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A bowl of bright red soup with a slice of green avocado floating in it, and a tostada on a side plate. — The red chicken pozole at El Mitote.

NYC’s Essential Mexican Restaurants

Where to find the city’s best ceviches, moles, birria, and barbacoa

by Robert Sietsema Updated Apr 19, 2024, 12:57pm EDT

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The red chicken pozole at El Mitote.

| Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

by Robert Sietsema Updated Apr 19, 2024, 12:57pm EDT

Not so long ago New York’s Mexican restaurant scene was dominated by sizzling fajitas, cheese enchiladas, and nachos, but the city now boasts restaurants specializing in many types of Mexican food. That shift can be credited in part to the severe 10-year drought that plagued the Mexican state of Puebla, forcing residents to relocate here, and immigrants from Guerrero, Morelos, Michoacán, and Mexico City soon followed. New York City is now home to an impressive array of Mexican establishments, from tiny taquerias to full-blown restaurants, featuring regional fare from Yucatan to Sinaloa. Greenpoint seems to be the new hot spot.

Here’s our collection of New York’s essential Mexican restaurants, including many classics as well as newer spots appearing on this list for the first time.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process. If you buy something or book a reservation from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy.

La Villa

La Villa is a colorful honkytonk in the Bronx’s Kingsbridge neighborhood, a family refectory by day, a fully licensed bar by evening, specializing in sangria, mojitos, and margaritas — only served on the rocks, no frozen margaritas the menu cautions. Drinking snacks during happy hour run to nachos, Buffalo wings, and queso fundido, but the full-meal menu runs to molcajetes, combination platters of meat and seafood, and hand-patted sopes, washed down with fresh-fruit batidos. There’s music on Fridays and Sundays.

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240 West 231st Street, Bronx, New York 10463

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A brick fronted restaurant with arched windows and a stuffed campesino out front. — La Villa, in Kingsbridge, the Bronx.

La Morada

This small cafe in Mott Haven has succeeded in popularizing the food of Oaxaca, while also serving as a center of social activism under chef Natalia Mendez and family. Choose any of the colorful moles — negro, blanco, verde, and others — or flautas, tostadas, and other antojitos are available, and we’re partial to the hand-patted tlacoyos. Sandwiches like the pambazo, made with chorizo and potato sluiced with red chile sauce, are also available.

308 Willis Ave, The Bronx, NY 10454

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A thick, catcus-colored sauce blankets a piece of meat at La Morada, a Mexican restaurant in the Bronx. — La Morada provides Oaxacan moles in a rainbow of colors.

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Taco Mix

This Pueblan taqueria owned by Alejo Sanchez specializes in al pastor, as is probably evident from the giant pineapple-topped trompo of pork twirling in the window. Get the mini taco, by all means: The tortillas are better and show off the meat with a few shards of fruit to greater advantage. And carefully survey the vast choice of condiments along the shelf, which includes salsas as well as dried, fresh, and pickled chiles. Tacos Arabes also dispensed on their traditional flour tortillas.

234 E 116th St #1, New York, NY 10029

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If the al pastor isn’t ready yet, consider the barbacoa. — The bulging trompo at Taco Mix.

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El Mitote

El Mitote, open since 1992 and named after an Aztec dance, partly focuses on the street food of owner Cristina Castaneda’s native Guadalajara, but there’s also classic Mexican fare from around the country. An early afternoon brunch served every day might include mushroom tinga tacos, huevos rancheros or chilaquiles, and a stunning bowl of red chicken pozole that’s every bit as spicy as it looks, served with a crema-painted tostada on the side.

208 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10023

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A bowl of bright red soup with a slice of green avocado floating in it, and a tostada on a side plate. — The red chicken pozole at El Mitote.

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Javelina

Javelina is a second branch of a Tex Mex spot that caused quite a stir when it opened in 2015 near Gramercy Park. It channeled Central Texas spots like Austin’s El Rancho, offering Bob Armstrong (queso) dip, as well as fajitas, San Antonio-style cheese enchiladas sluiced with chile gravy, and smoked brisket tacos.

