America's 75 Best Tacos For 2017 Slideshow

Chef Alex Stupak elevated the taco to new, super-gourmet heights when he opened Empellón in 2011, and Mexican cuisine in New York hasn't been the same since. His fine dining-inspired creations keep the restaurant packed from open to close, and his tacos are unlike any you've ever had. Take the mixed mushrooms with pasilla chile, for example, which you don't exactly see every day. Assorted mushrooms are slowly sautéed with chiles until tender and topped with a sprinkling of cotija cheese, onions, and cilantro. It's one of the best vegetarian tacos you'll find, anywhere.

This community in the famously posh town of Greenwich may be the last place you'd expect to find real Mexican takeout food. But at El Charrito, Carlos and Alex Terrón, who also run a popular food truck in neighboring (and more Hispanic) Stamford, have brought southwestern Connecticut a standard of Mexican cooking usually found only in urban Texas or California. The wide variety of taco fillings ranges from chicken, shrimp, and spicy pork adobada to pig's ear, tripe, and cow's tongue. The carnitas tacos are typical: a couple of flavorful steamed corn tortillas with a scattering of sweet, crispy pork bits, minced onions, and cilantro, with lime segments on the side for squeezing over everything. Simple and perfect.

Regardless of the fact that the Maxwell Street Market isn't in its original location, it's pretty cool to think that the birthplace of the "Maxwell Street Polish" is now the home to some of Chicago's, and America's, best Mexican food, if only on Sundays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The La Paz stand on Desplaines between Roosevelt and Polk streets in the South Loop is just one of the many tarp-covered makeshift stands that draws lines for hours, but few can argue that it isn't one of the best taquerìas around — if not the best. Homemade tortillas are pressed and topped with all the classics, from barbacoa to carne asada, huitlacoche, al pastor, and squash blossoms. Those tortillas, covered with your meat of choice, chopped onions, cilantro, and the super-hot salsa verde on dollar-store-tablecloth-draped folding tables, leave you completely satisfied. You'll have little room to try anything from Rubi's, Manolo's, and Tacos D.F. — all exemplary in their own right, but not quite as amazing as this unassuming stand.

Puffy tacos, a San Antonio delicacy, can sometimes be tough and greasy, but the one at Taco Taco is light, airy, and almost out-of-this-world good. In the small, unassuming building, they make all their tortillas from scratch, including delicious flour tortillas, but if you try one thing here, go for the puffy taco with picadillo, or spicy ground beef. The ground beef is mixed with a blend of seasonings, and slow cooked with onions, tomatoes, and a little bit of potato. It's topped with a dash of hot sauce and some lettuce and tomatoes, and you can go home knowing that you've eaten a truly great puffy taco. Just make sure you head over for breakfast or lunch — they're only open until 2 p.m. daily.

The area just outside Atlanta, especially near Buford Highway, is full of Mexican groceries hiding excellent taquerías. Supermercado Chicago is one of the finest examples you'll find, as the ramshackle little room in the back is serving some glorious tacos. If you go during the weekend you'll experience a much larger menu, but during the week it's all about the tacos. The carne asada tacos, in particular, are the ones to try: flavorful, deeply seared, and perfect when mixed with any of the handful of fresh-made salsas that are on the side. Be sure to catch a glimpse of the tortilla machine: Corn kernels are essentially ground and turned into tortillas to order.

This Los Angeles Westside institution is famous for its plump burritos (like one with chili con carne and refried beans that people dream about), but for good old American-style tacos — the kind purists scorn — it's hard to beat this place. The beef is long-cooked and shredded, not ground. The shredded Cheddar is tart, and the julienned iceberg is crisp and cool. It's nothing short of hard-shell taco perfection.

At the no-frills, order-at-the-counter Tacomiendo, where you'll hear much more Spanish than English spoken, the tortillas are homemade, the prices are reasonable, and the tacos are big. Burritos are a favorite here, but the tacos get high marks, too. If you don't mind carbo-loading, the unusual potato taco — potato chunks and cheese in a crispy shell — is very memorable.

