Over a beautiful plate of food in the kitchen of his white-tablecloth restaurant, Topolobambo, Rick muses on the idea of culinary muses. His creative inspirations are as diverse as the culture and cuisine of Mexico—ranging from leading-edge chefs to home cooks and market vendors. To show us what he means, he invites us to join him for a wildly inventive meal at Pujol, one of Mexico City’s most exciting restaurants, where Chef Enrique Olvera turns traditional ideas inside out to create whimsical, world-class takes on the flavors of Mexico. From there, we pay a visit to one of Rick’s favorite inspirations, a market vendor in Guadalajara who, for decades, has specialized in one perfect thing: birria—goat braised in a rich chile rub. Back in the Topolobampo kitchens, Rick riffs on that classic dish of west-central Mexico in Birria (Slow-Braised Lamb) Topolobampo-Style. Finally, a visit to a waterfront seafood restaurant outside Puerto Vallarta inspires him to invent Oysters Nuevo Vallarta back at his restaurant—another window into the creative process that has made Rick one of the world’s leading re-interpreters of Mexican cooking.