The 22 best tacos in NYC

Olvera’s elegant, high-gear small plates—pristine, pricey and as market-fresh as anything coming out of Thomas Keller’s kitchen—more than fills that gap in New York dining. It steamrolls right over it. Tacos make a solitary appearance on the menu in an atypically generous portion of duck carnitas, cooked to the sinful midpoint of unctuous fat and seared flesh.

Chef-owner Akhtar Nawab felt distinct similarities between the cuisines of Mexico and India, his parents’ native country. At Alta Calidad, he’s created a marriage of the two cuisines with exciting flavors and satisfying standout dishes. These crispy shrimp tempura tacos showcase just that, packing plump shrimp, crispy tempura and salsa negra into house-made shells. 

Olvera’s elegant, high-gear small plates are pristine, pricey and market fresh. Tacos make a solitary appearance on the menu with a generous portion of seared, sizzling duck carnitas topped simply with onions, radishes and cilantro.

Despite the kitschy delight of eating takeaway tacos off a knee-balanced plate at Rockaway Taco, the seasonal sit-down setup at this offshoot, housed inside the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, is a much-welcome upgrade. Just like at that OG taco shack, chef Andrew Field is fueling off-duty surfers and beach-bound locals with exemplary beer-battered fish tacos ($9.64) and watermelon juice ($4.59).

Small, from-scratch corn tortillas puff up on the grill like blowfish at this West Coaster-approved Chelsea Market taco counter, then ease down before they’re piled with superbly juicy adobada pork. The red-chili-marinated pig is trimmed shawarma-style from a glistening spit, its natural sweetness improved upon with shards of pineapple and a squirt of lime.

Hands-down, the best NYC neighborhood for a taco crawl is Sunset Park, where the most amazing food you’ve had in your whole life is behind nearly every door. Our very favorite spot is Tacos El Bronco, which serves up a transcendent lengua taco: Tongue is roasted until it’s impossibly tender, then topped with a handful of cilantro and a tart guacamole to cut through the fatty crackle of the beef. 

La Esquina's sit-down café and takeout taqueria offers a number of dependable bites, but we particularly like its straightforward treatment of fish—a hunk of grilled market fish, speared with a skewer and brightened with shredded cabbage and salsa verde.

At this narrow East Village takeout taqueria, owner Matthew La Rue (the Meatball Shop) shaves off quivering, yielding bites of blistered, spit-roasted pork for his al pastor taco, stacked high on house-pressed corn tortillas with chopped onions and optional dollops of smooth guacamole and morita-chili salsa.

This newly-opened offering from Cosme alums celebrates Mexican mariscos and mezcal in a buzzy atmosphere. The crispy fried fish, which tops tortillas made from Brooklyn-based For All Things Good’s masa, soaks up all the drinking you’ll do as you make your way through their mezcal menu, which is made up largely of producer-owned brands. 

Beer Alaskan cod is fried to a golden crisp, then loaded into a house-made Vista Hermosa corn tortilla and finished with poblano mayo and spicy pickled cabbage.

Alex Stupak’s masa proves the hydrocolloid skills he honed at wd~50 and Alinea are still intact. His tortillas—made from nixtamalized Indiana corn (the grains are cooked in limewater and hulled) and pressed in-house daily—are thin and springy, with a delicate maize sweetness, and best filled with the spot’s spit-roasted namesake. 

The battered, Baja-fresh fish taco is the star of the menu at this Crayola-bright Mexican canteen. The tempura-fried crust shatters around flaky tilapia, with lime-infused crema adding richness and red cabbage echoing the batter’s crunch.

This East Harlem hole-in-the-wall may serve the city's best al pastor tacos, sliced to order off a rotating spit crowned with a hunk of grilled pineapple. The tortilla-to-meat ratio is perfectly balanced.

Soft chunks of rich, pungent cow's-head meat are spread on a pair of griddled corn tortillas with salsa verde at this Sunset Park stalwart.

These Asian-spiked tacos get a double dose of kimchi: The fiery fermented cabbage slaw is seared with the pork shoulder filling, and the final product is finished with a fresh scoop of the stuff.

Inspired by tacos he tasted in Veracruz, Mexico, chef Julian Medina sautés buttery hunks of poached lobster with a chile de arbol-based morita salsa. The decadent mix is finished with a dice of creamy avocado and a drizzle of chipotle mayo.

Inspired by travel and festive meals taken in the family homes, Marc Meyer showcases traditional dishes, from appetizing antojitos made at an in-house comal bar to Veracruz-style whole roasted fish. Tacos, folded using a single house corn tortilla, include barbacoa braised lamb, battered fish and the al pastor—succulent spit-roasted marinated pork with pineapple.

This outpost of a New Jersey tortilleria slow-cooks its goat in huge pots, then heaps the tender meat onto fresh tortillas. Add guacamole, cheese or any of the lively salsas from the free condiments station. 

At the Williamsburg and East Village taco truck outposts of this Jackson Heights taqueria, the suadero is cheap and satisfying: Chewy, steamed slices of brisket are pepped up with a mix of onion, cilantro and guacamole.

The chorizo at this Bushwick tortilla factory is some of the city's best, featuring ground bits of sausage sautéed with potato, cinnamon, chili and pork fat. Piled on two freshly-made tortillas and topped with cilantro and a squirt of crema, it’s one of the most satisfying meals you can get for $2.25.

Miguel Gallardo dishes out some of the city's best carne asada specimens from this LaGuardia-adjacent cart. He deftly chops well-seasoned beef, piles on homemade salsa and toppings (onions! cilantro! guacamole!) and wraps the whole thing into a perfectly portable tortilla cone.

Named for its Arabic origins, this Lebanese-Mexican roll-up combines spiced spit-roasted pork with sweet strings of caramelized onion in a pita-like, flour-based flatbread.