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Texas Monthly Top 50 Tacos (2024)


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TM just dropped their top 50 Tacos list yesterday...here's the un pay walled link:

https://archive.is/RzXHu

Quote

 

Texas taquerias can take any form—a drive-through shack in an unincorporated community; a trailer next to a gas station in a quiet suburb; an upscale restaurant on a downtown block. Visiting as many of them as possible for this list—which happened to be more than four hundred in about six months—was intimidating, but not exactly novel. In my five years as Texas Monthly’s taco editor, I have traveled constantly, searching the state for tacos that meet a certain level of craft, quality, creativity, and, especially, flavor.
 
In preparation for this story, my first ranking of the best tacos in Texas, I traveled around 14,000 miles, from Amarillo to Brownsville and El Paso to Texarkana, and asked myself the following questions (and more) as I visited the varied spots: Was the al pastor prepared on a trompo, the traditional vertical spit? Did the cooks have a strong knowledge of flavor profiles, whether they be classic or creative? What kind of tortillas were used and why? Was the taco delicious? And finally, for my editors: How many tacos could I fit into one feature?  
 
My travels confirmed a shift in the state’s taco scene that I first started noticing a few years ago. More than ever, chefs, cooks, and taqueros—often Mexican immigrants or first-generation Mexican Americans—are crafting nostalgic dishes from their blended cultures and incorporating native Texan ingredients. I’m calling the movement New Tejano. 
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Take Leo Davila, the chef-owner of Stixs & Stone. At his San Antonio restaurant, he infuses Big Red soda into tortillas that hold his smoked beef cheek barbacoa. The tacos are topped with pecan pesto and pickled watermelon rind, and the result is reminiscent of post-church backyard gatherings, where the pairing of barbacoa and Big Red is a staple. To me, it’s quintessential New Tejano.
 
Jorge Ortiz, of El Paso’s Taqueria El Tiger, is just as much a representation of this evolution. He combines the traditional fillings of tripe and soft chicharrón on a tortilla made with heirloom corn for one of his tacos, the tripa y tembloroso. Ortiz adds on top a bit of kimchi bathed in smoky morita salsa, balancing funky flavors with homey ones (and Mexican cooking with Korean).
 
Tex-Mex—cumin-heavy with an emphasis on beef—has dominated taco flavor and presentation for decades. New Tejano builds off that tradition but is more dynamic and forward-looking. 
 
Here, we present the fifty best tacos in Texas (with thirteen honorable mentions) and the taquerias that make them, and I made sure to note the New Tejano exemplars throughout. I hope it inspires you to get out there and eat more tacos—I consumed more than 1,200 for this article, by the way—in the best taco scene in the country.

 

 

The map of the top 10 locations

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Here's the top 10 and the write up for #1

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Good article and list, I now have a ton of new places to try!

  • Hook 'Em 1
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