New York's Best Tacos: The Full Guide!
Reviews of Cuerno, Dolores, the revamped Esse Taco, Wayne & Sons, Chato, Cariñito, and others in this massive guide!
This is the summer of tacos in New York.
Now I know what you’re thinking. This is also the summer of burgers, pizza, ice cream, and whatever else brings back fond memories of nights at your auntie’s lake house in Michigan.
But here’s the thing….I’m not talking about nostalgia. Tacos really are booming in the Big Apple right now.
Over the past four months, a modern crop of ambitious restaurants have been upping the city’s taco game in a big way. These venues press their tortillas in house — or get them from local purveyors. And they fill those tortillas lightly, instead of packing them like sandwiches. These spots often take their inspiration from CDMX, or on occasion, they’re actual transplants from that city or elsewhere in Mexico.
I’m thinking of newer places like Santo Taco, Dolores, Cuerno, Cariñito, and the revamped Esse Taco. I’m also thinking of slightly older joints like Carnitas Ramirez, a veritable porcine emporium, and Taqueria Ramirez, a venue so dedicated to perfect tacos that they don’t even allow takeout. You eat your blowtorched tripe the second a chef hands it to you, as if it’s a piece of nigiri sushi.
To be sure: There’s no one right way to eat or make a taco. One of my favorite new spots is a tiny Tex-Mex joint doing hard shell tacos. And another newcomer puts Thai larb salads in its corn tortillas. If anything, it’s all a sign that our taco scene is diversifying and improving in so many amazing ways. Developers know this. Chefs know this. And diners who are showing up in droves know this.
So let’s get to it, yeah?
New York’s Best Taco Spots: The New Wave
The Lo Times reviews 31 or so tacos from nearly twenty different restaurants
Review: Cuerno, one of NYC’s best new places for steak tacos!
Review: The new $13 wagyu tacos at Esse by Enrique Olvera
Why you should be eating crunchy tacos at Wayne & Sons
The white hot Dolores and New York’s other top veggie tacos
Where to find the city’s best flour tortillas…
