What do you say to out-of-town friends asking about tacos?

You know how it is. You’ve got friends coming to town so you’d like to take them out for some local flavor. They’ve never been to San Antonio before and they really want to know about one thing: tacos. (which is plural, I know, but whatever) What do you tell them? How do you explain a seemingly simple topic that you know to be much more complicated? What do you say when they ask for crispy tacos? What if they ask for Taco Bell? Or worse – Torchy’s?

Before we go on, I have to explain something. Although I’m going to go into some general tacology, this post is primarily about San Antonio tacos. If you’re reading this from any place other than San Antonio and are already scoffing at the presumptuousness of another San Anto writer making claims about quality tacos, then I’m sorry that you’re limiting yourself to your regional palette. I’ve always maintained that the best tacos you’ll ever have are the ones made to you by whomever it is that makes your most preferred tacos. My favorite tacos are the papa con huevo on tortilla de harina that I woke up to on mornings in McAllen, made by mother’s love. Yours might be from your tía in Corpus Christi or your abuelita in Laredo – that’s fine. Being closer to the border doesn’t make your taco better because the border crossed all of us. Our cuisine was indigenous and Spanish and Mexican before it was blended and Texan and American.

Some have claimed that a city north of San Antonio has better breakfast tacos owing that expertise to articles in the New York Times, but remember, that’s the same publication that suggested adding peas to guacamole. I don’t want to get into that debate much except to say this: the difference between the two locations and their tacos is that the northern neighbor is in favor of innovating and fusing flavors as part of a nouveau taco movement, whereas San Antonio prefers a more traditional approach.

So that said, it’s important to know what we’re talking about. What is a taco? Simply stated, a taco is a folded tortilla with a filling. Some people call such items “burros” or “burritos,” but that just tells you that the person making such a claim is from El Paso, and that’s ok. For them. You should know better. Burritos are wrapped like a package you might want to carry on the back of a load-bearing animal of some sort. Tacos are love letters carried from your hands to your soul.

Ancient Mesoamerican people bioengineered a grass about 9000 years ago and eventually figured out a process by which to make the seeds from that plant edible. It’s called nixtamalization and it’s what makes tortillas possible. The Mesoamericans ate corn tortillas for centuries until the colonizers arrived in the 15^th Century. But the Spaniards tried to avoid eating what the natives ate because they feared turning shorter and acquiring a darker complexion, i.e., turning into an indio, so they took corn out of the equation and developed what we see today as flour tortillas. One might say that the flour tortilla is a truly mestizo product, but that’s for another discussion.

Today, we use both tortillas. Some prefer corn over flour because of a sense of authenticity, or because they believe that they’re healthier, or because of the taste. Others prefer flour over corn because they’re usually bigger (though I’ve eaten corn tortillas as big as meal plate in parts of Mexico), or because personal health be damned, or because of the taste. My preference is for whichever goes best with the filling.

You’ll encounter tacos at all hours of the day here in San Antonio. Typically, breakfast tacos are on flour tortillas and are filled with typical breakfast fare: potatoes, eggs, bacon, and combinations thereof. There is nothing wrong with adding cheese to your taco; it’ll likely be shredded cheddar. Most people’s go-to is a simple bean and cheese – know that the beans are refried and the cheese is yellow. For a complete breakdown on breakfast tacos, refer to this post.

My picks for some of the best breakfast taco spots in town is found here.

Lunch and dinner tacos can come alone or with sides. Note that if the menu has “plate,” after the word taco, there will be rice and beans coming along for the ride. Either tortilla is fair game for these meals and you’ll likely see fajitas (beef or chicken), ground beef, or shredded chicken as fillings, among other options.

Late night tacos are what are sometimes referred to as street tacos. You’ll find these at a restaurant or a food truck, billed as “taquitos,” or “mini-tacos.” An order of these is four or five tacos on small corn tortillas and filled with asada (flat steak, chopped), pollo (shredded chicken), carnitas (seasoned pork), or tripas (beef intestines – delicious! Don’t knock it, till you try it), among other possibilities.

As for where the best tacos in San Antonio might be, well, that’s just an unanswerable question. I’ve listed the following spots as places you can go to, but it’s not a definitive list and I refuse to rank them because that’s just unfair. Again, these are just some of the places your out-of-town guests should try, but the list is not exhaustive by any means.

Lunch/Dinner

Ray's Drive-In (822 SW 19th) They invented and hold the patent (yes, patent) for the puffy taco. It's a fried corn tortilla that gets all puffed up to get you all filled up.