1395 2nd Ave (72nd Street), New York, NY 10021

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Javelina’s Bob Armstrong Dip is a Cheesy Homage to The Texas Original — Bob Armstrong chili con queso.

Tulcingo Del Valle

The mother of all Puebla bodega taquerias is Hell’s Kitchen’s Tulcingo del Valle, name-checking a town in the southern part of the state and offering a full menu ranging from goat barbacoa to pork ribs in salsa verde. It’s also one of the best places in town to score a chile relleno, stuffed with cheese and smothered in a sprightly tomato sauce. Keep your eye on chalkboard specials. It’s been owned and operated by Irma Verdejo and family since 2001.

665 10th Ave, New York, NY 10036

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A cheese stuff chile flooded with tomato sauce, alongside rice and beans. — The chile relleno at Tulcingo Del Valle.

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Ruta Oaxaca

With a vibrant design featuring the color pink and a bar emphasizing mezcal and tequila, Ruta Oaxaca is one of the city’s best evocations of the cuisine of the southern Mexican state. Moles come in a rainbow of colors and you can’t go wrong with the chicken bunuelos, served in a pool of dark mole Oaxaca, or the brighter mole coloradito, poured over a steak with melted chihuahua cheese.

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35-03 Broadway, Queens, NY 11106

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A pitcher poised over a fish filet pouring on green sauce. — Fish with mole verde at Ruta Oaxaca.

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Cielito Astoria

Cielito is basically a cocktail lounge that happens to serve an amazing Sinaloan menu that includes dishes hard to find in NYC, including tacos of eggs and machaca — the dried beef of the Sonoran Desert, tacos gobernador, and red aguachile served as is conventional in seaside stands with soda crackers. There is plenty of outdoor seating available, too.

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33-02 36th Ave, Queens, NY 11106

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Three flour-tortilla tacos filled with bright red shredded meat. — Chilorio tacos on flour tortillas, a signature of Sinaloan cooking.

Mariscos El Submarino

This small storefront with a yellow mustached submarine for a mascot rolled into Jackson Heights in 2020, changing the game where Mexican seafood is concerned. Its aguachiles — fiery baths of shrimp, fish, and octopus — are unrivaled. They come served in a molcajete, the volcano-stone vessels traditionally used to grind spices and make guacamole, with enough seafood to share. Try the aguachile negro, spicy as hell and seasoned with Maggi. The team opened a sibling restaurant, Mitica, now Mystica, earlier this year, in Williamsburg.

8805 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11372

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The aguachile negro at Mariscos El Submarino in Jackson Heights comes served out of a hulking molcajete. — The aguachile negro at Mariscos El Submarino.

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La Espiga

When the weekend rolls around, Mexican food fans are faced with the perpetual question of where to get great lamb or goat barbacoa. At the time of writing, La Estancia de la Espiga is the best answer. Watch the twin meats steam in the window, then grab a seat in the semi-subterranean dining room, filled with families from Guerrero, where proprietor Tomás Gonzalez is from. A pound of goat comes with a pile of fresh, hand-pressed tortillas, chopped cilantro and onions, lemon wedges, radishes, and salsas.

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42-11 102nd St, Corona, NY 11368

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On a green plate, a giant hunk of meat with onions and cilantro, and a side plate of tortillas. — A plate of lamb barbacoa at La Estancia de la Espiga.

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Taqueria Coatzingo

This taqueria has been a beacon for Pueblan food in Jackson Heights for over two decades. “Taqueria” is perhaps too modest a term, since the current establishment occupies two storefronts, one of which doubles as a bar and dance hall. The cemitas are made on bread baked in the restaurant’s own panaderia. This is one of the city’s best and most reasonably priced Mexican restaurants.

7605 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

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Three cone shaped tacos with guacamole spilling out and chiles and radishes on the side. — Tacos spill over with guacamole and chiles at Taqueria Coatzingo.

