Taco Mucho’s owner, chef Ron Alemán, used to dream of a career in the arts long before he decided to swap his business degree from Purdue University for a chef’s apron at the age of 30. Taco Mucho started as a stall in Fulton Galley in the West Loop. When the food hall shut down, Alemán got creative and started whipping up his famous tacos in his kitchen. Taco Mucho has since relocated to suburban Oak Park.  And while the taquería´s juicy, tender, and flavorful asada made with none other than ribeye steals the show, and his rajas con queso (poblano peppers with cheese) tacos have received quite a bit of attention, and the chorizo verde taco (a fragrant delicacy hailing from the state of Toluca), is gaining traction. Alemán makes the sausage in-house with various herbs and spices, bringing in a welcomed addition to Chicago’s taco repertoire.

While tacos are usually best enjoyed directly from the hands of a taquero, tacos de canasta (basket tacos) were born to travel. Getting their name from being bundled together and tightly packed into baskets, if you are in Mexico City, chances are you will run into one. In Chicago, tacos de canasta are less ubiquitous. 

The family behind Rossy might have Guerrero in their name, rest assured that their tacos de canasta scream central Mexico. Typically stuffed with a few staples, including potatoes, chicharrón, adobo (a dish made with beef and guajillo chilis), and beans, Rossy delivers on the traditional filling assortment offering mole instead of adobo. Another detour from the Mexico City taco de canasta experience is that Rossy serves its patrons only during weekends, making the experience a much more leisurely one for most. Rossy’s menu includes other popular items such as picaditas (small masa patties with different toppings) and quesadillas. New menu items, such as pozole and the difficult-to-find huauzontles (an Easter-time vegetable similar to broccoli which is typically egg-battered and cooked in a tomato broth), are also seasonally available.

Fans of tacos al pastor will jump for joy from seeing Lucido’s slightly crispy, adobo-laden, thinly sliced pieces of meat atop a warm tortilla. With the quality of their star menu item, it is no wonder that the eatery, which started as a weekend home-based kitchen, has secured a brick-and-mortar location. Order your al pastor “con todo” which means, with all the garnishes. Make sure you ask for pineapple for that acid, sweet touch. Salsas add a different dimension to the flavors, but you can start by only adding a hint of lime.  Eat. Savor. Repeat.

Way before the birria boom driven by social media hit our feeds, the Zaragoza family had already been serving the festive Jalisco stew for nearly 15 years. And while there are many ways to enjoy birria, the Zaragozas stick to a 100-year-old heirloom recipe from the Los Altos de Jalisco region. The family, recently featured on Netflix’s Taco Chronicles, takes great pride in their process and ingredients, which include raising their goats. The meat is seasoned and cooked for several hours and served with a tomato consommé, red mole, handmade tortillas, and a fleet of garnishes (onions, cilantro, chilis, and lime). Follow the juicy and tender birria with a goat head taco. It is crispy, lightly brushed with an ancho-based mole, and finished on a comal. The molcajete sauce made with fire-roasted tomatoes and chilis is not to be missed.

There is more than tacos at this West Lawn taquería-style eatery, which after closing down due to an electrical fire in 2019, came back with a relaxed, bright, modern atmosphere, a patio, and a revamped food and beverage menu including a few exciting taco options. From cecina, a taco made with meat that has been salted and dried, to the Yucatecan, achiote-laden cochinita pibil. And while the suadero, a thin cut of meat very popular in Mexico City, is featured as the house specialty, the tacos dorados (also called the taco of gold), a Sinaloan delicacy made with either tinga (chicken in a chipotle sauce) or potato, are worth a try. Solazo owners also have a restaurant in the West Loop, La Josie.

When you first arrive at this Little Village restaurant, you might question if you’re in the right place — after all, its name suggests a focus on Asian cuisine. But you’re in the right place as customers will see after catching a glimpse of the prominently displayed trompo. Tacos al pastor are the highlight of the restaurant’s minimal Mexican offerings.  Unlike other executions of the dish that are soggy or cubed, at Asian Cuisine Express, al pastor tacos are thinly sliced. The charred-yet-juicy pieces of meat are served in small tortillas to maximize the bite-to-flavor ratio and closely represent what you would expect the dish to be. And don’t forget to order the pastor fried rice. This is a Chinese restaurant whose owners let the cooks have some fun. And the results are worth it.

At the newly open Don Bucio’s, co-owners Rodolfo Cuadros and Gustavo Ocampo surprise patrons with a short and thoughtful taco menu featuring many well-known versions of the dish, including asada, barbacoa, and al pastor. What you won’t find at this modern-retro style taquería is animal protein. But it is not like you will miss it, though. With Ocampo’s help, Cuadros, who dabbled in veganism during the pandemic and went on to launch a vegan kitchen with such success that it became a restaurant (Bloom Plant Based Kitchen), painstakingly considers textures and flavors in the execution of every dish. Take the tacos al pastor, which are incredibly accurately flavored.