Taco Haven (1032 S. Presa) A lot of the cool kids go here, and by cool kids I mean locals, especially artists and politicos. It's been around since 1969 and they have some dream flour tortillas.

Taqueria Datapoint (4063 Medical Dr.) Just great tacos, all day. Go for breakfast, have a lunch special, maybe eat dinner at home, go out with friends and show up after the bar closes (Friday or Saturday night) and pick off each other's plates.

Late Night

Taco Palenque (1002 NE Interstate Loop 410)  In case you're like, pero en Laredo, we have real tacos... OK fine, here's the Laredo place so you can feel at home. Or if you're not from Laredo, you can see some of the subtle differences between SA and the border town. Somebody bring me a pirata!

Tacos El Regio (2726 N. St. Mary's) No website. No table. No problem. This is a taco truck on the St. Mary's Strip where you can find excellent tacos and only a curb to sit on. Pro tip: order your tacos (or quesadillas), but ask for your charro beans before your meal (not with it), so you can eat the beans while you wait. (They don't open until after 11pm.)

Taquitos West Ave (2818 West Ave.) You will be amazed. Stand in line, order at the counter (there's no menu, just a piece of paper on the wall with the handwritten list of ingredients) and immediately receive your tacos. You can go back and ask for more if you want. Pay for the number tacos you ate on your way out. 

We take our tacos seriously here, but let's not get into a food fight about it. If you have something to get off your chest, let's get together over a plate. It's important that WE TACO BOUT IT.

p.s. I'm sure wondering as to my credibility in these matters, which is why I offer the following pics as credentials. Peace.

We have to go

My daughter doesn't want to go to the March
I told her we had to

She had the audacity to ask why
Why do we have to go?

The father in me wanted to roar
against the obstinate teenager in my midst
and answer with the easiest retort

Because I said so

But I remembered
how that’s never a very convincing answer

So I wrote this for her:

We have to go
to remember the struggle that got us here
the marches before this one
the ones that started in peace
and ended with water cannons and rubber bullets

We have to go
to remember that the struggle is still not over
that clean water shouldn't be too much to ask for
that health care shouldn't be a political issue
that Black Lives Matter

We have to go
because the revolution is not a hashtag
or a blogpost
and it was never televised

We have to go
because we stand on the shoulders of Cesar Chavez
While farm workers carry the burden of our healthy living
on their backs

We have to go
for the Syrian Refugees un-welcomed by our governor
for the DACA Dreamers un-welcomed by the right wing
for all the women and children who escaped tyranny,
only to be welcomed into private prisons

We have to go
because the man that called your grandfather a rapist and drug dealer,
hosted Saturday Night Live
on his way to becoming a Wednesday Morning Nightmare

We have to go
because you can't escape the darkness of your skin
given to you by generations of those that toiled under terrible suns

We have to go
to remind ourselves that we can
because there are still places on earth that haven't tasted freedom

We have to go
while we still can

We have to go
por los 43 de Ayotzinapa

We have to go
Porque si se puede

We have to go
because we need more kids with funny names in the White House

We have to go
because Martin said so





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

So, where can I find the best tacos? (Breakfast Edition)

It's the question I'm most asked when people find out I have a taco blog or that I appeared in a taco book. The thing is, it's not a very simple question to answer. Further, the person asking sometimes just wants to argue with me and defend their favorite place. Luckily, I'm a patient individual and really, there's plenty of room for several great taco spots in this town, and in your belly.

Why so complicated, you might ask.  Well, there are different reasons and seasons why we taco. There's breakfast, lunch, dinner, late-night. There's tacos for bringing to work, tacos for catering a theme party, and tacos just because. There are tacos with meat, without meat, on flour, on corn, and everything in between. When you ask me what the best taco is, I kind of feel like this girl:

Today, we're going to taco bout breakfast tacos.

I think a ranking system is overly simplistic and unfair. So I'm going to offer you a few places where you can get excellent breakfast tacos.  By no means is this an exhaustive list and I'm sure there will be some contention with it, but let's face it, we have different palettes.

One more thing: tacos are more than just a filling inside of a folded tortilla. Tacos are about sharing an experience with your community - be it family, your best friends, or the waitress that just brought you two bean and cheese on flour and a cup of coffee.

Really, breakfast is broken up in two categories: weekday and weekend.  Weekdays are for picking up something quick on your way to work. That means that your favorite is likely to be based on being near your home or near your office, Weekends are for calling the family together to have a much more leisured experience.


