Quesabirria Taco
Tijuana cheese-and-broth reading of the older Jalisco braised-meat taco; corn round dipped in chile fat, melted Oaxaca, beef shred, broth on the side.
Andrew Lekashman
Qdoba Burrito
Qdoba style; similar to Chipotle, queso available.
Puffy Taco
San Antonio specialty; masa dough fried until it puffs up, filled with picadillo or other fillings. Distinct from hard shell—lighter, air...
Pollo Asado Burrito
The grilled-chicken burrito: marinated thighs charred fast on mesquite or hot iron, chopped not shredded, rolled into a large flour tortilla with rice, beans, salsa, and cheese.
Piratas
A pirata is the Monterrey reading of beef and cheese in a Northern flour tortilla: charred arrachera chopped and folded with melted asadero or Chihuahua, pressed on a parrilla until the seam binds.
Picada
A Veracruz picada is a thick corn-masa round with a thumb-pinched rim that pens in a loose salsa, finished with queso fresco and onion, eaten hot at a Gulf-coast breakfast stand.
Phoenix Sonoran Hot Dog
A bacon-wrapped Hermosillo street dog carried up the border corridor into Phoenix's west-side carts, where by 2009 it outnumbered even Tucson's stands and picked up avocado and mushroom on top.
Pelona
Drop a whole roll in hot lard, brown it, then shake it out hard, and you have a pelona, Puebla's "bald" torta. The discipline is the drain, not the fry that precedes it.
Pellizcada
The pellizcada: a thick griddled corn-masa round, its rim pinched up into a low wall, topped open-faced with lard, salsa, crumbled queso, and onion. The pinch, from pellizcar, holds the load.
Pan de Muerto
The round, orange-scented sweet bread of Día de Muertos: a tender egg-and-butter crumb crossed with strips shaped like bones, sugar-dusted, set on the altar and torn with coffee.
Pambazo
You can spot a pambazo across a market by colour alone: the roll is dipped whole in guajillo chile and griddled, so the chile lives in the crust, not spooned on after.
Pambazo de Milanesa
Milanesa filling in guajillo-dipped bread.
Pambazo de Chorizo con Papa
The chorizo-and-potato pambazo is built backwards: the filling is cooked deliberately dry because the roll is already soaked in guajillo chile and griddled, and wet on wet is how you ruin it.
Pambazo Bread
White roll dipped in guajillo sauce and griddled; for pambazos.
New Mexico Burrito
New Mexico style; heavily featuring Hatch green chiles or red chile sauce, often smothered.
Nashville Hot Chicken Taco
Nashville hot chicken, lacquered cayenne-red straight from the fryer, folded into a warm tortilla with cooling slaw and crema. Party Fowl puts it on a Nashville menu; the heat ladder tops out.
Nachos (Loaded)
A flat plate of fried totopos under melted cheese and piled toppings, eaten chip by chip while they still crack. Improvised in Piedras Negras in 1943 by Ignacio 'Nacho' Anaya.
Nacho Cheese Chalupa
Fried flatbread shell with nacho cheese, various fillings.
Mulita
The mulita seals taco meat and melted cheese flat between two corn tortillas, the cheese working as mortar. Named for a small mule, it is a folk form with no inventor and a long street life.
Mollete
The broiled bean-and-cheese mollete spread through Mexico City's mid-century cafeterias and stayed. Bolillo, refried beans, melted cheese, a cold spoon of pico de gallo on top.
Mollete con Pico de Gallo
A mollete is built open: a split bolillo hollowed into a boat, a layer of refried beans, white cheese broiled until it blisters, finished cold and raw with pico de gallo. The capital's morning melt.
Mollete (Breakfast)
Breakfast mollete; open-faced bean and cheese, often with eggs or chorizo.