sandwiches have jailhouse-themed names like the "fugitiva," the "convicta" and the "tortura": In the 1970s, [owner] Alex [Garcia] explained, he opened his first taquería in Mexico City. Spoofing the hit musical La Cage aux Folles (The Bird Cage), he called the restaurant La Jaula de Tacos (the taco cage). In keeping with the "cage" theme, the tortas were named after prisons. The incarceration tortas were a big hit, and Alex went on to open four more restaurants in Mexico City. But his mini-chain collapsed with the devaluation of the peso during the Carlos Salinas de Gortari regime. So Alex came to Houston to start over.On my... More

Raul Gutierrez has an amazing photoblog (one of my all-time favorites, as a matter of fact) but the reason I'm linking to him today is his text blog post on how to buy good tortillas: "Good tortillas have 3 ingredients: corn, lime, water. That's it. If anything else is listed in the ingredients you your tortillas are no good. If your supermarket doesn't have tortillas with these ingredients (and these ingredients only), go somewhere else." And yes, he gives you good advice on where that somewhere else should be.... More

We've gotten our hands on a video camera at Serious Eats world headquarters. I thought it would be fun to produce short video blog entries with it. We're calling them "Edibles." Here's the first one. AS SEEN IN 'EDIBLES' Palapa Azul helados (ice creams) from Mexico: Sweet Corn, Flan, and Mexican Chocolate flavors sampled. I bought these at Whole Foods, but you can use this link to find it near you.... More

Lately, I've been trying to expand my ice cream horizons, and there's no better place to do that than the freezer case at Whole Foods. It has the biggest selection of designer ice creams I've ever seen. Haagen Dazs is my gold standard, so that should give you an idea of my frame of reference. But there are two brands I've found at Whole Foods that you should definitely check out: Palapa Azul: Made in LA, Palapa Azul is a mexican-style ice cream that tastes more like gelato (less air, lower in fat) than premium American ice cream. i've had three killer flavors: flan (with pecans), caramel (with bits of brown sugar cookie) and the most intriguing one of all,... More

I came across this great little LA hot dog and taco movie. These guys are both really passionate about their respective fields of expertise. They have their own blogs, babygater and latacohunt... More

Photo courtesy of The Great Taco Hunt I don't know who Cindy Price is, but she wrote a great mouthwatering story in today's NY Times about her search for the ultimate taco along Route 1 between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Cindy hit 28 taquerias in five days. That's some serious taco eating. She started in LA, and hit my favorite taqueria there, El Taurino. El Taurino is a little scary (the last time I was there an armed guard kept watch over the dining room), but the tacos there are fantastic. She headed up to Santa Barbara, where before she tried the late Julia Child's favorite taqueria, La Super Rica Taqueria, she posed the following question: "Do rich... More