Almost everything at this Greenpoint taqueria is modeled after Mexico City’s legendary eateries, complete with plastic plates and a comal custom-made in CDMX. Their tacos range from shredded suadero and al pastor, to longaniza with orange porky juices. The tripa (our favorite) is stuffed with blowtorched cow’s stomach lining, but some bites are so creamy, we’d swear there’s bone marrow in there. This taqueria barely has room to stand in, so snag a spot on a bench outside or eat on the sidewalk.

This Tijuana-style spot is a New York City landmark, like the Statue of Liberty, except it’s a truck under the subway track in Jackson Heights. Birria-Landia now has locations in Williamsburg, LES, and the Bronx, and they still make the city’s best birria. Everything on the menu (tacos, mulitas, tostadas, and consomé) is bolstered by tangy, mildly spicy stew. Take your crunchy-soft tortilla filled with beef and dip it in some consomé. The word delicious seems somehow inadequate.

We love all the seafood at this restaurant in Jackson Heights, but a meal here is incomplete without an order of Submarino ceviche. This massive bowl of jalapeño-covered prawns, fresh white fish, and tender octopus will mentally transport you to a chill beachside seafood shack in Puerto Escondido, when in fact you’re in a space that has the look of a fluorescent lunch counter with cartoons on the walls.

Filled with jet black accents and dim spotlights above each table, this upscale Flatiron restaurant works best for special occasions. Cosme serves things like a tlayuda covered in mushrooms, and a plate of lobster prepared al pastor-style. If you get just one thing, make it the duck carnitas, a massive, juicy roast duck paired with warm tortillas. Share this feast with a few friends the next time you earn a degree, have a birthday, or decide to spend the rest of your life with someone.

You should, of course, order the al pastor tacos at Taqueria Al Pastor, a counter-service spot in Bushwick with a couple of stools but no tables. They come piled with strips of crispy pork and cubes of pineapple. But the carne asada taco is even better. The chunks of garlicky beef are stuffed into sturdy, pleasantly chewy house-made corn tortillas with spicy guac. On one occasion they ran out of corn tortillas, and made our tacos with flour ones. The result? An equally outstanding handheld meal.

For All Things Good runs on masa, but you won’t find any tacos at this minimalist Bed-Stuy spot that looks like a coffee shop. The focus here is on Oaxacan dishes, like giant memelas topped with avocado and a fried egg, tetelas filled with everything from hibiscus flower to black bean, and tlayudas covered in a ridiculous amount of mushrooms. They make some of the best tortillas we’ve had anywhere in NYC, and you can get a package of these colorful heirloom corn creations to go.

La Morada in Mott Haven is in one lavender room with the lighting scheme of a dental office. Plain decor aside, much like Donald Glover, the kitchen is good at pretty much everything. The tamales are like warm little pillows made of chicken and corn, and we’d gladly eat an entire meal of the crunchy gorditas. But the real reason you come here is the mole. Get the mole oaxaqueño. It’s a deep red color, and it’s possibly more complex than any equation currently being worked on by Nobel laureates.

On any given night, you may find us closing our eyes and pretending we’re sitting at Claro’s outdoor bar underneath some twinkly lights, with a mezcal cocktail in hand, watching our tortillas being made on an open flame in front of us. At this Oaxacan restaurant in Gowanus you can either order a la carte, or try the $90 four-course prix-fixe menu—either way, get the memela topped with wild mushrooms and goat cheese crema, and definitely something with one of their moles.

This Tijuana-style taco shop started in Chelsea Market in 2013, and you’ll still consistently find lines there any time you go. But now they also have a handful of outposts around Manhattan—including useful locations near Grand Central, Penn Station, and Times Square. There’s nowhere to sit, but there are counters where you can stand and eat asada, adobada, or nopal tacos with all the fixings, and we encourage you to expand beyond tacos to try some of their cheese-layered mulas.

Everything at Ensenada is good, and we don’t make that statement lightly. This beachy seafood spot in Williamsburg makes buttery tuna tostadas, saucy shrimp tacos, and three types of aguachile, and they have a daily Happy Hour from 5:30-7pm, when you can drink $10 margaritas and $5 tiny pescaditos fritos with chipotle aioli. But once Happy Hour ends, the real party starts, when the pescado del dia “al pastor” lands on your table.