Tag Archives: Bay Area

Show 46, November 2, 2013: Barbara Fairchild, food journalist, cookbook author, educator, and consultant

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Barbara FairchildBarbara Fairchild is a respected food journalist, cookbook author, consultant, and educator. She is best known to us as the long-time former editor of Bon Appetit Magazine when they were based in Los Angeles.

This summer she taught a course in the Arthur L. Canter Journalism Institute at the prestigious New York University. Barbara told us all about that as well as provided us with some great Manhattan dining suggestions ranging from a superior deli find to a casual Italian with primo pasta and a comfortable celebrity chef restaurant with classic 30s luxury cruise ship décor that’s really worth going to.

She will be back on November 23rd to chat about dining in the Bay Area and the Napa Valley.

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Show 42, October 5, 2013: Carlos Salgago, Executive Chef and Proprietor of Taco Maria

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Carlos Salgado of Taco MariaTaco Maria, newly opened at SoCo, represents a wonderful success story for the Salgado Family.

Carlos is a trained pastry chef with extensive experience in fine-dining establishments in the Bay Area. Carlos returned to Orange County and with his sister, Silvia, launched a gourmet food truck, Taco Maria, in 2011.

In it’s first year Taco Maria was awarded the distinction of being named one of OC’s best new restaurants by both The Orange County Register and OC Weekly.

Taco Maria earned great acclaim as the featured gourmet food truck at the Saturday morning Farmers Market at SoCo. The lines were long (everything was created fresh to order) and the devoted following huge!

Last year Carlos sold the food truck to create a real destination restaurant at SoCo. Taco Maria opened in September for dinner only and just recently added lunch. Weekend brunch is planned for the near future. A beautiful patio overlooks the garden courtyard adjacent to The OC Mart Mix.

It’s an open kitchen so you can see the craft and care which goes into the preparation of each dish. Even the tortillas are hand-made and prepared throughout the day.

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Show 38, August 10, 2013: Chef Edward Lee Continued…

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Smoke and Pickles cookbook by Edward LeeChef Lee’s first cookbook is Smoke & Pickles. It was nominated for a James Beard Award. It’s a very honest portrayal of Chef Ed’s career to date.

He shares a particularly humbling moment of terror from his past in New York. Chef Jeremiah Tower from San Francisco (an imposing man) happened into his little restaurant in New York for a meal. Tower cooked for Alice Waters early in the history of the iconic Chez Panisse in Berkeley and had a very successful restaurant of his own in San Francisco, Stars, in the 90s. It was the Spago of it’s day in the Bay Area. It was obvious to Ed that Chef Tower was totally underwhelmed with the experience. That moment of abject terror created the path and motivation for Ed to become a better cook.

He’s also a new father.

Chef Ed shared his thoughts on preparing the perfect fried chicken. One of the tricks is to poach the chicken before frying. It gives the chicken a ton of extra flavor.

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