For weekdays, I have at least two of these spots on my favorites list. I ask Siri to call one as I enter my vehicle so that my tacos are ready when I walk in their door.

Taqueria Datapoint 
4063 Medical Dr. (210-615-3644) and 1702 W. Gramercy Pl.(210-733-1323)

You'll find soft tortillas and perfect fillings on all the standards (bean/cheese, chorizo/egg, potato/egg, etc.) Though it faces Gramercy, that location is really on Fredericksburg and offers a drive-thru. The Medical Dr. location can get quite busy, so if you want to pick them up, it's best to call in. Bonus: a 3-taco special (no mix) for $3.75. (The fact that I know it's $4.06 w/tax should tell you how often I frequent this place.)

Old Danny's Cocina
250 W. Old Hwy 90 (210-598-5673)

A little spot on the Westside with a drive-up window. They offer a two-taco/one drink special that's usually cheaper than a gallon of gas and much more fulfilling. Try the papa ranchera - you won't regret it.

Fina's Kitchen
914 W. Hildebrand (210-735-2524)
You can't miss the orange building and you shouldn't because Fina's has dollar tacos. That's right, dollar tacos! It's a small list of standard fare, but nevertheless you'll find good quality at an excellent price.


Weekend tacos are more of a Tejano brunch experience. Weekdays I might be more into bean/cheese, chorizo/egg, potato/egg, or my favorite - chorizo/bean, but weekends are all about machacado, chicharron, and of course, barbacoa (and Big Red).

La Bandera Molino
2619 N. Zarzamora (210-434-0631)

This place screams San Anto in the best way possible - without doing anything but being itself. There are Christmas decorations still up from several Christmases past, bumper stickers from failed political campaigns long forgotten, and all the smells of a Westside kitchen. Order a taco at the counter from a visible menu with an array of choices and then sit and absorb the atmosphere.

Los Angeles Tortilleria 
300 N. Zarzamora (210-435-2400)

You can smell fresh corn tortillas from the parking lot so busy that an attendant guides you to your spot.  People come here just for barbacoa, so there's often a line out the door for that.  Avoid the line and grab a seat and you can have the same barbacoa without all the frustration.  Whether you're old school rancho or adventurous hipster, try the barbacoa de borrego, a selection not found at many other places.  And before you leave. grab some pan dulce to take to your abuelita so she'll forgive you for not inviting her to breakfast. Maybe.

Tommy's Restaurant
6702 San Pedro (210-822-6702), 8823 Wurzbach Rd.  (210-558-9777), 1205 Nogalitos (210-223-9841)
Tommy's Cafe
107 S. Flores (210-222-9944) Note: this location is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

If you believe there can't be good tacos on the Northside, I have two questions for you: why'd you move there and why haven't you been to Tommy's? They specialize in the South Texas favorite - barbacoa and Big Red, but don't be afraid to try anything else on their exhaustive taco list. 

Garcia's Mexican Food 
842 Fredericksburg Rd. (210-735-5686)

If you're thinking, man, I'm tired of barbacoa all the time, keep that thought in your inside voice (lest you be slapped upside the head) and come here for a brisket taco wrapped in one of the best flour tortillas you'll ever taste.


Like I said earlier, this is not a ranking. These are places you ought to know in this town if you're on a taco quest or just plain hungry. Have fun trying them out or visiting them again. Then send me some feedback, so we can tacoboutit.  

Fightin' Words from Austin

The Chili Queens deserve an apology, in the least. I might go so far as to say they deserve a blood sacrifice (bovine, porcine, and whatever the chicken one is), but I'm sure they would settle for, and appreciate, a simple, "Perdoname, Doña Cuca," because they have been offended by our presumptuous neighbors to the north.

Matthew Sedacca published an article for Austin Eater whose very title is incendiary - How Austin Became the Home of the Crucial Breakfast Taco. Though it might be true that Austin is home of the phrase "breakfast taco," the article posits an opinion that seems elitist to those of us here in San Antonio and South Texas who firmly believe that taco-migration went, and ought to continue going, South to North, not North to South or (gasp) South by Southwest.

Further, is there any way to really know who invented the phrase? Moreover, does it really matter? What is necessary is to understand that no one can monopolize the term "breakfast taco" any more than Disney can own the rights to Dia de los Muertos.

