Tell me about your favourite taco.
I went through a fish taco and shrimp taco phase for close to a decade.
Lately, I mostly focus on the carnitas or al pastor tacos.
I’ll also try various types of tacos I haven’t seen or tried before.
Birria and birria tacos have become really popular in southwestern Ontario lately. I like them, but I still prefer carnitas and al pastor.
As my waistline shamefully proclaims, I pretty much like all flavors of tacos.
Faves include:
Halibut and other white fish
Carne asada
Birria
Korean-style pork
Mushu pork
I’m not liking tacos in corn tortillas as much, and I steer clear of ground beef. Chicken is OK, as long as it’s not out of a can.
Favorite taco? You may as well ask which of my kids is my favorite. I can tell you, however, the worst taco I ever had. It was NOT from Taco Bell, nor even JitB.
We have an Oaxacan place in town that makes killer carnitas & lamb barbacoa, and another place that doesn’t care much about ‘traditional’ tacos. The tacos are spectacular — in fact, I’m just about to head over for lunch. Fridays is Cajun shrimp taco day, but the brisket tinga, the roast pork, the Asian 5-spice ground beef, the gringo…
Solidly in the flour tortilla camp. Have yet to have a corn tortilla I like 
I’d change the topic to Favourite Tacos, but it’s too late.
Lengua in homemade corn tortillas
How do you divide those 3 between 2 people?
Pretty easy. We’ve done it for as long as the place has been around
Favorites? Baja fish and al pastor trimmed from the spit…but most tacos are good or can be. Some are underrated like stewed meat, like chile verde and barbacoa. Lengua is good, very beefy favor.
For Baja, El Siete Mares in LA use to have a Tuesday special, $1 each or something crazy cheap and very good. Hard to buy a Baja fish tacos for $5 - $7 after experiencing that. But of course everything has gone up. $5 each isn’t unreasonable…but nothing like a deal.
I have no problem with Jack in the Box tacos. I think it’s something you have to grow up with. I get some every so often. There’s a few big time chefs who like them, calling them guilty pleasures. As a youth, two or four tacos, onion rings and a drink use to be my order. Worst taco…school lunch tacos with hard shell, oatmeal with burger meat, etc….still those were better than most other stuff.
Lengua. Current favorite from Pancho Villa in the Mission.
Great salsa bar. Load up on charred jalapeños and especially their perfect tomatillo chile verde.
Second the JITB tacos. Yes, I know they’re not real tacos. No problema. Drive thru for a dollar’s worth once a year or two.
There are many, many great “authentic” and modern taco filings as long as one uses great, high quality ingredients but I think the importance of quality of the tortilla is often underestimated. Freshly made corn tortillas really can elevate any good tacos to another level. Fluor tortillas can be OK/decent but are never on the level of great corn tortillas.
If one likes the taste of corn tortillas.
You don’t like the taste of corn ?
Oh yeah. If birria is offered, we “dilute” the order.
I love the taste of corn — in fact, I’m having COTC tonight as a side — just not as a tortilla. I prefer the more neutral flour tortilla.
I go chicken first. I make 10-20 per week. Fish are amazing and pretty easy to make.
When I heard Walk’s “white guy tacos” I immediately thought of an untreated tortilla. Throw the thing over a flame for a sec, or heat it on a CI skillet. I can’t stand a cold, boring tortilla. I like my pico, too.
I’ll make them out of shrimp, pork, lengua, whatever. Just love tacos. I love corn or flour; but if you have a corn tortilla in, say, Oaxaca, it’ll be 100 times better than anything you can get in the US. Their corn is amazing.
I’ll tolerate ground beef, but, c’mon! Hope I can do better than that. I do use some achiote in my chicken tacos, which gives you that perdy red tint. I’ve loved chicken tacos since I was wee. Al pastor, real deal, is the one I usually order, as it’s a challenge at home.
Now that you mention JITB, we’ve heard that when the restaurant brings your order on this:
run for the hills.
That’s also why exceptions demonstrate or undo rules.
Our go-to lengua (sadly, no birria) place is equally adept with both styles, so we order both to fork from plate or hold in hand to crunch away.
Carne adovada (New Mexican) and carnitas.
Got spoiled by the fish taco huts in LA. Nothing comes close since then. Otherwise it’s carnitas, soft, ALWAYS corn. Pico de Gallo, avocado. Simple, delicious, fragrant, satisfying. Miss those huge LA salsa bars with the whole grilled chillis. And the corn tortillas so fragrant (and soft) you could smell them even through the packaging in the store. Need to go back!