A go-to Mexican restaurant for Austinites since 1952, Matt's, which advertises itself as having the "Best Mexican Food in the World — Always Good," is a big place with a big menu.

Dishes like the smoked duck enchiladas, the grilled shrimp with bean and cheese flautas, and even the chicken-fried steak ("cowboy-style" with chili) have their loyal fans, but the tacos are terrific. The al carbón version offers grilled beef tenderloin pieces wrapped in flour tortillas, with guacamole, rice, beans, chile con queso, and pico de gallo on the side, adding up to a serious meal.

Serving Dallas since 1973, Gonzalez offers authentic Tex-Mex fare, and makes many of their products in-house, including the bread and tortillas. Go with the crispy beef tacos with salsa fresca — the subtle play between the fresh tomatoes and onions and the crispy taco shell is supremely satisfying.

Everybody knows that Rick Bayless, the man behind Chicago's renowned Frontera Grill, is a scholar of Mexican food, and we appreciate his efforts to teach us about the real thing. But what's more important for present purposes is that he's also a really good cook, capable of producing dishes that make us return to his restaurants again and again. Like his tacos arabes, Arab tacos — a delicious combination of roasted, sliced black-pepper pork shoulder; chipotle salsa; cucumber; and jocoque, which is strained Mexican yogurt inspired by Lebanese yogurt, just as the roasted meat is inspired by Lebanese shawarma. In Mexico, tacos arabes are often served in a piece of folded-over pita bread, but here, the filling bulges out of perfect corn tortillas.

Tacos, not surprisingly, are the raison d'être (razón de ser?) of this popular eatery. Versions filled with mushrooms, hominy, and epazote or with fried avocado and black beans are popular with local vegetarians, but we love all the variations aimed at carnivores — most of all the cecina taco. Cecina is salted, dried beef, a rustic relative of bresaola. Papalote's cecina taco adds refried beans, shredded cabbage, queso fresco, crema (the thin Mexican sour cream), and guajillo salsa, and the result is simply wonderful.

Located in an unassuming Barrio Logan back alley, Las Cuatro Milpas has been serving some of San Diego's best tacos since 1933. Order up front, grab your table in the middle, and watch tortillas being made in the back. With the tortillas deep-fried to order, these crunchy tacos are filled with beef, chicken, or pork, but opt for the shredded pork, topped with lettuce and tangy, crumbled goat cheese. The hot sauce — which is made by simmering chiles and spices in lard — isn't for the spice-averse, but is addictively good.

This popular Austin spot has been serving some spectacular Mexican and Tex-Mex fare since 1980, and The Don Juan El Taco Grande has put the restaurant on the map. A mishmash of potatoes, eggs, bacon, and cheese in a big flour tortilla, it's the stuff that breakfast dreams are made of.

Since the turn of the millennium, Durham has experienced a boom in the size of its Hispanic community, and helping to give the city's new residents a taste of home is Taqueria La Vaquita.

There's a whole lot to love about their menu, but make sure to order the barbacoa taco. It's composed of flavored beef with chopped onions, cilantro, radish, and green or red sauce, all rolled into a handmade corn tortilla.

With six locations around Los Angeles, Loteria Grill is a bit of an LA institution, and the one in Hollywood holds the reputation as the best of the lot. Many repeat customers will encourage you to order the taco platter, but if we had to pick just one variety, we'd go with the carne deshebrada: braised shredded beef, cilantro, guacamole, onions, and salsa roja.

The trio of Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo, and Ludo Lefebvre (the same guys behind the insanely popular Trois Mec and Petit Trois) turned their attention to French-Mexican hybrid cuisine for their third outing, casual brunch spot Trois Familia, with stellar results.

