Best Taco Spots

Three friends from the West Coast—one from Tijuana, two from California—run this stellar stand in Chelsea Market where the draws are hand-pressed tortillas stuffed with juicy, tender chile-marinated pork and smoky carne asada. lostacos1.com

After picking up an F&W Best New Chef nod at ABC Kitchen, Dan Kluger has extended his reign next door to ABC Cocina, where his gift for clean, vibrant flavors is applied to exceptional tacos with fillings like sautéed mushroom with spicy mole and fresh kale. abchome.com/eat/abc-cocina

"I grew up in San Diego; I wanted to capture the great energy of nearby Tijuana," says local hero chef Walter Manzke, whose raucous taqueria has people talking about tacos like the crispy pork belly carnitas and over-the-top guacamole topped with sea urchin and chicharronés. pettycashtaqueria.com

Mexico City native Álvaro Candela made his name slinging tacos at Sitka & Spruce’s wildly popular Monday night taco pop-up. Since April, tacos inspired by the ones he had growing up like the trucha (garlic-fried trout with Mayan cabbage and pico de gallo) can be had here seven days a week. thesaintsocialclub.com

Austin chef (and Top Chef champ) Paul Qui’s chain of East Side King trailers and restaurants serves daring, irreverent dishes that weave together a panoply of Asian ingredients with results like a killer pork taco flavored with Chinese hoisin sauce and nori guacamole. eskaustin.com

Native Texan Rene Ortiz looks to Mexico for both La Condesa’s design (a collage of vibrantly colored Mexican billboards adorn one wall) and its menu. Ambitious tacos and taquitos include an updated take on the al pastor, made with slow-roasted pork shoulder and compressed pineapple, and the inspired Arábicos, a bacon-fat crisped tortilla layered with seared venison, pickled cucumber, chipotle harissa and fennel pollen yogurt. lacondesaaustin.com

Newport native Thomas Carson grew up working on fishing boats; now he runs this fish market renowned for its fresh seafood and stellar fish tacos. Diners have a choice between the signature panko-crusted Basa (an Asian catfish) and a selection from the fish counter, including scallops and wahoo from Baja. For heat seekers, Sriracha and Indonesian sambal complement the mayo-based house sauce. newport.bearflagfishco.com

“Tacos, whiskey, hillbilly music” is how star chef Paul Kahan describes the ultracasual Mexican spot he opened in Chicago’s Wicker Park in 2009. Though he calls the place a dive (it’s not), the classic tacos—excellent spit-roasted pork and beer-battered fish—are impressively fresh, and the beer list is one of the city’s best. One way to battle the seemingly endless crowds: head over to the takeout window. bigstarchicago.com

Alex Stupak cut his teeth as a pastry chef at landmark avant-garde restaurants WD-50 in New York City and Alinea in Chicago, but he’s shifted directions and traded the hydrocolloids and xanthan gum for the more time-honored Mexican techniques at Empellón. Yet he doesn’t shy away from pushing limits—after all, empellón translates to “push” in Spanish. Among Stupak’s adventurous taco combinations: brussels sprouts with malted hummus and beer-braised tongue with arbol chile salsa. empellon.com

Julia Child was famously a fan of this cash-only ’50s-style aqua-colored taqueria. The house-made tortillas are a specialty: Masa dough is rolled into a ball, pressed, then grilled just moments before it’s filled with simple, straightforward toppings like chorizo, tri-tip and sautéed strips of chile pasilla. Locals know to go on Mondays, when the lines are shortest. 805-963-4940

When Los Gauchos upgraded from a swamped truck to an actual storefront in 2011, it did more than add seating: The menu expanded to burritos and quesadilla-like sincronizadas. But the undisputed favorite is still the Al Pastor taco: soft corn tortillas filled with tender slices of pork and a sliver of pineapple—grilled before 4 pm and sliced from a rotating spit after. 614-538-0211.

