Tacos de Requesón
Mild ricotta-like requesón given its spine by epazote, the anise-and-tar herb cooks reach for when something bland needs a backbone. Soft or fried crisp, green salsa over.
El Taco Callejero
Tacos de Papa
Tacos de papa fill a corn tortilla with seasoned mashed potato, soft or fried golden as a dorado: cheap, filling, vegetarian by default, a fixture of Lenten Fridays.
Taco
A tortilla folded around a filling, eaten in the hand: the irreducible Mexican handheld, doubled for a reason and finished by a grammar stricter than it looks.
Taco Sudado
A small corn tortilla dipped in chile-tinted oil, folded around a stew, packed into a cloth-lined basket and steamed against its neighbours: the Mexico City dawn taco the canastero brings by bicycle.
Taco Placero
The market-floor taco of Mexico's covered municipal halls: a warm corn tortilla folded around the morning guisado, served standing between errands, named for the plaza it is sold on.
Taco de Verdolagas
The taco de verdolagas folds a foraged green into corn: purslane, a wild lemony succulent, wilted in tomatillo salsa verde, often with pork, dressed with onion, cilantro, and lime.
Taco de Tripas
The taco de tripas is settled at the disco, where cleaned beef small intestine is browned until it crackles. Con dorar or sin dorar is the real argument, and the corn tortilla soaks the rendered fat.
Taco de Tripa de Leche
Tripa de leche is named for the milk: the small intestine of a calf still nursing, mild and tender, the cut that becomes machitos. A gentler offal taco whose name carries its whole story.
Taco de Tinga de Pollo
A taquero pulls a warm corn tortilla off the heat, folds it once around chicken pulled into threads in chipotle and tomato, dresses it with onion and crema, and hands it over to eat standing.
Taco de Suadero
Beef brisket taco; suadero is the cut between belly and leg, slow-cooked in lard until tender, slightly crispy edges. Classic CDMX street...
Taco de Sesos
Beef brain taco; creamy, delicate. Traditional but less common now.
Taco de Salbutes
Salbut-style taco; puffed fried tortilla (no bean pocket, unlike panucho) topped with meat.
Taco de Ropa Vieja
Beef boiled until the grain unravels, then fried with tomato and onion until the threads fray like worn cloth: Mexico's old-clothes guisado, spooned onto warm tortillas at fondas and market stalls.
Taco de Relleno Negro
Black stuffing taco; turkey in burnt chile sauce (chilmole), very dark, complex flavor.
Taco de Rajas con Crema
Roasted poblano ribbons in cultured cream, the palest pot on the guisado counter, ladled over red rice on doubled tortillas: the standing meatless taco of central Mexico's stew stands and fondas.
Taco de Quelites
Wild greens taco; various foraged greens (quelites, quintonil, verdolagas).
Taco de Pollo Desmenuzado
Shredded chicken taco; often in salsa.
Taco de Poc Chuc
Grilled pork taco; thin pork cutlet marinated in sour orange and grilled over flame. Mayan origin.
Taco de Picadillo
Ground beef hash taco; picadillo (ground beef with tomato, potato, sometimes raisins and spices).
Taco de Papadzules
Papadzules: soft corn tortillas dipped in a toasted pumpkin-seed sauce, rolled around chopped hard-boiled egg and topped with a cooked tomato-chile sauce. A Yucatecan plate eaten with a fork.
Taco de Panuchos
The panucho puts the bean inside the tortilla: a corn disc split open at its puff, stuffed with refried black beans, fried crisp, then crowned Yucatán-style with turkey and pink pickled onion.
Taco de Ojo
The soft, gelatinous tissue from a steamed beef eye socket, chopped onto warm corn with onion, cilantro, and lime. The connoisseur's pick from the whole-head cabeza trade.