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Birria-Landia

When this truck pulled up to 78th Street on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights in 2019, it was laden with beef birria tacos prepared in the style of Tijuana. Years later, there are still just four items on the menu — tacos, mulitas, tostadas, and cups of consomé — that draw crowds late into the night. The truck is operated by José Moreno, former chef at Del Posto, and his brother Jesús, who have since opened further locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

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77-99 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

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A corn tortilla is dipped into rendered beef fat, giving it an orange hue. Several other tortillas wait on the grill next to it. — The truck’s corn tortillas are dipped in rendered beef fat before heading onto the grill.

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Casa Enrique

Casa Enrique was New York’s first Mexican restaurant to earn a Michelin star, and it remains one of the city’s most affordable options in that category. The menu includes cochinito Chiapaneco (pork ribs marinated in a bright red guajillo chile sauce), red pozole soup, and other dishes from his hometown of Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state.

5-48 49th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101

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Black beans, yellow rice, and some bright red pork ribs in thick sauce. — Cochinito Chiapeneco, pork ribs that have been marinated in a sauce of guajillo chiles.

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Los Tacos No. 1

Los Tacos No. 1 is a corrugated metal structure within Chelsea Market that draws long lines at lunch and dinner. Fresh flour and corn tortillas form the basis for pork adobada tacos, which will remind you of the pineapple-tenderized al pastor of Puebla. The beach favorite of grilled steak (carne asada) is also available, and either filling can be used to make a double-tortilla mula, gluing its tortillas together with cheese. Other locations in Times Square, Grand Central, Penn Station, Noho, and Tribeca.

75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011

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<span data-author="-1">A corn tortilla holds a mountain of grilled pork, pineapple, and salsa.</span> — An adobado taco at Los Tacos No. 1.

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Casa Carmen Flatiron

The restaurant is the project of two grandsons of one of Mexico City’s most distinguished chefs, Carmen Ramírez Degollado, who grew up in Veracruz. And the menu reflects that in a big way. You’ve never had a better or sharper version of the classic fish Veracruz, which shines with tomatoey goodness — and no chiles to speak of. The menu is filled with surprises, like garnachas topped with brisket and potatoes, and huauzontles made into pillowy fritters.

5 W 21st St, New York, NY 10010

Four blue corn tortillas with shredded meat and potatoes on top. — Garnachas orizabenas from Casa Carmen.

Mystica

Mitica, renamed Mystica, appeared last year as the surprising offshoot of the Jackson Heights hit El Submarino. The Greenpoint newcomer is a more ambitious establishment, billed as a Mexican steakhouse (though there’s only one steak on the short menu). Still, that steak is a doozy, a giant tomahawk served with grilled turnips and green chiles, and a galaxy of green herbs. Other meaty choices include a pork shank braised in dried red chiles.

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222 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

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A round plate with pink steak and greens. — Mitica’s epic tomahawk steak.

Taqueria Ramirez

Taqueria Ramirez landed on a quiet side street of Greenpoint in late 2021, lighting up the neighborhood with a menu of meats stewed in a bubbling choricera. The taqueria has become as well known for its suadero (a thin strip of muscle between the ribs of a cow that’s chopped into taco meat) as its lines, which extend out the door and toward Franklin Street most days. The team also has a stand nearby where they serve al pastor burgers inside of the dive bar the Mallard Drake.

94 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

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A gloved hands hold a sieve of crumbly red meat over a vat of orange fat and oil, also filled with other meats — Meats are plucked from a bubbling choricera at Taqueria Ramirez.

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La Palapa

La Palapa is the abuelo of East Village Mexican restaurants, with the bill of fare based partly on the cookbooks of Diane Kennedy, via chef Barbara Sibley. Consistent with the name, the restaurant has a beach-resort ambiance, and dishes like red pozole, market-style corn on the cob, three-cheese quesadillas, and skirt steak enchiladas in a chile arbol salsa.