Mary and Tito’s may not look like much from the outside, with its sun-faded sign and exterior, but this nearly 50-year-old adobe café was recognized as an American Classic by the James Beard Foundation in 2010. The famed secret weapon of this incredible spot is its fiery red chile sauce—killer with succulent braised pork in the New Mexican classic carne adovada, or drizzled over beef tacos in crisp corn tortilla shells. 505-344-6266.

In 2011, Kevin Morrison expanded his popular taco truck to this brick-and-mortar location whose only signage reads “tacos, tequila, whiskey.” And there’s plenty of each inside. The excellent pork belly Agridulce even combines all three: Sweet and sour pork belly is braised until tender in whiskey and tequila, then topped with cabbage-cilantro slaw and candied garlic. pinchetacos.com

One bite into a taco in the Mexican town of Morelia and Bryan Steelman had an epiphany: Why not open a taqueria of his own? The resulting ¿Por Qué No? (“Why not?” in Spanish) now pulls out-the-door lines with stellar tacos that emphasize local ingredients: house-made chorizo made from pork from Rain Shadow El Rancho in the Willamette Valley. porquenotacos.com

R&R Taqueria’s first location—inside a Shell convenience mart—presented its own set of issues: Its landlord wanted fried chicken and wings to be served. Instead, founder Rodrigo Albarran takes inspiration from the foods he grew up with in Mexico City, cooking tacos heaping with luscious meats, from carne asada and chorizo to pork belly and roasted baby pig. R&R Taqueria’s second location—marginally better, depending on who’s being asked—is inside a suburban mall food court. rrtaqueria.com

This family-run San Antonio favorite specializes in the breakfast taco, done in pure Tex-Mex style: House-made, oversized tortillas are puffed up in a deep fryer until they’re all crunch and air, then piled with egg and cheese and accompanied by any combination of bacon, beans, chorizo and ham. Locals know the slow-roasted, smoky barbacoa is only available on weekends. tacotacosa.com

San Francisco is a burrito town, but Tacolicious’s burrito-less menu is fast giving it a new reputation. What started out as a stand in the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market has since spawned two bright, cheery sit-down restaurants. All three serve a stellar selection of tacos de guisado (tortillas filled with braised meats), including supertender beef short ribs with guajillo chiles. The Mission location has an adjoining tequila bar with more than 300 bottles of tequila, mezcal and sotol. tacolicioussf.com

This Georgia mini chain has become a near institution for its unabashedly Southern- and Southwestern-influenced Mexican dishes, a collaboration between chef Eddie Hernandez (a native of Monterrey, Mexico) and co-owner Mike Klank of Memphis. That border-straddling cooking translates to ingenious tacos with fillings like fried chicken and smoked brisket, and accompaniments including spicy jalapeño coleslaw and tequila barbecue sauce. taqueriadelsol.com

There are a handful of authentic taquerias in Hyattsville’s Little Mexico neighborhood, but this colorful, mural-lined spot is the undisputed standout. There are over 20 supertraditional fillings—all nestled in two fresh-griddled, slightly puffy tortillas—including adventurous options that range from sliced cactus to all parts of the pig, including the tongue, cheek and lips. 301-277-4477

After 20 plus years cooking in restaurants with acclaimed chefs like Norman Van Aken, chef Michael Rypka struck out with Torchy’s Tacos in a silver truck in Austin in 2006. His menu of amped-up street food shows an affinity for the deep fryer and irreverent indulgence: The Trailer Park taco, for instance, comes with fried chicken and green chiles, and the option to order it “trashy” style subs lettuce for creamy queso. That insanely popular first spot has since spawned nearly 30 locations across Texas. torchystacos.com

At this humble-looking restaurant on a quiet side street in Queens, the superfresh tortillas take center stage, literally: Fashioned from masa that’s been house-ground earlier in the day, the rounds are cranked out of a gleaming machine right behind the glass storefront. The fillings are appropriately authentic: barbacoa steamed in maguey leaves, carnitas slow-cooked in pork fat. In 2011, owners Fernando Ruiz and Shauna Page opened a kiosk near City Hall in downtown Manhattan. tortillerianixtamal.com