The double-decker potato tacos are the sleeper hit of the menu: A soft flour tortilla and a hard-shell corn tortilla barely contain a heaping pile of soft and flavorful potato mash, crème fraîche, lime, and pico de gallo kicked up by some shredded carrot. Not only is it a great taco, it's one of LA's best vegetarian dishes.

Since 1947, Ramona's has been turning out some seriously high-quality Mexican food products, including some that are available in grocery stores. The company also has four restaurants around Southern California, and one of the most delicious, and simplest, items on the menu is the hard-shell taco filled with ground beef and potato, topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and hot sauce. It's a thing of beauty and has served as an inspiration to the many beef hard-shell tacos that have come after it.

The Ibarra family first opened Habanero Mexican Café in eastern Oregon, but eventually moved the operation to Austin, and for over 10 years the city's residents have been counting themselves lucky that they did. Barbacoa, which Habanero executes particularly well, is steamed, shredded beef, and it's delicious. Get there before closing at 3 p.m., and make sure to ask them to add pico de gallo to your taco.

What began as a modest street cart in Queens turned into a fleet of trucks and an East Village brick-and-mortar establishment in 2013. Tacos Morelos has been embraced by local Mexican food enthusiasts with open arms and grateful exclamations that the search for authentic Mexican food in New York has come to an end. They offer no less than a dozen possible fillings, but our vote goes to the chorizo taco: It's served with cilantro, guacamole, and chopped onions.

This tiny restaurant in an off-the-beaten-path location serves some of the finest tacos in Chicago. The al pastor earns high praise, but the real standout here is the shrimp taco. The shrimp gets a light batter and fry that leaves it crispy, juicy, succulent, and not greasy at all. Topped with a creamy sauce and tucked into a house-made tortilla, this taco might just make you think you've been teleported to Mexico City.

My Ceviche is a fast-casual seafood spot that's become a Miami standby, with locations throughout the city. Ceviche (made with your choice of three types of seafood and in six styles), burritos, bowls, and salads are all solid options, but don't miss the tacos, which are available with fish, shrimp, octopus, chicken, or raw tuna. It may be unexpected, but raw tuna is the way to go: It's chopped into tiny pieces and piled into a corn or flour tortilla with a bright combo of pickled red onions, julienned radishes, shredded queso fresco, and cilantro; we suggest you ask for some sliced avocado on top as well.

Don't let the long line at this Houston favorite dissuade you; it moves quickly, and the final product will be so worth it. If you're expecting a taco loaded up with cheese, lettuce, onions, and the like, that's not what you'll find. The tacos at Laredo are all about the meat, and that's all you'll get. Opt for the super-flavorful and tender pork in red sauce.

Ethnic eats abound on the Buford Highway, and this 24-hour Mexican diner doesn't disappoint. Made-to-order tortillas come filled with exotic options like tongue, tripe, and pork stomach, but don't be afraid of the cabeza, or beef cheek, which is meltingly tender. Shredded and topped with some cilantro and onion (and roasted onions if you ask for them), these things are groan-inducingly good.

Formerly known as Tacos Atoyac, this beloved Phoenix taquería closed down with no notice a few years back and reopened nearly a month later with a new name — and, thankfully, the same menu.

While the standard lineup of meats are all spectacular (even the tripas, or intestines, are good), the fish taco is the way to go. Flaky white fish is fried until golden brown and crispy, topped with shredded cabbage and a flavorful chipotle sauce. Roasted onions and jalapeños are offered for free on the side; you're going to want to say yes to those.

This San Francisco gem has four locations, and its success lies in fresh ingredients and an eye toward authenticity. Their bistec adobado is a work of art: Flank steak gets a heady three-chile adobo marinade before being grilled to medium-rare and piled onto a fresh tortilla with a handful of pickled onions. A taco this good should cost far more than $3.95.

From acclaimed chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken comes Border Grill, with three locations and a truck in Los Angeles, and two more outposts in Las Vegas — including one at Mandalay Bay. Their star taco is the fried crispy potato rajas, which holds Yukon Gold potatoes cooked with bell peppers, chiles, cream, cheese, and onions, all garnished with corn relish and guacamole.

