The Greatest Tacos Ever Sold

They’re wrapped in yellow-corn or white-flour tortillas. They’re filled with beef, chicken, pork—even octopus. They’re topped with everything from fresh tomatoes to jalapeño relish. But of the hundreds of combinations we tasted, only one could rank as the best in the state. Are you ready to get your picadillo on?

by Patricia Sharpe

December 2006

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18. Chicken and Guacamole
Tito’s | San Antonio

Here’s what you do: Order a shredded chicken taco and a guacamole taco with extra lime wedges on the side. When the tacos come, all bundled up in foil, unwrap them immediately so the superb homemade corn tortillas don’t get soggy. Then spritz the guac with mucho lime juice and salt. Divide the fillings in half and convert each single-ingredient taco into a chicken-and-guacamole taco. Why bother? Because the combination is masterful. The chicken is done right (stewed with onions and seasonings and shredded, not grilled and chopped), and the avocado is chunky and fresh, not squished out of a tube. Plus, Tito’s displays the work of local painters. It deserves your support. 955 S. Alamo, 210-212-8226. Open Mon—Fri 7—9, Sat 8—9, Sun 8—2.

19. Sirloin Steak
Taco Place | El Paso

Skip the buffet at this bright, bustling East Side diner and order off the menu or at the taco bar. And make sure to get the corn tortillas, which (unlike the flour) are made in-house and are almost buttery soft. There are ten varieties of fillings to choose from, but the juicy sirloin—marinated for 24 hours in seasoned chicken bouillon—is substantial and irresistible. Dressed with some guacamole, the grilled meat will melt in your mouth (add heat with pico de gallo). For a mega-protein rush, have the descado taco, a muy rico blend of sirloin, ham, and chorizo. 1515 N. Lee Trevino Dr., 915-599-8720. Open daily 8—9.

20. Pork Cubano
El Rey Taquería | Houston

The classic Cuban triad of black beans, plantains, and sour cream joins happily with Mexican tacos at El Rey, an unpolished but pleasing working-class cafe salvaged from a fast-food joint. In the taco cubano, those traditional beans and bananas share a soft flour tortilla with a selection of meat, including grilled chicken or beef, but the best choice is pork, available by request. Combine El Rey’s radioactive red salsa and puckering tomatillo sauce to bounce off the saccharine plantains, then observe it all magically take on a sweet-and-sour Asian character. It’s fusion cuisine at its least pretentious. 910 Shepherd Dr., 713-802-9145. Open Mon— Thur 7—9:30, Fri & Sat 7—10, Sun 8—4.

21. Pork al Pastor
Pepe & Mito’s Mexican Café | Dallas

Merrily chugging along in the barely gentrified neighborhood known as Deep Ellum, this collection of purple, turquoise, and red dining rooms supplies the ideal setting for watching a ball game on TV, knocking back a cold beer, or putting away bodacious taco platters. Best of the lot are the al pastor variety, which are two layers of tiny, tender yellow-corn tortillas topped with chunks of silken pork in a russet cascabel-chile-and-pineapple sauce; caramelized onions come along for the ride. Garnished with finely chopped onion and cilantro, the tacos reach near perfection when drizzled with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. 2911 Elm, 214-741-1901. Open Mon & Tue 11—3, Wed & Thur 11—10, Fri & Sat 11—11, Sun 11—5.

22. Shredded Chicken
Evita’s Botanitas | Austin

Aromatic with spices and seasonings, the pollo in this taco has the rich flavor you would expect in a full-bodied chicken soup. After being cooked, it’s shredded the way somebody’s mama would do it at home. Plus, the kitchen uses both juicy dark meat and white. All these things make a huge difference. In fact, this simple chicken taco is so good you hardly even need salsa. But you’ll still want at least one of the half a dozen varieties made fresh daily, like the tart tomatillo-and-cilantro. Along with this largesse, you get an idiosyncratic dining room with heroic Aztec murals, Mexican ballads on the radio, and furniture that looks as if it’s been reclaimed from a Chinese restaurant. That’s our South Austin. 6400 S. First, 512-441-2424. Open Mon, Wed, & Thur 9:30—9:30, Fri & Sat 9—10, Sun 9—8:30. Closed Tue.

23. Grilled Chicken
Poncho’s Mexico Nuevo Restaurant | Pharr

Great chicken tacos are hard to find because the meat’s mild flavor is so easily overwhelmed. Not so at Poncho’s. Here the pieces of fowl are sprinkled with black pepper, then grilled over flames until they turn juicy, smoky, barely charred, and bursting with flavor. Big hunks join onion, bell pepper, and tomato in an excellent flour tortilla; the chunky, frothy jalapeño salsa couldn’t be a better complement. Almost lost in a mostly abandoned shopping center, Poncho’s has several dining rooms with brick arches, Christmas lights, and abundant piñatas. Somehow, it’s not hokey. 808 N. Cage Blvd., 956-782-9991. Open daily 7—11.

