LA Mexicano Book Signing This Saturday, July 8th at Friends and Family

Come out this Saturday to my neighborhood spot, Friends and Family, have some huevos rancheros in chile verde and get a signed copy of my first book, LA Mexicano on Prospect Park Books.

Save the Date - Award winning food writer, Bill Esparza, will be here on Saturday, July 8th signing copies of his new book L.A. Mexicano starting at noon. Stop on in, pick up a signed copy, chat with Bill and stay for brunch! We will be featuring one of Bill's favorite dishes, Huevos Rancheros - just like his grandmother use to make. You won't want to miss it!

A post shared by Friends And Family (@wearefriendsandfamily) on Jun 29, 2017 at 4:39pm PDT

Bill Esparza Book Signing for LA Mexicano at Friends and Family
Saturday, July 8
12pm to 4pm
5150 Hollywood Bl
323-668-2000

Come Join Me at Vroman's in Pasadena on 6/10 for the Release of LA Mexicano. It's an LA Mexicano Party!

Catch Chef Wes Avila and I at the LA Times Festival of Books on 4/22

This Saturday, April 22nd at 3:30PM, I will be on stage at the Cooking Area 4 at the LA Times Festival of Books, which will take place at the USC Campus. 

My first book, L.A. Mexicano on Prospect Park Books comes out in June, and this event with the amazing chef Wes Avila of Guerrilla Tacos is the first opportunity to present this book to the public. L.A. Mexicano is the story of Mexican cuisine in Los Angeles through the Recipes, People and Places that make L.A. the greatest Mexican food scene in the United States. Come out and say hello, grab a copy of the book (which you also can pre-order on amazon.com) and see what chef Wes Avila is cooking up. 

Bill Esparza, Author of "L.A. Mexicano," Cooking Demonstration with Wes Avila of Guerrilla Tacos

@ LA Times Festival of Books

Saturday, April 22

3:30PM to 4:30PM

USC Campus on the Cooking Stage, Signing Area 4

Tacolandia 2017 Pre-Sale is Live! Use the Promo Code: TACOBILL

           

 Despierta America at Tacolandia 2016 hails Tacolandia as a taco paradise.

Hello Taco Lovers! It is I, your tacorazzo here, to announce that LA Weekly's Tacolandia 2017 is having a pre-sale from NOW through Sunday, April 2. Click on the link here and enter the promo code: TACOBILL to get discounted pre-sale tickets for General Admission and VIP for $45 and $65, respectively.

I've selected over 120 vendors from LA, Mexico, Arizona and greater California to satisfy your craving at the greatest taquiza on the planet. Tacolandia 2017 takes place on Saturday, June 17th from 3PM to 7PM at LA's founding street and plaza, and birthplace of America's taco craze, Olvera Street. Come to Tacolandia, where all your dreams come true


For more information go to our microsite, and check out scenes from last year's event on these two tacolicious videos.


           

 Our own LA Weekly Street Team video at Tacolandia 2016

I've Been Nominated for a James Beard Award!

Update: We won!

I had no idea the James Beard Awards for journalism would be announced today, but thanks to Zach Brooks of Midtown Lunch fame, I learned I was nominated along with my editor, Lesley Bargar Suter, for our outstanding Taco City issue last summer in the category of Food Coverage in a General-Interest Publication. For the same issue we were also finalists at the Oscars of the magazine industry, the Ellies, which we didn't win, but were honored to be selected from the thousands of articles that were submitted.


For those that follow me here and don't know, I've been working for Los Angeles Magazine for several years as a contributor to the online Digest and in print, as a food writer, travel writer and as an editor with Lesley Bargar Suter for the Taco City issue.


I've become well known for the taco coverage with my weekly Essential T column (and for being the curator for LA Weekly's Tacolandia), but regular LA Magazine readers are aware that I cover all of Latin America and street food for this prestigious publication.


Wish us luck at the awards, and thanks for being a reader!

Maize Diversity from Crop Trust

                         #CropsInColor: maize diversity from Crop Trust on Vimeo.


I'd like you to check out this beautiful video on the diversity of corn in Mexico. In light of the recent attempts by Monsanto to destroy diversity and bring transgenic corn into the Mexican market, threatening corn diversity and purity, I'd like to share this video and ask that you encourage street vendors, restaurants and trucks to use better tortillas.

Let's let them know we'll pay a few cents more for corn tortillas made nixtamalized corn masa, and we'll pay even more for heirloom corn varietals.

Corn sustains life and culture.

Catch me With CNN's Nick Valencia Exploring the Outlaw Bacanora Trail

Backyard still used in the production of bacanora

This is my second segment with CNN's Nick Valencia; this time, we headed to the northern state of Sonora to eat some of the most flavorful food in Mexico before drinking outlaw Bacanora in the Rio Sonora. Here, oil drums and used out parts serve as makeshift stills to refine cooked agave Pacifica, foraged in the Rio Sonora region. Check our story out in CNN's The Search for Mexican Moonshine.