I should start with the bad first as I do with most of my reviews. The only negatives I found were really minor, we went in early for brunch and noticed a lot of the areas in the business weren't actually ready for business. You could see a mop left over on a corner, the bar was mixing their ingredients on big ugly buckets on plain view, and a few other little details like this.

We don't need to see any of that, it's like walking into the backstage area of a Las Vegas show. We know all that stuff goes on in the back scene, but we just don't want to see it. It kills the magic, ya know?

That's about it for the negative... not so bad right?

Now onto the good stuff. The whole experience was great. We arrived way earlier than our friends did because they initially went to one of the other locations I think. Valet parking ($6.00)  is a must or be prepared to park a mile away, risk a parking ticket and then walk to the place. Just valet it.

As we waited, our server was really great about keeping our drinks and appetizers on point. I started with a seasonal grapefruit margarita that was excellent; refreshing, cool and balanced. I ended up having two or three through our stay. I would suggest they make it a permanent cocktail in their menu.

My wife went for the spicy bloody mary; it made me a little jealous.

For appetizers we went for the choriqueso and guacamole combo. Now, this is where it gets a bit iffy for Mexicans that know Mexican food. I don't think Choriqueso should be in the menu of a traditionally inspired Mexican cuisine restaurant. Choriqueso is Tex-mex food which you should stay away from when you want to be known for traditional Mexican flavors, regardless of how modern or progressive you want to be with your recipes.

When I saw it on the menu, it made me question the whole operation.

I would have rather tried a more traditional queso fundido. Re-invent that! But nevertheless the choriqueso had amazing flavor and it was a winner paired with the totopos made fresh on site. The guacamole was good, but not unique or amazing. It's hard to make good guacamole and harder to do it consistently, but if this is  the quality and flavor they always put forward then it's an excellent guacamole.

If you're a bit more adventurous and like strong flavors then you'll find this guacamole very plain and in need of some more acidity, and maybe even some crumbled cheese to top it and add a bit of saltiness. To their defense, it was good enough that we ordered a second order of it and everybody else really liked it and it goes really well with the super crunchy and salty chips.

For the meal, I ordered the chilaquiles with added carnitas. My wife ordered the chile relleno, and we shared the 2 gringas. Everything was good. But, there's always a but. The chilaquiles were prepared perfectly, good flavor profile, the consistency was better than most places I've tried, but they lacked a punch.

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I feel that it was a mistake to order the carnitas on the side. The carnitas felt overcooked and they had a strange syrupy taste that made them overly sweet. Some people like that, but I didn't. Traditional dishes should be re-imagined with presentation, or the use of the ingredients, but adding a totally new flavor is risky, If I had ordered a full carnitas dish I am inclined to think that I might have exchanged it for something else after trying it.

By the way, I mentioned the chips earlier but it should really be said that these were amazing. I couldn't get enough of them. The 2 gringas were amazing and in retrospect I would have liked to order just that, but more of it. The plate comes with two of these tacos and they are as tasty as they are beautiful. More please!

The best part came with dessert as three dessert dishes arrived, compliments of the chef. For this, I am absolutely thankful and grateful! I would love to tell you that my influence as a blogger made them do this, but most likely it was because one of our friends at the table is one of the up an coming Mexican chefs in Southern California. On a side note, I can't reveal his name because he wants to keep a low profile, but I hope that I'll be able to review a pop-up restaurant he's working on to launch this summer.

We tried the churro ice-cream, tres leches cake and the flan. Turns out the chef at Mercado used to be the chef at Taleo, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants of all time (sadly it clsoed years ago). So I expected his influence to be strong in the desserts.

The tres leches cake was amazing, as it was at Taleo's. The flan also was perfect, the consistency, the flavor, the presentation, a total winner. If you want to try what a flan should taste like, then the trip to Mercado is worth just for this reason. In a previous review of a local bakery, I kinda blasted their tres leches cake, the owner of that bakery owes it to themselves to visit Mercado and learn what a tres leches cake should be.

Overall, I rated this place a 4/5 on Google. I would definitely go again, I would bring my friends there and I'd love to try some of their other cocktails and dinner plates. I hear they have over 70 kinds of tequila, that can be exciting.

