770: Tacos, Tortas, Tamales, Tostadas: Jorge Gaviria & Fermín Núñez on Mexico's Street Food Canon
770: Tacos, Tortas, Tamales, Tostadas: Jorge Gaviria & Fermín Núñez on Mexico's Street Food Canon  
Podcast: This Is TASTE
Published On: Mon May 04 2026
Description: Vitamina T is the new cookbook from Fermín Núñez (chef of Suerte, Este, and Bar Toti in Austin) and Jorge Gaviria of masa company Masienda. This amazing book does exactly what it says, offering a deep dive into Mexico’s legendary “T” foods: tacos, tortas, tamales, and so much more. In this episode, we talk about heirloom corn, street food as serious cuisine, and how the pair wrote one of the year’s most exciting Mexican cookbooks. Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Tommy Hunt about restaurant operations and the brand-new spot that is the buzz of New York City: Dean’s. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    00:00 – Burning It On Purpose: A New Mexican Home-Cooking Mentality 00:12 – Cosme, Corn Husks, and Catching Up with New York 03:16 – From Masa to Vida Mexicana: Writing the Sequel Cookbook 05:19 – Entering the Taco Canon (and Updating It) 08:09 – Shooting Mexico: Tortas in the Airbnb and Tortas in the Street 11:24 – The Architecture of a Great Torta (and the Magic of Laminada) 13:39 – Reading a Trompo and Talking to Taqueros 18:21 – Quesabirria, Birrieria Zaragoza, and Offal Lines in the Sand 21:45 – LA Taco Fieldwork and the Ditroit Taqueria Crew 23:35 – Running a Restaurant Group and Seeing Your Food Reflected Back 24:54 – Where Home Cooks Go Wrong with Mexican Street Food 36:02 – From the Pass to the Floor: Who Really Runs the Room? 39:15 – Hawksmoor, New York, and Learning the City Before You Open 43:48 – Why Should New York Care About Your London Hit? 48:24 – The New British Wave: Dishoom, Gymkhana, Ambassadors… and Risk 55:02 – Fixing Jupiter’s P&L Without Killing Its Soul 58:59 – Labor, Tipping, and Why No One Wants to Be a Manager 63:47 – What a British Pub Means in the West Village 67:50 – Pints, Pork Scratchings, and Triple-Cooked Chips: The Dean’s Menu 73:39 – Why Pubs Are Having a Moment in America 76:35 – Taste Check, Operations Edition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices