Tacolicious by Sara Deseran

A review of Tacolicious by Sara Deseran.   Post may contain affiliate links.

Since I live in a small town in Tennessee, I am not quite up on all the big city restaurants around the United States.  So, I had never hear of Tacolicious.  When I got the book, Tacolicious: Festive Recipes for Tacos, Snacks, Cocktails, and Moreby Sara Deseran, I thought it was just a book with taco recipes, I didn’t realize the full history behind it.  For those unaware as me, their are four Tacolicious restaurants in California, and Tacolicious bills itself as a California take on Mexican food.  If the food in the restaurant is even half as good as it looks in this book, they must be doing quite well.

The book is divided into six sections and is filled with lovely photos.  I marked several things to try in each section:

Salsas, Pickles, and More:  Roasted Tomato Mint Salsa (the one they serve at Tacolicious!), Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa, and Lazy Salsa.

Snacks and Sides:  Mexican Party Mix; Melon, Mango and Cucumber with Chile Salt and Lime; Chipotle Aioli; Tuna Tostados; Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs with Jalapeno-Cucumber Relish.

Tacos, Tacos, and Tacos:  Potato and Homemade Chorizo Taco, Old School Tacos, Carnitas Tacos, Shot-ana-a-beer Braised Chicken Taco, Baja-Style Fish Taco.  In this section there is a menu for a big taco party.  A complete how-to for the party - including what to do starting up to one month before and going up to the day of the party!!

Cocktails, Aguas Frescas, and More:  Cinnamon-and-Chile Agave Syrup, Pink Peppercorn Salt, Pineapple Infused Tequila, Cucumber-Mint Aqua Fresca - and so much more - drinks are one of my favorite sections in any cookbook and this one has a large selection to use from - both cocktails and non alcohol drinks. In this section there is also a cliff notes section on All About Tequila - very informative.

The book concludes with an Ingredients Glossary complete with photos, mail-order sources for some of the ingredients called for in the recipes and restaurants they love.

An excellent book, especially if you love Mexican food.  Lots of recipes to try, some more complicated than others, but they all sound good.  I will probably start off with some of the cocktail recipe, since I always have everything on hand that I need to make almost any sort of margarita.