In the world of Tex-Mex, Bob's Taco Station, family-owned since 1991, is one of the all-time greats. And when the mascot is a smiling hard-shell taco, proudly holding another taco while wearing a sombrero and cactus-emblazoned cowboy boots, you know you've come to the right place. Bob's is renowned for its pork tamales, breakfast plates, and tortilla soup, but the tacos, served in homemade flour tortillas, are the real claim to fame. There are classic breakfast tacos along with tongue, carne guisada, and barbacoa, rich, beefy, and topped with cilantro and onions upon request.

Walk all the way to the back of an average-looking bodega in the bustling West Side neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, and you'll find yourself in a taco paradise. Opened in 2001, Miguel Fuentes' Tehuitzingo has become renowned for its high-quality tacos, with options for more adventurous eaters like tongue, pork tripe, pork skin, and pig ears as well as classics such as carne enchilada, chicken, chorizo, goat barbacoa, and Eric Ripert's favorite, carnitas.

Our panel of experts urges us to try the suadero, which is fried beef cut from between the belly and the leg, heaped into a corn tortilla and topped with cilantro, onions, and your choice of green or red salsa.

Wicker Park's Big Star, from Chicago superstar chef Paul Kahan (of Publican fame) and chef de cuisine Julie Warpinski, combines Mexican street food with a honky-tonk atmosphere, and the results are phenomenal. The menu is small but brilliant: six tacos (plus a corn chip-based "walking taco"), queso fundido, chips and guacamole, and $3 whiskey shots to wash it all down, all prepared with the expert precision of a world-class chef. The taco al pastor is the first item on the menu and the one to order: Pork shoulder is spit-roasted and sliced off to order, and served with grilled pineapple, grilled onion, and cilantro. It's smoky, small enough to eat (more than) a few, and astoundingly delicious, especially after a couple of Big Star margaritas. You might have to line up to get in, but you'll be glad you did.

With more stuff on the walls and floors than a T.G.I. Fridays (including a 1924 Model-T dump truck), a wonderfully raucous jukebox, and an atmosphere that suggests a funky roadhouse more than an urban Tex-Mex place, Ray's — which opened in 1965 — turns out fine versions of the local standards, along with hot dogs, hamburgers, and fish sandwiches.

It is particularly famous, though, for its puffy tacos, which weren't invented at Ray's, but may have first been named here. They're light, crisp, and flavorful, and the meltingly soft carne guisada (stewed beef) filling is perfectly spiced and not at all greasy.

This "modern Mexican" restaurant does things its own way: there's a sea trout ceviche with pineapple-aji sorbet, a roasted cauliflower "steak" with chipotle-raisin purée and chile de árbol vinaigrette, and a lump crab tostada with green mango and grapefruit, among other things, so it's hardly surprising that the tacos are non-standard as well.

The Arabic tacos, for instance, which get high marks for originality and intensity of flavor, combine seared venison with pickled cucumber, chipotle harissa, fennel pollen yogurt, and cilantro, wrapped in a tortilla made — in decidedly non-Arabic style — with bacon fat. Neither classic Mexican nor Tex-Mex, this thing is just plain good.

At Torchy's, which has locations throughout Texas (centered in Austin, Dallas, and Houston), owner Michael Rypka has created tortilla-bound concoctions that are nothing short of devilish, and made fresh every day.

There's the Brush Fire (Jamaican jerk chicken, grilled jalapeños, and mango), the Dirty Sanchez (scrambled eggs with fried poblano chile, guacamole, escabeche carrots, and shredded cheese) and The Republican (grilled jalapeño sausage with shredded cheese and pico de gallo), but the wildest and most delicious creation on the menu is the Trailer Park, a massive battered and fried hunk of chicken breast, topped with sautéed green chiles, lettuce, pico de gallo, and shredded mixed cheese on a flour tortilla from El Milagro, topped with poblano sauce. If you prefer to "get it trashy," they'll remove the lettuce and replace it with cheese sauce. And who needs lettuce when cheese sauce is an option?

