The taco hounds have been waiting for this one. On this episode of Taqueando, Bill Esparza launches a 3-part Ultimate Mexico City Guide, starting with the food Mexico City does better than anywhere else: tacos.

Bill breaks down 11 essential taco styles in CDMX and tells you exactly where to find the best versions of each. Think pastor, suadero, carnitas, tripita, canasta, and more, plus key context on why these tacos matter and how they fit into the fabric of Mexican food culture.

If you are traveling to Mexico City, planning a street food crawl, or just want to understand tacos at a higher level, this is the guide to bookmark.

Parts 2 and 3 will cover fine dining and street food in the months ahead.

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On this episode of Taqueando, Bill Esparza sits down with Edgar Núñez, chef-owner of Sud 777, for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from breaking food-culture controversy to one of the most thoughtful culinary careers in Mexico City.

The episode opens with a deep dive into the viral backlash sparked by a British baker’s comments dismissing Mexico’s “bread culture” and the beloved bolillo. Edgar unpacks why those remarks struck such a nerve, touching on culinary identity, cultural memory, gentrification, and who gets to define value in Mexican food. It is a candid, nuanced response from a chef who has spent his career navigating both global influence and local responsibility.

From there, Edgar traces his own trajectory from working at Noma to shaping the singular vision of Sud 777. He talks about how his cuisine has evolved, his philosophy around technique versus tradition, and why Mexican food does not need European validation to be great. The conversation also digs into influencers, social media, and the tension between visibility and substance in today’s dining culture.

To close, Edgar shares where he actually likes to eat in Mexico City, from everyday favorites to places that still excite him as a chef. Equal parts timely debate, personal journey, and essential listening for anyone thinking seriously about Mexican cuisine today.

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In this special Best of 2025 episode of Taqueando, host Bill Esparza looks back at the conversations that defined the year in LA food culture.

From interviews with chefs like Enrique Olvera, to cultural icons like Pepe Aguilar, to deep dives on taco crawls, Valle de Guadalupe wine, Panamanian cuisine, and the forces impacting restaurants and street vendors across Los Angeles, this episode captures the highs, the challenges, and the voices that shaped 2025.

The year wraps with reflections on the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants, including the unprecedented decision to name an entire mercado as the number one spot.

Whether you’re a longtime listener or new to the show, this is Taqueando at its most reflective, political, and hungry.

On this week’s episode of Taqueando, Bill Esparza sits down with Nayomie Mendoza, owner of Cuernavaca’s Grill, for a reflective year-end conversation. Together, they share their most memorable meals of 2025 while taking stock of a difficult year for restaurants shaped by wildfires, ICE raids, and ongoing instability across Los Angeles. It’s a thoughtful discussion about resilience, community, and what it meant to keep cooking, eating, and showing up in a year that tested the city’s food scene.

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On this episode of Taqueando, Bill Esparza sits down with Kaila Yu for a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation recorded over bowls of congee at her favorite San Gabriel Valley restaurant, Lu’s Garden.

Kaila Yu is a Los Angeles–based luxury travel and culture journalist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Condé Nast Traveler, National Geographic, and more. She’s also an on-camera correspondent, certified PADI scuba diver, freediver, and mermaid. In this episode, Kaila and Bill talk food, identity, and the SGV as a cultural anchor, using the intimacy of a shared meal to explore topics from food to fetishization.

They also dive into Kaila’s powerful new book, Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty, a deeply personal memoir-in-essays examining Asian fetishization, feminism, beauty standards, and the ways media, pop culture, and colonialism have contributed to the oversexualization of Asian women. Drawing from her own experiences as a former pinup model and lead singer of Nylon Pink, Kaila reflects on reclaiming narrative, agency, and voice.

This episode of Taqueando blends food culture, journalism, and lived experience, offering a thoughtful conversation on representation, identity, and why the San Gabriel Valley remains one of the most important food regions in America.

Now streaming.

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This week on Taqueando with Bill Esparza, Bill sits down with LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison for a deep, reflective conversation on the brand-new 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles list.
They dive into how the 2025 list came together, what it says about LA dining during one of the toughest years the industry has faced, and why the city’s chefs, workers, and communities continue to show unmatched resilience.

From neighborhood gems to breakthrough tasting-menu projects, Bill and Bill talk through the themes shaping LA dining right now, the evolving role of food criticism, and what makes Los Angeles one of the most exciting and creative food cities in the world.

If you care about LA restaurants, food writing, culinary culture, or understanding how the 101 is made, this is a must-listen.

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Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America 2025 just dropped — and Bill Esparza sits down with Esquire Food & Drinks Editor Jeff Gordinier for a deep dive into the year’s most exciting openings, the big national trends, and why fun is the defining theme of 2025 dining.

In this episode of Taqueando with Bill Esparza, Bill and Jeff break down how the list came together, the philosophy behind spotlighting joy and playfulness in restaurants, and the surprising Los Angeles selections that made the cut. They get into the rise of vibey, unpretentious dining, why chefs are loosening up after years of austerity, and what it means for Mexican food, West Coast cooking, and the broader national scene.

Jeff shares behind the scenes insights from reporting the list, the dishes that genuinely moved him, and the restaurants pushing American dining forward.

If you care about restaurant culture, national trends, gastronomy, or how LA stacks up in the national conversation, this interview is essential listening.

Keywords: Best New Restaurants in America 2025, Esquire food list, Jeff Gordinier, Bill Esparza, Los Angeles restaurants, Mexican food, dining trends 2025, fun restaurants, Taqueando podcast, food journalism, restaurant list debate, LA dining.

In this episode of Taqueando, Bill sits down with Chef José Luis Hinostroza, the visionary chef behind ARCA in Tulum, to explore the side of Tulum that most travelers never see. After leaving Noma, Hinostroza moved to the Yucatán to immerse himself in its jungle, ingredients, and lesser-known Indigenous traditions — a region of Mexico with flavors, crops, and cooking techniques unlike anywhere else.

Bill and José dig into what makes the real Tulum so culturally and ecologically distinct, from its wild landscape to its atypical Indigenous foodways that don’t fit neatly into the clichés of “Mexican cuisine.” They unpack how ARCA was built around those traditions, why the restaurant intentionally steps outside corn-centric narratives, and how Hinostroza has forged a new style of fine dining that respects the land while pushing Mexican cooking into new territory.

The conversation spans José’s time at Noma, the early days of Tulum’s culinary evolution, the discipline of cooking in the jungle, and the importance of showcasing ingredients and stories long overlooked by mainstream food media.

If you care about Mexican gastronomy, regional identity, Indigenous foodways, or the ongoing reinvention of fine dining, this is an essential listen.

Keywords: ARCA Tulum, José Luis Hinostroza, real Tulum, Noma Mexico, Yucatán food, Indigenous traditions, jungle cooking, modern Mexican cuisine, Taqueando, Bill Esparza