My initial reaction to Jonathan Gold naming Taco María in Orange County the second best restaurant in Los Angeles was, “Wait, what?” My second reaction was, “I gotta get a reservation.”

Chef Carlos Salgado opened the restaurant in the summer of 2013 following stints cooking in the Bay Area at Coi and Commis and running a food truck by the same name in Orange County. Serving Chicano Cuisine, Taco María’s menu is market-driven, modern, and well… Mexican.

While dinner would’ve been the ideal scenario to experience Chef Salgado’s cooking, Sunday brunch was a better fit for the Astro-Gastro family’s schedule. We met up with my O.C.-dwelling friend Courtney and her family to feast.

Brunch, which is served only on Sundays, is a three-course pre-fixe affair priced at $36.

To start, both The Astronomer and I zeroed in on the molletes, grilled bread slathered with refried beans and topped with crumbles of queso fresco.

What made the molletes even better was the accompanying salsa tatemada (charred salsa) and huitlacoche (corn smut) butter. This was an all around killer starter.

For the second course, The Astronomer and I ordered one of each of the offerings.

The oatmeal, warm, comforting, and slow-roasted, was topped with vanilla butter, ember strawberries, cream, and lime zest. The combination of sticky preserves and fresh zest was swoon-worthy.

Also great were the buttermilk pancakes with stewed apples, whipped butter, and maple syrup. The composition was straightforward, while the execution was solid.

For our final course, we shared the chilaquiles and the huevos pescador.

The former—crispy, mole-soaked tortillas served with grilled hanger steak, pickled onions, and queso cotija—was certainly tasty but quite possibly too prettily composed. I prefer my chilaquiles homey and a little on the messy side, if you know what I mean.

The huevos pescador—Dungeness crab, toasted brioche, poached egg, avocado, and shellfish hollandaise—were rich and the proper amount of pretty.

Brunch at Taco María was truly excelente.

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Taco Maria
3313 Hyland Avenue, Suite C-21
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone: 714-538-8444

It turns out, there’s more than just Disneyland, doughnuts, and Vietnamese food in Orange County:

• {swoon} Blueberry Doughnut at M&M Donuts
• {swoon} Chả Giò Tôm Cua at Bến Lạ Restaurant
• {swoon} Milky Bun at Afters Ice Cream
• Brodard Restaurant – Garden Grove
• Bruxie Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches – Orange
• Cafe Artist – Garden Grove
• Disneyland: Home of the World’s Best Corndog
• Ha Noi Restaurant – Westminster
• Ngự Bình Restaurant – Westminster
• Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee – Costa Mesa
• The Ramos House Café – San Juan Capistrano
• Viễn Đông Restaurant – Garden Grove