77 Saint Marks Pl (at 1st Ave.), New York, NY 10003

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A square bowl of orange soup with pale hominy and green avocado slices visible in it. — La Palapa’s pozole rojo.

Casa Bond

El Submarino wrote the book on Mexican ceviches a couple of years back, and so has Casa Bond, under Pueblan-born chef Rodrigo Abrajan, has rewritten it. His epic aguachile features premium ingredients like razor clams, octopus, and shrimp both raw and cooked, for a particularly opulent version of the dish. Duck in pink mole and tacos gobernador are two further dishes worth considering. Just off Bowery, the dining room is dark and elegant.

334 Bowery, New York, New York 10012

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A bowl with dark soup and a razor clam shell across the top, with tortillas on the side. — Aguachile at Casa Bond.

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Lupe's East L.A. Kitchen

For homesick Angelinos and San Franciscans, New York boasts a couple of Cal-Mex spots, foremost of which is Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen, where you can get cheese enchiladas in chile Colorado, rolled potato taquitos, chile verde, and a full range of bulbous Mission burritos, an invention of San Francisco. This restaurant with a trippy diner setting and views of Sixth Avenue is operated by David Seixas.

110 6th Ave #1607, New York, NY 10013

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Potato stuffed taquitos snowed with cheese and sided with salad, yellow rice, and black beans. — Rolled potato taquitos at Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen.

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Aldama

Fueled by mezcal and the thump of reggaeton from a live DJ, Aldama is the closest thing Brooklyn has to the late-night restaurants and bars of Mexico City. Make a reservation for dinner — when dutifully constructed tacos al pastor and plates of vegan mole shine — or arrive later at night on weekends, when bartenders addle customers with frozen cocktails and small cups of tequila. The spot comes from owner Chris Reyes and chef Gerardo Alcaraz.

91 S 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

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A shot from outside Aldama shows patrons enjoying dinner inside the warmly lit bar room. — The front room at Aldama.

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For All Things Good

Few restaurants have been able to popularize the foods of Oaxaca like For All Things Good, a Mexican restaurant from proprietor Matthew Diaz, who has since opened a second location in Williamsburg. Grains imported from Mexico are nixtamalized in-house and ground into masa used to make triangular tetelas and miniature tlayudas in various colors. Round out a meal with an iced horchata or atole. Though known for brunch, the team operates a bar at night.

343 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238

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A trio of tetelas, blue red and yellow, sit on a white plate next to piles of red and green salsa — Tetelas come in a variety of colors at For All Things Good.

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Tacos El Bronco

By now everyone knows to get the tiny tripe tacos at this amazing taco truck that parks opposite the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot, a stone’s throw from the Green-Wood Cemetery in Sunset Park. Note that the tripe here is not of the honeycomb variety, but is instead made from veal intestines. Both substances are equally good in a taco. Otherwise, steer in the direction of goat, calf tongue, veal head, or pork skin.

860 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232

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A takeout container filled with green onions and a few double-wrapped tacos with vegetable and meat fillings. — Tacos, cucumber slices, and a bulbous green onion overflow from a takeout container.

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Don Pepe Tortas Y Jugos

Opened in 2003, Don Pepe presaged an era when the Mexican sandwiches called tortas were super-sized and rendered glamorous as massive feeds for any meal. The place sells dozens of sandwich variations, often bearing the names of Mexican states or foreign countries and laden with multiple meats. Juices are another focus of this rollicking cafe that also offers antojitos in an orange-colored dining room.

3908 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232

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The Mexican sandwich called the torta, loaded down with multiple meats, string cheese, avocado, jalapenos, and many more ingredients. — An overflowing torta from Don Pepe Tortas Y Jugos.

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El Rey Del Pescado

Also known as rhe King of Fish, and related to another taqueria called The King of Beef right across the street, this potentate concentrates on Baja and Sinaloan seafood, with most of it — including fish, shrimp, and octopus — on some of the best tortillas in Brooklyn. Dishes like shrimp aguachile are also well worth trying, in an abundance of green drinkable marinade.

