Taco María

Taco María is a Mexican restaurant from chef Carlos Salgado that began as a food truck in 2011, opened in Costa Mesa in 2013, and in 2019 became the first restaurant in Orange County to earn a Michelin star.

History

Carlos Salgado, an Orange County native whose parents ran the restaurant La Siesta on Batavia Street in Orange, worked as pastry chef at Commis in Oakland before returning home. In September 2011 he launched Taco María as an upscale lonchera, a catering truck named Frida that served dishes such as bone marrow quesadillas. In 2013 he and his wife, Emilie Coulson Salgado, opened a permanent restaurant in the SoCo design complex in Costa Mesa, with help from his sister and parents.

The restaurant served a prix-fixe dinner for years before shifting to an à la carte format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Salgado describes its cooking as Alta California cuisine. In July 2023, at its ten-year mark, Taco María closed the Costa Mesa space after saying it had outgrown it.

Food

Masa is made in house every day from heirloom corn nixtamalized on site and sourced from small farms in Mexico; the restaurant was one of the first partners of the importer Masienda. In 2015 OC Weekly pointed to its vegetable and arrachera tacos, mole de pollo and Sunday brunch.

Reviews

See also

• Masa
• Corn tortilla
• Nixtamalization

References

1. "About". Taco María. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
2. "Taco Maria, Carlos Salgado's Upscale Mexican Truck, Launches". OC Weekly. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
3. "Carlos Salgado Sees the Future For Taco María, And It Will Be More Focused". Resy. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
4. "The Only Taco Guide to Orange County You'll Ever Need". OC Weekly. Retrieved 2026-10-10.