24. Pork Asado Ballezano
Carnitas Querétaro | El Paso

This house of pork is perhaps El Paso’s finest local chain, and the ballezano, in myriad forms, is its forte. For tacos, the cubed meat simmers in a savory reddish-brown chile colorado, a stew or sauce made from red chile, onion, garlic, and oregano. This concoction yields a mild initial burn followed by a stronger and very satisfying afterburn that doesn’t stay long enough to wear out its welcome. As for sides, options include guacamole, rice, and beans. The cozy Mesa location, a tastefully remodeled commercial building, is the best of four outlets. 6516 N. Mesa, 915-584-9906. Open daily 8—9.

25. Pulpo
Taco Fish | El Paso

That’s right, pulpo (that’s octopus, friends), and don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. The slightly sweet white meat, something like a firmer calamari, is grilled and then chopped so its chewiness is easier to negotiate. Nestled in a corn tortilla, the small tubular pieces have a mild flavor that is boosted (not masked) by cilantro, onion, tomato, and jalapeño, and you can add house pico de gallo, red-chile sauce, or even ceviche. With its black-and-white-checked linoleum floors and orange walls covered with plastic fish and other nautical kitsch, this West Side strip-center cafe also boasts exemplary service. And where else in El Paso can you feel as if you’re near the beach? 7500 N. Mesa, 915-833-9061. Open Mon—Sat 10:30—9, Sun 11—6.

26. Cuadril Steak
La Duni | Dallas

One of Dallas’s more luxurious settings for tacos, La Duni also purveys carefully prepared dishes from all over Latin America. The highlight is a sublime cuadril steak, an Argentine cut of beef similar to hanger steak, seared in an iron pan, finished with chile-rich adobo butter, and served sliced atop fresh white-corn or flour tortillas. You add forkfuls of the accompanying garnish, made with slivers of radishes, cucumbers, red onions, serrano chiles, and tomatoes accented with cilantro, lime, oregano, and olive oil. Gild the lily by dabbing on some of the roasted-tomato salsa and the mashed avocado with lime and olive oil. Just don’t forget to have one of the divine mojitos too. 4264 Oak Lawn, 214-520-6888 (one other location). Open Mon—Thur 11—9:30, Fri 11—10:30, Sat 9—10:30, Sun 9—9:30.

27. Pork Adobado
Taco Tote | Laredo

Who ever dreamed fast food could be so tasty? This outlet of a Mexico-based chain sits on the northbound Interstate 35 access road, turning out tacos (on homemade tor-tillas, no less) and salsas that can match those of any full-scale restaurant. The grilled pork is complexly seasoned but not overly hot. It doesn’t really need any of the five available salsas, but if you add some of the smoky dark-reddish-brown tatemada (the word means, basically, “toasted”), the heat from roasted arbol chiles builds slowly until the whole thing explodes deliciously in your mouth. 5603 San Dario, 956-725-8382. Open Sun—Thur 7—midnight, Fri & Sat 7 a.m—3 a.m.

28. Chilaquiles Deluxe
Chacho’s | Houston

After a night of Richmond Strip revelry, party animals stagger into Chacho’s, a never-closes eatery that offers refuge from high prices and formality. While the atmosphere is often akin to feeding time at the zoo, the consistently high quality of the food from the assembly-line kitchen is remarkable. Among a disarming array of more than three dozen types of tacos, the Chilaquiles Deluxe is a standout, with scrambled eggs, chorizo, Monterey Jack, and salsa-soaked tortilla strips providing perfect consolation for the margarita impaired. The just plain hungry will worship them as well, particularly with the option to make them even more “deluxe” with embellishments from a bountiful salsa bar. 6006 Westheimer Rd., 713-975-9699. Open 24 hours.

29. Carne Picada con Huevos
H & H Car Wash and Coffee Shop | El Paso

Just-spicy-enough carne picada—beef tips stir-fried with onion, tomato, and jalapeño—is the filling of choice at good ol’ H & H, El Paso’s famous diner located in a car wash, so go with the flow. But H & H will also serve anything on its menu, with or without eggs, as a breakfast taco, which, in a town where (amazingly) breakfast tacos are as common as icebergs, is no small thing. The picada has emerged as a morning and a lunch favorite at the popular hangout, which jams a counter and tables into one tight space. Either way, you can’t go wrong, even if the flour tortillas are good but nothing special. 701 E. Yandell Dr., 915-533-1144. Open Mon—Sat 7—3. Closed Sun.

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