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4515 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220

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Molcajete filled with green liquid and shrimp. — Shrimp aguachile verde.

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La Villa

240 West 231st Street, Bronx, New York 10463

La Villa is a colorful honkytonk in the Bronx’s Kingsbridge neighborhood, a family refectory by day, a fully licensed bar by evening, specializing in sangria, mojitos, and margaritas — only served on the rocks, no frozen margaritas the menu cautions. Drinking snacks during happy hour run to nachos, Buffalo wings, and queso fundido, but the full-meal menu runs to molcajetes, combination platters of meat and seafood, and hand-patted sopes, washed down with fresh-fruit batidos. There’s music on Fridays and Sundays.

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240 West 231st Street, Bronx, New York 10463

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A brick fronted restaurant with arched windows and a stuffed campesino out front. — La Villa, in Kingsbridge, the Bronx.

La Morada

308 Willis Ave, The Bronx, NY 10454

This small cafe in Mott Haven has succeeded in popularizing the food of Oaxaca, while also serving as a center of social activism under chef Natalia Mendez and family. Choose any of the colorful moles — negro, blanco, verde, and others — or flautas, tostadas, and other antojitos are available, and we’re partial to the hand-patted tlacoyos. Sandwiches like the pambazo, made with chorizo and potato sluiced with red chile sauce, are also available.

308 Willis Ave, The Bronx, NY 10454

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A thick, catcus-colored sauce blankets a piece of meat at La Morada, a Mexican restaurant in the Bronx. — La Morada provides Oaxacan moles in a rainbow of colors.

Taco Mix

234 E 116th St #1, New York, NY 10029

This Pueblan taqueria owned by Alejo Sanchez specializes in al pastor, as is probably evident from the giant pineapple-topped trompo of pork twirling in the window. Get the mini taco, by all means: The tortillas are better and show off the meat with a few shards of fruit to greater advantage. And carefully survey the vast choice of condiments along the shelf, which includes salsas as well as dried, fresh, and pickled chiles. Tacos Arabes also dispensed on their traditional flour tortillas.

234 E 116th St #1, New York, NY 10029

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If the al pastor isn’t ready yet, consider the barbacoa. — The bulging trompo at Taco Mix.

El Mitote

208 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10023

El Mitote, open since 1992 and named after an Aztec dance, partly focuses on the street food of owner Cristina Castaneda’s native Guadalajara, but there’s also classic Mexican fare from around the country. An early afternoon brunch served every day might include mushroom tinga tacos, huevos rancheros or chilaquiles, and a stunning bowl of red chicken pozole that’s every bit as spicy as it looks, served with a crema-painted tostada on the side.

208 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10023

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A bowl of bright red soup with a slice of green avocado floating in it, and a tostada on a side plate. — The red chicken pozole at El Mitote.

Javelina

1395 2nd Ave (72nd Street), New York, NY 10021

Javelina is a second branch of a Tex Mex spot that caused quite a stir when it opened in 2015 near Gramercy Park. It channeled Central Texas spots like Austin’s El Rancho, offering Bob Armstrong (queso) dip, as well as fajitas, San Antonio-style cheese enchiladas sluiced with chile gravy, and smoked brisket tacos.

1395 2nd Ave (72nd Street), New York, NY 10021

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Javelina’s Bob Armstrong Dip is a Cheesy Homage to The Texas Original — Bob Armstrong chili con queso.

Tulcingo Del Valle

665 10th Ave, New York, NY 10036

The mother of all Puebla bodega taquerias is Hell’s Kitchen’s Tulcingo del Valle, name-checking a town in the southern part of the state and offering a full menu ranging from goat barbacoa to pork ribs in salsa verde. It’s also one of the best places in town to score a chile relleno, stuffed with cheese and smothered in a sprightly tomato sauce. Keep your eye on chalkboard specials. It’s been owned and operated by Irma Verdejo and family since 2001.

