Not a Taco Salad and Not a Taco Bowl, Taco Rice Is Its Own Delicacy
You won't find this regional Japanese dish with Mexican American roots on many restaurant menus, but it's worth a trip when you do.
José R. Ralat is Texas Monthly's taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. He is the author of American Tacos: A History & Guide. Ralat has written for Eater, Imbibe, Dallas Observer, D Magazine, Vice, Cowboys & Indians magazine, Gravy, and other national and regional online and print media outlets. Ralat is also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and serves on the advisory board of Foodways Texas. In 2022, he won a James Beard award for his Tex-Mexplainer column.
You won't find this regional Japanese dish with Mexican American roots on many restaurant menus, but it's worth a trip when you do.
The story of this Texas Panhandle family is even more proof that every household needs a steady supply of fresh tortillas.
Tequila and tacos are a match made in heaven, but which flavor combinations will truly make your palate sing?
Chas Market and Kitchen, which has been around in some form since 1936, was bought by Jong Kim in 1985. He kept the famous tacos on the menu, but added his own cultural flair.
These days it’s common for craft breweries in Texas to have taco trucks on-site. Here's what you should order for perfect flavor harmony.
After suffering domestic abuse, Silvia Hernandez went on to create a life she loves, and the center of that is her Andrews restaurant, Taqueria Gael.
Taqueria MTZ in Amarillo has a small menu that specializes in beef birria, available in tacos and tortas and on ramen and pizza.
For now, Tacos El Metro’s menu is small, with just a few dishes from the capital city, but the carne asada and lechón show promise.
Bennigan’s owner Paul Mangiamele leans into the chain’s “newstalgia.” And, at least at the Texas outposts, it’s working.
After a recent court ruling in Indiana, the age-old debate over tacos has risen again. But there really is no argument when we have wide-ranging tortas.
Tacos Frontera serves great tacos, from carne asada to nopales, wrapped in paper cones—a growing trend across the country.
It may be because of the processed pork product topping or the mesquite grilling, but these handheld delights are endlessly customizable.
The new, trendy Austin restaurant hopes to fill a hole in the local market when it comes to Tijuana-style tacos.
Restaurants such as Coyota, La Tonina, and Tacos Domingo are leading the charge for greater respect in the Mexican capital for Texas’s favorite cuisine.
Perhaps-too-humble taquero Abel Palacios should take more credit for the ceviche, aguachile, and shrimp tacos he produces at his Horizon City trailer.
Birrieria y Mariscos El General is back in Corpus Christi after temporarily moving to San Antonio, and its tacos, tostadas, and sopes are as fresh as ever.
Restaurants that cook Hidalgo-style barbacoa de borrego often have challenges adhering to health department regulations. But El Grandpa Mexican BBQ, in Georgetown, has made it work.
The Laredo-based chain’s straightforward, satisfying fare stays true to its Mexican roots. I wish many more Texans, and Americans, could enjoy it.
At El Paso Flauta, in Austin, Arturo Reyes recreates—and even surpasses—Sun City's famous dishes, such as the chile relleno burrito and tacos ahogados.
While taqueros remain divided on whether slicing a trompo is an inalienable human art or a fine place to cut corners, customers can get a taste of the action at a taqueria in San Antonio.
The Texas country artist long ago broke through the boundaries of the genre—all the way into my Brooklyn heart.
Arturo Flores and Eduardo Mendoza offer more than 100 labels of Mexican wine—from Valle de Guadalupe, “the Napa of Mexico,” to Zacatecas—at their Oak Cliff shop, Vinito.
The many trendy restaurants of the Harwood District and Harwood Hospitality Group are sure to gain fans, but I set out to find if it's latest Tex-Mex venture is up to snuff.
While the dish might have reached its peak several decades ago, it's going through a resurgence, with restaurants putting the classic on their menus.
A visit to Arizona’s capital shows how the Southwestern state celebrates Texas’s beloved cuisine and border food.
When purchasing a cazo or freshly made tortillas at Flores Meat Market, don’t forget to take a break to sit down and order colitas de pavo, a local specialty.
The mother, father, and son behind Suarez Restaurant have created a comforting and nostalgic vibe in their six-year-old eatery and serve tacos to match, like weenies and eggs and smoky carne asada.
As part of the fast food chain’s TBX program, Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin, the James Beard Award–nominated chef of Best Quality Daughter, will get the chance to put her own cultural touches on the iconic menu item.
Jaime Elizondo and Navin Chatlani had respective restaurants that were suffering, so they decided to close them and open ¡Tacos! Mi Gente, a trailer that specializes in barbacoa and chicharron.
Los Weyes de la Asada offers a bevy of beef tacos, but you should really visit on a Tuesday, when cooked-to-order grilled ribeye gets the spotlight.
Despite its landlocked location, Sazzon Baja-Mex Culinary, in Alpine, serves the cuisine of Baja California, which means smoked marlin quesadillas and shrimp tacos.
El Alebrije Oaxacan Streetfood serves nachos and fries for the crowd at the brewery where it’s parked, but also offers hard-to-find specialties such as chapulines and tacos de mole.
The Mexican sandwich with French-inspired bread holds up when “drowned” in salsa.
John Bates wowed with InterStellar Barbecue, and now Yellow Bell Tacos is his way of showing off his Corpus Christi roots.
A taco media battle has raged since 2016, with the Alamo City constantly on the defensive. Eight years in, I suggest a different tactic.
While I admire the fervor the Episcopal bishop has for Tex-Mex, his insistence that “taco sauce” isn’t a part of it makes me think, “Let it go, dude.”
Specialized taquerias and modernist Mexican restaurants offer more choices than ever before.
With visits to Mexico, New York, and New Mexico, this year might have been taco editor José R. Ralat’s best year of dining in a while, with nineteen dishes to prove it.
It may look as if San Antonio’s Javier Treviño is revolutionizing the traditional shirt, but he’s only making the most of the freedom it’s always represented.
Aside from its many cultural attractions, Aguascalientes is known for dishes like birria de borrego, bolillo con crema, and lechon tacos.
Two-year-old El Charlatan in El Paso was a James Beard semifinalist and one of the best restaurants in the state, according to our taco editor. But that didn’t stop it from falling to the typical foibles of new restaurants.
This Tex-Mex wonderland of a city has some of the best taquerias in the state.
The beginnings of Kingwood Taco Shop in Houston were a matter of divine timing, and, years later, the taqueria’s guisado tacos still taste heavenly.
Don’t take aguachile’s lightness for weakness. The spicy dish packs a punch.
Even Wemby stopped by Tacos al Carbón Cabrón for its carne asada tacos. But the restaurant offers so much more than the typical Alamo City fare.
Or, really, any tattoos relating to the Mexican culinary experience. Now that I’ve gotten inked eleven times in nine months, I’m wondering why this form of self-expression is calling to me.
You can thank an internationally famous soda brand and psychology for the classic red-and-white design of your favorite taco spots.
Tacos Vitali, which has two locations in the Alamo City, is the talk of the town, but it didn’t live up to the hype on my multiple visits.
The border city has its share of troubles, but it also has a fascinating taco history that includes “mariachis” and the original barbecued brisket taco.
Dayatra Myers runs Fish Company Taco in Galveston, where the menu items rotate based on the availability of the fish, which leads to fresh and creative options.