The plant protein, including beans and other ingredients, is pressed and assembled in a trompo through an elaborate process. The resulting dish delivers the slightly charred thin slices al pastor fans crave. All tacos are served on handmade tortillas. Cuadros, who has worked in kitchens since he was 13, was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2022.  

From behind the counter of this half-Mexican grocery store and half-taco wonderland, taquero César “El Molusco” Castillo consistently delivers some of the best tacos in town. His technique uses a flat, thin, circular hot surface called comal, just like the ones you will find on the streets of Mexico City. Start with the juicy and flavorful suadero, a Defeño darling featuring a thin cut of meat that is finely chopped with cilantro and onion. Try the steamed tacos de canasta with pressed chicharrón, potatoes or beans before diving into the more adventurous items like cabeza (beef head), crispy tripe, and sesos (brain) which are go-tos for regulars of this Little Village favorite.  Recently featured among a few others on this list in the Netflix series Taco Chronicles, according to the show, owner Angelina Hernández prides herself on serving a taco “that tastes like Mexico.”

More than a taqueria, La Casa de Samuel is an established destination for authentic regional Mexican plates.  Founded in 1989 by celebrated chef Samuel Linares (who died from COVID in 2020), the Little Village restaurant features an impressive range of options that seamlessly bridge the well-known with the exotic, which this eatery reminds us, can be relative. Find iguana, rattlesnake, venison, frog legs, cornish hen, and even bull testicles along with their spectacular freshly-made tortillas.

Paying homage to the ingenuity and wit of Mexico City’s slang, “Chingón” is a term used to describe something of exceptional quality. The term is often used to qualify tacos (tacos chingones), so it is not surprising that tacos al pastor, a Mexico City favorite, have a leading role at this taqueria. The Poilevey family of Le Bouchon, the beloved French bistro, turned to some their most trusted cooks.  The results have been stunning with a short menu of street tacos covering a range from traditional dishes like al pastor and the Yucatecan cochinita pibil (with achiote and habanero), to lesser-known options like a blood sausage taco with a piquillo-pepper jam, salsa macha, pickled cumquats, and fresh herbs. There’s also an artichoke taco with Serrano dill yogurt, cucumber, preserved lemons, and a tomato confit.

When it comes to tortilla pairings, pork is an absolute game-changer. And there’s no better example of this delicious duo than the mouth-watering dish known as carnitas.  With a third-generation Michoacano recipe, the epicenter of carnitas know-how, Carnitas Uruapan must be doing something right, as patrons keep coming back to order either one taco, a whole pound (or many), along with the traditional cactus salad, pickled chilis, chicharrón, or brain quesadillas. And the lines were already long way before the story of this 45-year-old Chicago staple was featured in the Netflix show Taco Chronicles. Second-generation owner Marcos Carbajal speaks with enthusiasm about the Michoacano-style tamales, known as corundas available at the eatery. The tamales which are made with two different masa types and stuffed with either queso fresco or Swiss chard can replace a tortilla as a vehicle for the carnitas. Corundas are served with chile de árbol sauce, sour cream, and cotija cheese. Carnitas Uruapan has a second location in Gage Park.

Located inside La Internacional supermarket, this South Side taqueria is such a hit that it spawned several brick-and-mortar restaurants. Follow the scents to the back of the store, grab a seat at the counter, and get ready for high-quality carne asada and other specialties like tongue with chicharrón.

For more than a quarter century at Maxwell Street Market, Rubi’s has been the go-to spot for mouth-watering asada tacos and quesadillas served on freshly made tortillas. Now they have their own restaurant in Pilsen. Don’t overlook their complex mole and chicharrón en salsa verde, a delicious dish prepared with tomatillo sauce and pork rinds. These two guisados are particularly special at Rubi’s, easily rivaling their counterparts in Mexico. Get ready to wait in line because making fresh tortillas to order takes time (choose from yellow or blue corn), but Gilberto Ramirez, the charismatic patriarch and star of Netflix’s Taco Chronicles, keeps the energy high while you wait with his singing, dancing, and signature catchphrase, “Yes, yes, yes!”

Like many other Chicago taco favorites, Don Pez started as a mobile food vendor mainly serving during festivals. Unable to work during the pandemic, owner and cook Julián Almanza decided to open his Lincoln Park restaurant in August 2020. But unlike many taqueros, Almanza was born in Montana. Born to a Mexican family, he fell in love with the flavors of the Pacific Northwest during a long stint in California.  The menu he has brought to Chicago highlights both his heritage, his upbringing, and his desire to make others happy through food. His menu features a variety of taco options, of which the fish ones take the center stage. Their preparation balances the flavors and the batter-to-protein ratio.  Served with house-made tartar sauce, sweet cabbage, and pickled habanero, fish tacos are “a little sweet, a little spicy and a lot of tasty.” Don Pez also serves brunch highlighting the northwestern huckleberry in a few of its drinks and dishes.