665 10th Ave, New York, NY 10036

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A cheese stuff chile flooded with tomato sauce, alongside rice and beans. — The chile relleno at Tulcingo Del Valle.

Ruta Oaxaca

35-03 Broadway, Queens, NY 11106

With a vibrant design featuring the color pink and a bar emphasizing mezcal and tequila, Ruta Oaxaca is one of the city’s best evocations of the cuisine of the southern Mexican state. Moles come in a rainbow of colors and you can’t go wrong with the chicken bunuelos, served in a pool of dark mole Oaxaca, or the brighter mole coloradito, poured over a steak with melted chihuahua cheese.

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35-03 Broadway, Queens, NY 11106

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A pitcher poised over a fish filet pouring on green sauce. — Fish with mole verde at Ruta Oaxaca.

Cielito Astoria

33-02 36th Ave, Queens, NY 11106

Cielito is basically a cocktail lounge that happens to serve an amazing Sinaloan menu that includes dishes hard to find in NYC, including tacos of eggs and machaca — the dried beef of the Sonoran Desert, tacos gobernador, and red aguachile served as is conventional in seaside stands with soda crackers. There is plenty of outdoor seating available, too.

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33-02 36th Ave, Queens, NY 11106

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Three flour-tortilla tacos filled with bright red shredded meat. — Chilorio tacos on flour tortillas, a signature of Sinaloan cooking.

Mariscos El Submarino

8805 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11372

This small storefront with a yellow mustached submarine for a mascot rolled into Jackson Heights in 2020, changing the game where Mexican seafood is concerned. Its aguachiles — fiery baths of shrimp, fish, and octopus — are unrivaled. They come served in a molcajete, the volcano-stone vessels traditionally used to grind spices and make guacamole, with enough seafood to share. Try the aguachile negro, spicy as hell and seasoned with Maggi. The team opened a sibling restaurant, Mitica, now Mystica, earlier this year, in Williamsburg.

8805 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11372

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The aguachile negro at Mariscos El Submarino in Jackson Heights comes served out of a hulking molcajete. — The aguachile negro at Mariscos El Submarino.

La Espiga

42-11 102nd St, Corona, NY 11368

When the weekend rolls around, Mexican food fans are faced with the perpetual question of where to get great lamb or goat barbacoa. At the time of writing, La Estancia de la Espiga is the best answer. Watch the twin meats steam in the window, then grab a seat in the semi-subterranean dining room, filled with families from Guerrero, where proprietor Tomás Gonzalez is from. A pound of goat comes with a pile of fresh, hand-pressed tortillas, chopped cilantro and onions, lemon wedges, radishes, and salsas.

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42-11 102nd St, Corona, NY 11368

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On a green plate, a giant hunk of meat with onions and cilantro, and a side plate of tortillas. — A plate of lamb barbacoa at La Estancia de la Espiga.

Taqueria Coatzingo

7605 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

This taqueria has been a beacon for Pueblan food in Jackson Heights for over two decades. “Taqueria” is perhaps too modest a term, since the current establishment occupies two storefronts, one of which doubles as a bar and dance hall. The cemitas are made on bread baked in the restaurant’s own panaderia. This is one of the city’s best and most reasonably priced Mexican restaurants.

7605 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

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Three cone shaped tacos with guacamole spilling out and chiles and radishes on the side. — Tacos spill over with guacamole and chiles at Taqueria Coatzingo.

Birria-Landia

77-99 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

When this truck pulled up to 78th Street on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights in 2019, it was laden with beef birria tacos prepared in the style of Tijuana. Years later, there are still just four items on the menu — tacos, mulitas, tostadas, and cups of consomé — that draw crowds late into the night. The truck is operated by José Moreno, former chef at Del Posto, and his brother Jesús, who have since opened further locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

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77-99 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

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A corn tortilla is dipped into rendered beef fat, giving it an orange hue. Several other tortillas wait on the grill next to it. — The truck’s corn tortillas are dipped in rendered beef fat before heading onto the grill.

