Tacos now compete with slices of pizza as the culinary mainstays of New York City. Like your tacos rolled and fried? Or tiny? With beans and cheese? A dab of guacamole? Freighted with organ meats? Filled with rice, chiles relleno, and boiled eggs? Or wrapped in a flour tortilla like shawarma? This city has them all, and more. Here are the most essential tacos around New York City.
Read More18 Outstanding Tacos to Try in NYC
With al pastor, barbacoa, beef and goat birria, and more, New York’s tacos hold their own
Taqueria Sinaloense
With inspiration from the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Taqueria Sinaloense mainly serves a pan-Mexican menu in Marble Hill, a picturesque Bronx neighborhood overlooking the Harlem River. Two unique tacos are available, including tacos gobernador (governor’s tacos) loaded with shrimp and hot green chiles, and tacos de canasta, with the tortillas dipped in oil as a sort of temporary preservative that allows them to be sold from baskets by street vendors and taken on picnics.
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Taco Mix
There’s no need to look further than the beautiful twirling cylinder of pork al pastor in the window to know which taco to get. It’s one of the best tacos in town. Watching the carver at work makes the taco twice as tasty, and there’s an impressive array of toppings, running to dried red chiles, chiles in oil, pickled jalapenos, and an array of colorful salsas. Miniature tacos and a wide variety of traditional fillings are also available.
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Burger One
This old-fashioned Upper East Side lunch counter was taken over by a Mexican proprietor, who still offers hamburgers and toasted cheese, but the menu has been built out with tacos and burritos. The taco fillings (chicken, steak, pork), are all good, and a special features two tacos sharing a plate with an order of french fries, which feels like a genius cross-cultural move. (Put the french fries inside the taco!)
Tulcingo del Valle
Named after a village in southern Puebla, this place started out as a deli, added some seating for an informal taqueria in front, and eventually annexed the next-door storefront, turning it into a full-blown restaurant where customers can wash down tacos with beer. Check out the rolled and deep-fried taco dorado, stuffed with chicken, beef, or cheese.
El Gallo Negro 3
The most recent addition to a three-taqueria chain is located in Long Island City and has a shady outdoor seating area when summer rolls around. It also has one of the region’s most extensive lists of tacos, including such rarities as tacos arabes and tacos of pickled cow feet, along with some beguiling salsas.
El Mercadito Mexicano
This newcomer to the Mexican food scene at the Jackson Heights and Elmhurst border was one of the first places to bring Mexican pizzas to the city. But it also has an extensive roster of tacos, partly as a result of its connection to the Homemade Taqueria chain. Tacos are described as taquitos because of their slightly smaller size, and sold in fours though you can mix them up, and variety meats like ear, tongue, and stomach are available.
Los Amigos
This long-established Mexican restaurant in the Jersey City Heights looks like a dance hall with its yellow walls and colorful papeles picados (lacy paper party banners). More to the point, it offers some rarely seen tacos, including el hombres (giant flour tortillas wrapping rice, beans, and a main filling) and tacos quillos (steak and caramelized onions inside well-oiled corn tortillas, something like a basket taco). Also watch out for Oaxacan memelas.
La Espiga
On weekdays, all the usual tacos are available at this Corona stalwart located in a semi-subterranean space where spectacular carnitas are fried and tortillas made right in the front window. Over the weekend, barbacoa is offered by the pound, with a DIY taco kit that includes freshly made corn tortillas, chopped onions and cilantro, lemons or limes, and two kinds of salsa. It’s a feast!
Panzon
Panzón (“pot bellied”) is the facetious name for a new mezcal bar in Greenpoint serving Mexico City-style drinking snacks. Thus there are chicharrones de harina made from wheat topped with cheese and tajin, a smoky condiment, and machetes, an elongated quesadilla. But there are also tuna tostadas, chorizo gorditas, and some great chicken tinga tacos bulging with chipotle-slathered pulled poultry,
Taqueria Ramirez
This counter-service taqueria in Greenpoint has earned a following for its suadero and tripe tacos, prepared in the stainless steel vat of stewed meats known as a choricera. Don’t mind the line, which may well stretch to the end of the block at peak hours: These tacos are worth whatever the wait. The tortillas here are smaller than most, making it possible to eat a taco in two to three bites.
Casa Bond Noho
The city’s Sinaloan menu has been expanding over the last few years, and one of its glories is tacos gobernador. This taco of shrimp, cheese, and chiles was invented to commemorate the visit of a governor three decades ago. The version at this Noho newcomer adds steak to the formula, and man are these tacos juicy! Baja fish and carne asada tacos, as well as Yucatecan panuchos, also available.
Downtown Burritos
The former Downtown Bakery has reopened under a new name, and its roster of breakfast and luncheon tacos, both made on white-corn tortillas in the Pueblan fashion, remains gloriously intact. Note that the wonderful chorizo breakfast taco features Italian sausage rather than Mexican chorizo, as a result of the place’s origins as an Italian bakery.
Taqueria Al Pastor
Opened just before the virus hit town, Taqueria Al Pastor seemed very new and modern among the historic bodega taquerias of Bushwick, from the super graphics on the walls, to the open theater of a kitchen. The al pastor remains one of the city’s lushest, particularly when deposited with pineapple on a volcan, a tortilla turned up at the edges and deep fried.
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Ilegal Taqueria
This swinging new spot in Eastern Bushwick serves tacos with Mexico City flair, which means smaller, thicker tortillas with plenty of filling. If available on the day you visit, the meaty beef cheek barbacoa is particularly recommended.
Tacos El Bronco Restaurant
This comfortable Sunset Park restaurant launched a famous taco truck that parks at 37th and 5th avenues, but visit the mothership for a longer menu with more tacos. Miniature tacos pequeños are the specialty, easier to maneuver but not lacking in fillings. El Bronco’s tripe (small intestine rather than honeycomb stomach) is legendary, but be sure to try the campechanos, a mixture of steak and chorizo. A charred and sweet-tasting green onion comes as a bonus.
King of Meat
King of Meat and its cousin El Rey del Pescado both have thoughtful rosters of tacos, and stand within a block of each other — so maybe visit both. King of Meat features some crazy fillings, mainly involving steak, with names like the psycho and the dude, with a particularly nice list of beers.
Taqueria El Gallo Azteca
This long-running Tompkinsville landmark, which took over a pizzeria on Victory Boulevard long ago, is the taqueria closest to the ferry terminal. The tacos are of the overstuffed variety, and extensively braised tongue is the preferred filling, with al pastor and carne enchilada a close second and third. Add Oaxacan cheese or sliced avocado to any taco for a small extra charge, or go for a taco Azteca with cactus and caramelized onions.
El Jarochito
Founded in 1993, the specialty of the house is goat barbacoa served on weekends. Get it in taco form or by the pound with tortillas on the side, or try the excellent carne enchilada (pork in chile sauce). Rice can be added to any taco for an added cost.