The Mexican handheld runs on two breads and a sauce. On the corn side is the tortilla, folded once around a filling and eaten in a few bites at a stand; on the wheat side is the bolillo and the telera, split and packed into the torta that is the country's true sandwich. Between them sits the salsa, which is not a condiment here but the thing that finishes the build and sets its heat.
The catalog of 400 is really a map of that division. The torta family alone forks into the drowned Guadalajara version, the guajillo-dipped pambazo, Puebla's sesame cemita, the tamale-stuffed guajolota, and the open-faced mollete. The taco forks further still: the spit-roasted pastor, the coastal mariscos, the cheese-crisped quesabirria, the fried dorado, the Tex-Mex hard shell, the Texas breakfast taco, and the long street tradition of braised and grilled meats underneath them all. Around the edges sit the burrito and its fried chimichanga, the griddled quesadilla, the masa antojitos that are sandwiches by function if not by shape, and the bacon-wrapped Sonoran dog.
The categories below capture how the V5 catalog actually sorts. The largest by far is the street taco, the open vehicle for every braise and grill in the country, with the torta close behind as the wheat-bread answer to it. The rest are the regional and modern forks of those two ideas. Below the anchors, the full filterable catalog lets you browse every entry by name or category.
Browse by family
La Torta Ahogada
Guadalajara's drowned torta: carnitas on a hard birote roll, flooded with chile de arbol salsa and eaten at the edge of collapse. · 3 sandwiches
El Pambazo
The guajillo-dipped torta: a white roll soaked in red chile sauce and griddled, classically filled with chorizo and potato. · 4 sandwiches
La Cemita Poblana
Puebla's sandwich on a sesame egg roll: milanesa or pork, stringy quesillo, avocado, chipotle, and the pungent herb papalo. · 8 sandwiches
La Guajolota
Mexico City's tamale in a bolillo: the carb-on-carb breakfast where a whole tamale is the filling of a split roll. · 6 sandwiches
El Mollete
The open-faced bolillo: a split roll spread with refried beans and melted cheese, broiled, eaten for breakfast. · 5 sandwiches
La Torta
Mexico's sandwich proper: telera or bolillo layered with beans, crema, avocado, jalapeno and a protein, from milanesa to pierna to jamon. · 59 sandwiches
La Chimichanga
The fried burrito: a filled flour tortilla deep-fried to a blistered crisp shell, then topped with cheese, crema and salsa. · 4 sandwiches
El Burrito
The flour-tortilla wrap, from spare Northern Mexican machaca to the rice-and-beans Mission build to the smothered diner version. · 50 sandwiches
La Quesadilla
The folded tortilla with melted cheese, from a plain griddled fold to the al pastor gringa and the ham-and-cheese sincronizada. · 30 sandwiches
El Hot Dog Sonorense
The bacon-wrapped Sonoran dog: a frankfurter wrapped in bacon, in a split-top bun, loaded with beans, grilled onions and salsas. · 17 sandwiches
La Fajita
Grilled marinated skirt steak with peppers and onions in a flour tortilla, the Tex-Mex build assembled at the table. · 4 sandwiches
El Taco de Desayuno
The breakfast taco: eggs with bacon, chorizo, potato or beans in a soft tortilla, the morning staple of Texas and Northern Mexico. · 13 sandwiches
El Taco al Pastor
Spit-roasted adobo pork shaved off the trompo onto small tortillas, finished with pineapple, onion and cilantro. · 4 sandwiches
Tacos de Mariscos
The coastal taco: Baja's battered fish, garlic and deviled shrimp, ceviche, octopus and the cheese-crisped Gobernador. · 22 sandwiches
Quesabirria & the Cheese-Crusted Taco
The griddle-crisped cheese taco: birria dipped in its consome and fried with quesillo, plus the costra, vampiro, volcan and mulita. · 11 sandwiches
El Taco Dorado
The fried rolled taco: a filled tortilla rolled tight and fried golden, from the stout taco dorado to the slim flauta and taquito. · 6 sandwiches
El Taco Tex-Mex
The American hard shell and the fast-food canon: the U-shaped crunchy taco, the crunchwrap, the Mexican pizza and their relatives. · 23 sandwiches
El Taco de Autor y Fusión
The fusion and chef's taco: Korean BBQ and kimchi, Nashville hot chicken, wagyu and brisket, and the plant-based builds. · 11 sandwiches
El Taco Callejero
The street taco proper: a small double tortilla around any braise or grill, from suadero and carnitas to lengua, tripas and guisados. · 78 sandwiches
Los Antojitos de Masa
The masa snacks that are sandwiches by function: the sope, huarache, tlayuda, gordita, tostada and their pinched-edge cousins. · 23 sandwiches
La Despensa: Panes, Quesos y Salsas
The Mexican pantry behind every build: the bolillo, telera and birote breads, the melting and crumbling cheeses, the salsas and beans. · 19 sandwiches