The post Mercado review. Mexican Brunch in Los Angeles appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

She offered to buy me lunch so I thought, why not? I help a friend and I get a free lunch.

This is not why I help people, but it is a nice perk, especially when people want to pick my brain but don't want to or can't hire me.

I thought about where to go and finally decided on a place that had been on my list for some time. It is called Taco Maria and if you had not guessed by now, it is Mexican food.

But this is not your typical Mexican food. Some people say it's the best food in Orange County, Mexican or otherwise.

This is high-end Mexican cuisine. I can only think of one other place that I've tried that would be in the same class, Red O in Newport Beach.

The flavors were authentic but new at the same time, it's hard to explain but the use of seasoning reminded me of my grandma and the amazing food I had growing up in Mexico.

At the same time, everything was new and exciting.

The Agua Chile, their version of ceviche had the tangy limey flavor and salty crunch that ceviche should have but also introduced unique ingredients like squid ink to give it an unforgettable twist. It was just spicy enough to make you say oooooh, that's nice!

When we finished it, I asked the server to leave the remaining sauce and I enjoyed it by the spoonful throughout the rest of the meal. It was that good.

To drink, I had the agua de jamaica, which is a traditional agua fresca, made with the hibiscus flower. That was too little, but I enjoyed it up to the last sip.

We went on a Tuesday so naturally, the menu was based on Tacos. The old #TacoTuesday thing was made new again.

We ended up trying the steak tacos with tocino (bacon), chile con mole, fish, and vegetarian. Every single bite was as flavorful and satisfying as the first one and I was left wanting more.

Keep in mind, these are not your mama's tacos.

Many people will scoff at the idea of paying $18 for a pair of tacos, but once you try these you will likely forget that this might be ounce per ounce one of the most expensive Mexican meals you can find in Orange County.

The only downsides to Taco Maria are the location and the limited seating. I personally loathe the OC Mix, it reeks of smugness and pretentiousness, with some places offering undeservingly expensive items like a $5.00 cookie, a $24,000 sofa, or a $6.00 8 ounce cup of coffee that takes 20 minutes to make.

But just for Taco Maria, I'll go back there, I'll put up with the crowded parking and even wait 30 to 45 minutes for a taco.

If you decide to visit I recommend you make reservations (dinner & brunch only), or go for lunch before 11:40 or after 1:30 if you don't want to wait.

Leave the little ones and the big crowds at home too, this place is best enjoyed when you can fully take in the experience and share it with a small group of 3 to 4 people, but make sure everyone is there or else you will not be seated.

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Fast forward to today and you'll see gourmet burger joints popping up all over the place. McDonalds, Burger King and other icons of burgerdom are vanishing in exhange for higher quality and even hipster spots. Unfortunately, like most fads and trends, most of these new places are just fancy names dressed with fancy ideas but poor execution.

But when you find a good burger joint, it's like finding gold.

Such is the case with Peter's Gourmade in Tustin. I went to it a couple years back for the first time because someone told me I should try their greek fries and burgers. They were good and the burger was good too but for whatever reason I never reviewed them. So this is my turn to review this up and coming spot.

I went back recently before my trip to Hawaii to have lunch with my buddy Loren from Diesel Brew, Loren's a local guy but when he told me he had never tried this place, we stopped debating where we should eat,  this was it. I asked him after lunch if he had liked it and he said it was a great burger.

Peter's Gourmade has expanded, but something that remains true is their menu and quality. I was pleasantly reminded of how good their burgers are. I have to admit that I prefer my burger a little more seasoned but I'm picky to a fault. In a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate their burger at a high 7.

I ordered The Hermanator ($7.50)which is described in their menu as follows: All-Beef angus patty served on a toasted potato bun with bacon, pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayo, jalapeños, and lettuce. I went with this because I wanted their spiciest option. Unfortunately, this is not spicy enough for me. It was well made, and had a bit of a kick, and the flavor is great but if you're expecting something that will kick you hard, they will have to kick it up a notch.