The article goes on to state that "the breakfast taco’s origins lie in the kitchens of immigrant Mexican families living in Texas." It's statements like these that ought to make us demand changes in the Texas education system, especially with regard to history.  Texas, as part of a larger region that included some current northern Mexican states, was established by Spain. After Mexico's independence, it was of course a part of Mexico.  The Texas we know now was an independent nation in 1836 and an American state in 1845. There's been Mexican food in Texas for nearly three centuries.  

Corn was the original type of tortilla, as it was used by native population of Mexico.  Flour tortillas were a Spanish innovation because they didn't want to reduce themselves to eat an ingredient they considered to be pig-feed.

Tex-Mex cuisine is a product of several influences, most notably the availability of ingredients and the clever improvisation of home-cooks when a particular cheese or pepper or sausage was needed.  The primary innovators, it seems, were the Chili Queens that ruled Alamo Plaza, starting in the mid-1800s.  (See fellow San Antonio Taco Council Representative, Edmund Tijerina's article about the Chili Queens here or an NPR Hidden Kitchen report about these legends, here.)  

To make claims about Austin's breakfast taco scene as if it was the birthplace and chief innovator of the item, ignores an entire region of abuelitas waking up early to make tortillas, mom and pop restaurants that have built robust breakfast crowds, and all of the busy workers that didn't have time to make their own morning meals.  It seems that maybe the new European-American immigrants to the Austin area discovered breakfast tacos in the same way Columbus discovered America - just because you found them, doesn't mean they didn't already exist.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the best breakfast tacos in Texas are the ones you grew up with.  If you started growing up in your 30s, so be it.  

Let's keep peace among the taco community and not make incendiary statements.  Grab a tortilla, a good filling, some salsa, and taco bout it.

That Map

Several have asked our opinion of the "Tacos of Texas Map."  I hesitated at first, but since it was posted on my personal timeline three times in twelve hours, it's become necessary to respond. 

First of all, the map shouldn't be confused with the Tacos of Texas website (tacosoftexas.com) nor the forthcoming book regarding the same subject. Though I'm not the author of the book - Mando Rayo and Marco Torres are writing and photographing it - I was selected as a Taco Ambassador for the book due out in Summer of 2016. 

From the look of the map, it appears that the designer is from the Corpus Christi/Laredo area. (I know, it seems weird to put those cities together, but they are relatively close and were actually part of the same Catholic diocese at one time.) One quick look at Mr. Garcia's Facebook page confirmed a Corpitos heritage. It's human to think that good, authentic, perfect anything comes from wherever we call home. This is why your abuela's carne guisada always tastes the best, while I know you're wrong because it's my abuela's carne guisada that would change your world. (See what I mean.)

Moving west to east: the assessment of the El Paso area isn't too far off, though like the rest of the map is overly simplistic. El Paso does revel in its Mexican-ness, but there's also a New Mexico influence and we can't forget the entire nomenclature issue: burro or taco? 

I really can't argue with the upper-west Texas and Panhandle assessment. It makes me kind of sad, actually to think about those poor, unenriched people. But then, I realized that there are two fellow Taco Council members in the Midland/Odessa area so I know that not all hope is lost. 

While Dallas is home to expensive food, it's not all. I've seen some great pics of tacos I'd love to try from that area and they really do look corn-tortilla authentic. 

I'm not sure there are tacos in Tyler, nor that they mind. 

If I was from Houston, I would be most upset about this map. There are certainly more options than chile relleno. Personally, I had some tacos off a truck, from a well-to-do section of the city and was unexpectedly delighted. More research has to be done. 

I'm not sure about where the expensive little tortillas are located. Is that Austin? Waco? West? (If you're looking for tacos in West, stop. Get yourself an authentic kolache and thank me later.) In any case, if it's the Austin area, then you're dealing with fusion and hipster influences. Yes they're tasty, delicious, innovative, but not my personal style. Also, there's an entire book of breakfast tacos from there, and that has to be noted. 

San Antonio - it's my humble opinion that this area has the legendary breakfast tacos. Also, it's where the puffy taco was invented and perfected, so reducing it all to just barbacoa and Big Red is, well, like saying that Corpus is only important because Selena was from there. 

Laredo needs its own place on the map. It has its own tortilla style, which I'm sure has the biggest Monterrey influence of all places on this map. 

I'm from the RGV and I hear there's great pastor here, but the two best tacos I've had have been fajitas from a political pachanga and anything my mom makes. Also, I've encountered a strong affinity, as much as El Paso, toward the corn tortilla in this area. 

All in all, the map sparks a great debate, but Texas is too complex to reduce to a few words mixed with geography. Further, the map does prove where the best tacos are: closest to home. 

That's something we taco bout all the time.