Casa Enrique

5-48 49th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101

Casa Enrique was New York’s first Mexican restaurant to earn a Michelin star, and it remains one of the city’s most affordable options in that category. The menu includes cochinito Chiapaneco (pork ribs marinated in a bright red guajillo chile sauce), red pozole soup, and other dishes from his hometown of Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state.

5-48 49th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101

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Black beans, yellow rice, and some bright red pork ribs in thick sauce. — Cochinito Chiapeneco, pork ribs that have been marinated in a sauce of guajillo chiles.

Los Tacos No. 1

75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011

Los Tacos No. 1 is a corrugated metal structure within Chelsea Market that draws long lines at lunch and dinner. Fresh flour and corn tortillas form the basis for pork adobada tacos, which will remind you of the pineapple-tenderized al pastor of Puebla. The beach favorite of grilled steak (carne asada) is also available, and either filling can be used to make a double-tortilla mula, gluing its tortillas together with cheese. Other locations in Times Square, Grand Central, Penn Station, Noho, and Tribeca.

75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011

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<span data-author="-1">A corn tortilla holds a mountain of grilled pork, pineapple, and salsa.</span> — An adobado taco at Los Tacos No. 1.

Casa Carmen Flatiron

5 W 21st St, New York, NY 10010

The restaurant is the project of two grandsons of one of Mexico City’s most distinguished chefs, Carmen Ramírez Degollado, who grew up in Veracruz. And the menu reflects that in a big way. You’ve never had a better or sharper version of the classic fish Veracruz, which shines with tomatoey goodness — and no chiles to speak of. The menu is filled with surprises, like garnachas topped with brisket and potatoes, and huauzontles made into pillowy fritters.

5 W 21st St, New York, NY 10010

Four blue corn tortillas with shredded meat and potatoes on top. — Garnachas orizabenas from Casa Carmen.

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Mystica

222 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Mitica, renamed Mystica, appeared last year as the surprising offshoot of the Jackson Heights hit El Submarino. The Greenpoint newcomer is a more ambitious establishment, billed as a Mexican steakhouse (though there’s only one steak on the short menu). Still, that steak is a doozy, a giant tomahawk served with grilled turnips and green chiles, and a galaxy of green herbs. Other meaty choices include a pork shank braised in dried red chiles.

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222 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

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A round plate with pink steak and greens. — Mitica’s epic tomahawk steak.

Taqueria Ramirez

94 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Taqueria Ramirez landed on a quiet side street of Greenpoint in late 2021, lighting up the neighborhood with a menu of meats stewed in a bubbling choricera. The taqueria has become as well known for its suadero (a thin strip of muscle between the ribs of a cow that’s chopped into taco meat) as its lines, which extend out the door and toward Franklin Street most days. The team also has a stand nearby where they serve al pastor burgers inside of the dive bar the Mallard Drake.

94 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

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A gloved hands hold a sieve of crumbly red meat over a vat of orange fat and oil, also filled with other meats — Meats are plucked from a bubbling choricera at Taqueria Ramirez.

La Palapa

77 Saint Marks Pl (at 1st Ave.), New York, NY 10003

La Palapa is the abuelo of East Village Mexican restaurants, with the bill of fare based partly on the cookbooks of Diane Kennedy, via chef Barbara Sibley. Consistent with the name, the restaurant has a beach-resort ambiance, and dishes like red pozole, market-style corn on the cob, three-cheese quesadillas, and skirt steak enchiladas in a chile arbol salsa.

77 Saint Marks Pl (at 1st Ave.), New York, NY 10003

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A square bowl of orange soup with pale hominy and green avocado slices visible in it. — La Palapa’s pozole rojo.