I added a fried egg on top ($1.00) and it ended up looking like the picture below. Forgive the lackluster picture but I got so carried away chatting with my buddy that I started eating this before I took a picture so I had to re-wrap it and put it back for a shot that didn't show a big piece of the burger missing.

And it looks like this:

The hermanator name comes from the head chef and as I've been told, his name is Herman so it makes perfect sense. The price tip toes on the high end for a burger like this, but the quality of the meat and the made-to-order service would fetch closer to $10 at most other locations in Orange County so it's perfectly reasonable. Adding fries, the egg and a drink put our lunch at a little over $24 for two people. Not bad!

I'm not a huge fan of the shredded lettuce approach, but it works fine in this case, I also wish the yolk on the egg hadn't been throughly cooked; you always want a little runny yolk if you get an egg on your burger. I must admit that Red Robbin's Royal Burger turned me onto the whole egg on top thing and they always do it perfectly, but I can't judge this burger based on this minor flaw because it doesn't normally come with the egg.

I love their new redecorated and expanded location. It feels fresh and well kept and comfortable. The location isn't new, they just took over the shop next door but now they almost doubled their seating capacity so even when you come for lunch at rush hour, you'll have a good chance of getting a seat. We arrived just before the lunch rush and by the time we were finished with our food, the line was out the door and around the corner. All these people can't be wrong so if you want a good burger for a great value then go check them out.

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You'll find Peter's Gourmade easily off the 55 freeway at the McFadden exit. Don't let the surrounding area discourage you, this is a gem you find in a rough spot.  I am almost sarcastic when I say rough spot; I mean, it is south Tustin which is not bad at all if you compare it to a rough spot in South LA. I recommend you beat the rush so you can find a parking spot. When it comes to the location, this is their weakness, there is only a small parking lot that is shared with another half-dozen businesses so it can be tough to find a spot.

Rumor has it that they are looking to expand and if my wishes came true they'd open up a location in Irvine or Irvine/Costa Mesa border because that's where I want to go when I eat so I can meet up with my friends and colleagues. And we all love a good burger.

The post Checking out the Hermanator Burger at Peter’s Gourmade appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Did you know you can add apps to Gmail? Well, if you didn't know now you know. You can in fact add apps to Gmail. The two I use the most are Rapportive and Streak.

Today I'm telling you about Streak. Streak is a CRM that sits on top of Gmail and it helps you manage your conversations. It's a CRM component that enhances Gmail. Find it at Streak.com

The way that it works is simple and it is better explained in video but I'll do my best at explaining it on text as well. When you decide to track the activity with one person or project, you can create a box that will hold notes, emails and other relevant activity.

You can review that activity at anytime, and this object, the box, can be moved along a sales funnel or recruiting funnel or any kind of funnel you want. Streak calls them pipelines. Enough of me talking, why don't you just watch the video. It'll make more sense.

You can find more about them at Streak.com and two features I want to highlight that you'll love about this app is the email tracking feature and the schedule for later feature. Really killer, really useful for running businesses online.

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My own rating: 4/5

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Words I've never seen, new reading material, and comments on each chapter are the 3 main types of notes I take. Some of my books have sections highlighted, underlined, or starred and this helps a lot when revisiting the books. But you can only scribble so much on the margin. The lack of space in the margin and the tedious task of flipping through pages I've already read when I want to review something, pushed me to come up with a this very simple review-as-you-go method.

Whenever I start a new book now, I take a big block of post-it notes, the ones that are like 4x6. I then take one post-it and stick it on the inside cover, then one at the end of each chapter. The one behind the front cover serves me to write down words I don't know. The one after each chapter makes it easy to write a few notes to summarize what I've read. If needed, sometimes I add more pages as I go.

Don't get me wrong, I still write all over my books. Some people consider scribbling on books somewhat of an irreverent practice, but I don't care; it helps me retain more content when I read. I wouldn't for example write in a nice dictionary, encyclopedia or coffee table book. But all other types of books go.

Update: 2012 may. - I think it's amazing how easy it is to do this with the Kindle. Now the only question remains is whether you can export or save your notes and highlights as you go through the book in kindle format in order for you to blog about it or quote the book or use it in your essays. That should be an upcoming blogpost.

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