Wrap Sandwich
Any sandwich filling rolled in a flour tortilla or lavash; 1990s health-food trend that became permanent American sandwich format.
Tacos, Burritos & American Wraps
Venezuelan Arepa
A corn-flour cake split and packed warm with shredded chicken and avocado, black beans and queso, or shredded beef and cheese; the everyday food of a US Venezuelan diaspora.
Torta (Tex-Mex)
A bolillo split and griddled, sealed with refried beans, packed with grilled fajita meat, avocado, and cool toppings. The Mexican torta as it reads on the Texas border.
Torta de Milanesa
The first thing a good one does is crack: a thin breaded cutlet shut into a soft roll with beans and avocado, the whole build arranged so that shatter survives the wet load to the bite.
Super Burrito
"Super" is an instruction about a moisture budget, not a flavour: guacamole, sour cream, and cheese folded into a sealed San Francisco Mission-style tube, a containment problem.
South Dakota Indian Taco
The Lakota fry-bread Indian taco of the Northern Plains: USDA commodity pintos, ground beef, salsa over a hot round. South Dakota made fry bread its state bread in 2005.
Smash Burger Taco
A ball of beef smashed straight onto a flour tortilla on a screaming griddle, so the dough fries in the fat and welds to the patty, then folded taco-style with cheese, onion, pickle, and pink sauce.
Salvadoran Pupusa
A ball of corn masa opened, stuffed with cheese, beans, or seasoned pork, then sealed and griddled into one round. El Salvador's national dish, and a fixture of Los Angeles, Washington, and Houston.
Quesabirria
Birria meat with melted cheese in a pressed tortilla, served with consommé dip; birria taco's cheesier cousin, equally viral.
Puffy Taco
The San Antonio puffy taco: a disk of fresh masa deep-fried raw so it balloons into a light, hollow-walled shell, folded hot and filled with picadillo. The crackle is its signature.
Navajo Taco
Hot puffed fry bread under seasoned beef or mutton, pinto beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and green chile. A reservation and fair food whose carrier dates to an 1864 forced removal.
Mission Burrito
A twelve-inch flour tortilla holds rice, beans, meat, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole, sealed in foil. The rice is the engineering that makes the rest of the Mission burrito possible.
Middle Eastern Shawarma Wrap
Spit-shaved lamb or chicken rolled into warmed markook or pita with tahini or toum matched to the protein, pickled turnip, and a seam-pressed close. The Levantine working-counter standard.
Jianbing
A thin mung-bean crepe poured and egg-bonded on a hot griddle, sweet bean sauce and a fried cracker folded in before the whole thing is handed over still steaming.
Gyro (American)
Lamb-beef mixture cooked on a vertical rotisserie, sliced and served in pita with tomato, onion, and tzatziki; Greek-American creation, d...
Green Chile Breakfast Burrito
Eggs, potatoes, cheese, and green chile in a flour tortilla.
Fry Bread Sandwich
Fry bread used as sandwich bread with various fillings.
Fish Taco
Beer-battered fish in a corn or flour tortilla with cabbage slaw; Baja California/San Diego.
Döner Kebab (American)
Shaved beef and lamb off the spit, heaped loose into flatbread under a pale garlic white sauce and a thin red hot sauce. The Turkish-German spit sandwich, rebuilt big for an American cart window.
Colombian Arepa de Huevo
Deep-fried corn arepa with a whole egg cooked inside; Colombian street food found in Colombian-American enclaves.
Chimichanga
A chimichanga is a burrito sealed shut and dropped in oil until the wrapper turns to a rigid blistered shell, then crowned with chile and crema.
Carne Asada Fries Torta
Carne asada fries in a torta roll; San Diego hybrid.
California Fish Taco
San Diego-style fish taco with white sauce.
California Burrito
Carne asada, cheese, guacamole, and French fries in a flour tortilla; San Diego creation.