"Thanksgiving of 2008, Kogi BBQ had first rolled out as the little Korean-taco-truck-that-could, peddling $2 Korean barbecue tacos on the streets of LA. Little did they know that within... months, they would become an icon of LA street food. Kogi set off a flavor bomb that would shake up the foundations of the industry so that street food would never be looked at the same way."

That's from Kogi's site. What's the saying? It ain't bragging if it's true? Chef Roy Choi's truck snagged the No. 1 spot on a recent ranking of the 101 Best Food Trucks in America, but Choi also runs a brick and mortar taquería on Overland Avenue. Our very favorite menu item is the short-rib taco. The meat is simmered in a mixture of apple and orange juices, carrots, chestnuts, garlic, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, and yellow onions — among other ingredients — which all lends the ribs a complex flavor that will leaving you wanting more.

Located a couple of blocks from Queens' Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Tortilleria Nixtamal isn't just a restaurant, it's a tortilla factory. Opened in 2008, it quickly developed a reputation as one of New York's premier taco spots, and with good reason: Just about everything they offer is astoundingly delicious. Tortillas are made from non-GMO corn, with no additives or preservatives, and meat comes from Franco's, a local butcher. While the lamb barbacoa and homemade chorizo are certainly delicious, you won't want to leave without trying the carnitas. Chunks of pork are slow-cooked for more than two hours in lard, and then simply topped with onion, cilantro, and a little hot sauce. It's taco perfection.

This popular San Antonio spot has been slinging tacos since 1941, when it opened with just three tables. Over the years, the restaurant has expanded to seat more than 500 at the same address but stretching the entire city block. The American Dream mural is as big of a draw as the food, but definitely don't forget the food.

Order the plate of two tacos with the orange-marinated pork and it comes with all the fixin's: guac, pico de gallo, and traditional pinto beans. Best of all, the restaurant serves them up 24 hours a day, so you can get your taco fix whenever you need.

Mariscos German's version is the quintessential San Diego fried fish taco: generous in size and filled with grated cabbage and fresh, battered pieces of fish fried to golden brown perfection, topped with a creamy sauce. If you're really hungry, order the Baha Trio — one fried fish taco, one marlin taco, and one shrimp taco — and wash it all down with a cheap can of beer or some coconut juice sipped right out of the coconut.

Santa Fe loves the green chiles from Hatch, down in the southern part of New Mexico, and their nearly supernatural ability to pair perfectly with just about any type of food you can think of. At The Shed, in business since 1953, the chiles are grown especially for the restaurant and brought in fresh daily, then processed on-site. One of the best applications of this spicy green sauce that you'll find in the city is on the restaurant's taco plate: two fresh blue corn tortillas with baked chicken topped with green chile, Cheddar cheese, onion, lettuce, and tomato. The chicken is perfectly cooked, but the chile is the real star of the show (as is the stellar posole that comes with it).

When it comes to leaders of a culinary genre, there are few restaurants in America with greater gravitas for their respective focus than San Francisco's La Taqueria has for tacos. That gives it, and its tacos (carnitas among them, quite arguably the best), quite a heavy reputation to live up to. La Taqueria, just one of the Mission's many casual Mexican joints, does Mexican the way it should be done: fresh. As if the amazing rice-free burritos weren't enough (you'd never notice its absence), there are the tacos. To prepare the carnitas, chef/owner Miguel Jara slow-cooks chunks of pork shoulder in cauldrons of bubbling lard until tender, then roasts it until it's crispy. When it's tucked into a double layer of corn tortillas and topped with your choice of pinto beans, onions, pico de gallo, cheese, crema, or guacamole (or none of the above), there's no better taco in America.