Casa Bond

334 Bowery, New York, New York 10012

El Submarino wrote the book on Mexican ceviches a couple of years back, and so has Casa Bond, under Pueblan-born chef Rodrigo Abrajan, has rewritten it. His epic aguachile features premium ingredients like razor clams, octopus, and shrimp both raw and cooked, for a particularly opulent version of the dish. Duck in pink mole and tacos gobernador are two further dishes worth considering. Just off Bowery, the dining room is dark and elegant.

334 Bowery, New York, New York 10012

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A bowl with dark soup and a razor clam shell across the top, with tortillas on the side. — Aguachile at Casa Bond.

Lupe's East L.A. Kitchen

110 6th Ave #1607, New York, NY 10013

For homesick Angelinos and San Franciscans, New York boasts a couple of Cal-Mex spots, foremost of which is Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen, where you can get cheese enchiladas in chile Colorado, rolled potato taquitos, chile verde, and a full range of bulbous Mission burritos, an invention of San Francisco. This restaurant with a trippy diner setting and views of Sixth Avenue is operated by David Seixas.

110 6th Ave #1607, New York, NY 10013

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Potato stuffed taquitos snowed with cheese and sided with salad, yellow rice, and black beans. — Rolled potato taquitos at Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen.

Aldama

91 S 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

Fueled by mezcal and the thump of reggaeton from a live DJ, Aldama is the closest thing Brooklyn has to the late-night restaurants and bars of Mexico City. Make a reservation for dinner — when dutifully constructed tacos al pastor and plates of vegan mole shine — or arrive later at night on weekends, when bartenders addle customers with frozen cocktails and small cups of tequila. The spot comes from owner Chris Reyes and chef Gerardo Alcaraz.

91 S 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

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A shot from outside Aldama shows patrons enjoying dinner inside the warmly lit bar room. — The front room at Aldama.

For All Things Good

343 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238

Few restaurants have been able to popularize the foods of Oaxaca like For All Things Good, a Mexican restaurant from proprietor Matthew Diaz, who has since opened a second location in Williamsburg. Grains imported from Mexico are nixtamalized in-house and ground into masa used to make triangular tetelas and miniature tlayudas in various colors. Round out a meal with an iced horchata or atole. Though known for brunch, the team operates a bar at night.

343 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238

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A trio of tetelas, blue red and yellow, sit on a white plate next to piles of red and green salsa — Tetelas come in a variety of colors at For All Things Good.

Tacos El Bronco

860 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232

By now everyone knows to get the tiny tripe tacos at this amazing taco truck that parks opposite the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot, a stone’s throw from the Green-Wood Cemetery in Sunset Park. Note that the tripe here is not of the honeycomb variety, but is instead made from veal intestines. Both substances are equally good in a taco. Otherwise, steer in the direction of goat, calf tongue, veal head, or pork skin.

860 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232

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A takeout container filled with green onions and a few double-wrapped tacos with vegetable and meat fillings. — Tacos, cucumber slices, and a bulbous green onion overflow from a takeout container.

Don Pepe Tortas Y Jugos

3908 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232

Opened in 2003, Don Pepe presaged an era when the Mexican sandwiches called tortas were super-sized and rendered glamorous as massive feeds for any meal. The place sells dozens of sandwich variations, often bearing the names of Mexican states or foreign countries and laden with multiple meats. Juices are another focus of this rollicking cafe that also offers antojitos in an orange-colored dining room.

3908 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232

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The Mexican sandwich called the torta, loaded down with multiple meats, string cheese, avocado, jalapenos, and many more ingredients. — An overflowing torta from Don Pepe Tortas Y Jugos.

El Rey Del Pescado

4515 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Also known as rhe King of Fish, and related to another taqueria called The King of Beef right across the street, this potentate concentrates on Baja and Sinaloan seafood, with most of it — including fish, shrimp, and octopus — on some of the best tortillas in Brooklyn. Dishes like shrimp aguachile are also well worth trying, in an abundance of green drinkable marinade.

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4515 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220

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Molcajete filled with green liquid and shrimp. — Shrimp aguachile verde.

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