From traditional Mexican tacos, breakfast tacos, gourmet duck confit tacos, birria tacos, a complete guide to the best tacos in Austin.
LessNixta Taqueria might best be known for their nixtamalized blue corn tortillas and their very delicious duck carnitas taco, a mainstay of their menu. What sets Nixta even further apart is that a lot of the menu leans vegetarian and sometimes even vegan. A lot of flavor gets coaxed out of vegetables here—we’re especially big fans of the roasted cauliflower taco with romesco, as well as the beet “tartare” tostada with avocado crema and salsa macha. What to get: Duck carnitas taco; Cauliflower taco
Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop is an East Side staple that’s been around since 1962 serving exceptional Tex-Mex/Mexican diner food. We’re big fans of the breakfast tacos here, made with fluffy house-made flour tortillas. Get the miga taco con todo, with still-crispy tortilla chips, as well as the super-crispy bacon that defies all the laws of pork belly physics. And don’t miss the super-tender carne guisada taco. What to get: Miga taco con todo; Bacon, egg, and cheese taco; Carne guisada taco
Cuantos Tacos specializes in Mexico City-style tacos, consisting of a double layer of tiny corn tortillas filled with a few different meat options (plus a mushroom one). Ask five friends what their favorite is and you’ll end up with five different answers, but the suadero and cachete are our favorites, along with the weekly lengua special. The tacos are small enough that you can try them all if you’re up for it. What To Get: Suadero taco; Cachete taco; Champiñones quesadilla
Con Todo serves “comida frontera” inspired by the food in the Rio Grande Valley, which means barbacoa, carne asada, alambre, queso flameado, bistec estilo Matamoros, and more. It’s this hyper-regional focus, combined with obvious skill and technique, that results in small but ridiculously delicious tacos, all served on supple homemade corn tortillas and topped with intensely flavorful and spicy salsas. What To Get: Barbacoa; Bistec estilo Matamoros; Chori papa tostada
The fish tacos at the East Austin seafood-focused Mexican restaurant Este are some of the best you’ll find in the city. All on supple house-made corn tortillas, each taco gets a masa-battered and fried strip of swordfish that’s somehow crispy yet delicate at the same time. Pick the tacos up, and they’re impossibly light and airy, defying all the known laws of fish, fry, and gravity. What to get: Fish tacos
Hiding in the parking lot of Michi Ramen are some of our favorite tacos in Austin. The carnitas are sous vide, and the refried beans are lentils, but this blend of contemporary techniques with traditional flavors bridges a gap we didn’t know Austin needed. Show up on Saturdays to get the trompo al pastor, or show up any day they’re open for some excellent carnitas, bistek, and nopalitos. What to get: Bistec taco; Carnitas taco; Nopalitos taco
This trailer churns out a beautiful fusion of our city’s greatest cuisines: Tex-Mex and barbecue. Their smoked brisket taco with guacamole and a tomato serrano salsa raised the bar for all who try to follow in its wake. Getting it as a breakfast taco with a fried egg (and potatoes and refried beans) should be illegal, but instead is standard morning practice here. What to get: Real Deal Holyfield breakfast taco; Smoked brisket taco
The suadero tacos at Suerte have developed a cult-like following, due in equal parts to the tender, confit brisket, the house-made nixtamalized corn tortillas, and something called black magic oil. What’s black magic oil, you might ask? It’s a secret, which basically just means that they don’t even know. What we do know is that it’s garlicky, funky, a little spicy, and we’d put it on everything if we could. What to get: Suadero tacos
The default and best way to order the epic carnitas at El Guero here is "surtido," and you'll get a mix of the slow-cooked meats—pork butt, ribs, belly, stomach, and skin—all chopped to order. Or you can get it however you want: lean, fatty, extra skin, or no skin. While the orden personal is technically shareable, you won’t want to. It comes with a half pound of carnitas, a mess of corn tortillas, two kinds of salsa, pickled onions, and a crispy doradita. What to get: Carnitas
As Steve Jobs one said: “Do not try to do everything. Do one thing well.” This is the mantra at Discada, where they only offer a single taco blending marinated beef, pork, and veggies that have been cooked on a large wok-like apparatus called a discada and served on a corn tortilla. They come topped with onion, cilantro, and pineapple, and they’re delicious. What To Get: Discada taco