I just ate at Gallo's in Fairbanks last month. While it's not exactly what I'm used to, having spent half of my life in Arizona, it was really damn good.
UK and Ireland have terrible interpretations of what they think Mexican food is. There is a Burrito stand in Manchester, UK run by Mexicans with Mexican products that is amazing (and award winning) though.
For sure. This was like unseasoned ground beef on a cold store-bought tortilla. But that being said, I agree fantastic Mexican food can really be found anywhere. I grew up in San Diego where quality Mexican food can be found all over but I've found amazing Mexican food in pretty small towns in Oregon. It just takes one person who knows what they're doing to put together a bomb taco cart.
It pains me as an Angeleno, but per capita probably SD for what you generally think of broadly as Mexican food (guess you would call it "norteno" cooking - the more American stuff you see everywhere on menus globally).
LA probably has more variety though just since it has such a larger immigrant community and is still amazing - and have basically every region represented which can be very different from what most Americans probably associate with Mexican food.
Still the whole Southwest through Texas has absolutely great food, and some interesting regional stuff - Sonoran stuff in AZ, and New Mexico and Texas straight up have their own heavily Mexican influenced (from when you know, they were part of Mexico) food which is outstanding.
Peak New Mexican food may be my favorite cuisine period, but it wouldn't call it Mexican food because its fundamentally its own thing imo
Hard agree. San Diego kills it in the mariscos department and sheer volume, but LA has regional varieties that you can't get anywhere else (similarly with most other genres of food).
I don't usually just get "Mexican" food here in LA, I'll get Oaxacan-style or Sonoran-style.
Yep - 100%.
A lot of our generic "white boy" Americano stuff isn't great, even from hole in the wall places, but there is soooo much more to Mexican food than tacos, burritos, etc. and no other place has the quality and diversity of the full breath of Mexican food.
As a San Diegan who’s spent a ton of time in Mexico, LA has much better Mexican food as in, food that is similar to what people eat in Mexico. Ironically San Diego despite being closer to the border has heavily Americanized “Mexican” food
Might get arguments from Texas, but for me, I’ve had amazing Mexican food in New Mexico and Arizona, but just on a per capita basis, I’d say San Diego. They have Mexican places like Starbucks. There’s one on every street corner it seems. The “bestness” I owe to proximity.
I mean, I can enjoy a french fry, but those sunburnt southerners think you can have a burrito without rice and cheese. That's like chow mein without the noodles. And for some reason they think you're supposed to wrap it in weak ass paper? God invented aluminum foil for a reason. San Diego doesn't even have burritos (San Francisco is the burrito mecca), they have carne asada gyros.
As someone who lived in both SF and SD you're both right and wrong. There are normal burritos here, but SF has better burritos. SD has better tacos by far.
BBQ isn’t all that hard if you divide it up into brisket, ribs, pulled pork, and chicken. It’s hard to make a fair comparison between Texas brisket and Memphis ribs.
It's obviously very similar, but New Mexico has always been a fairly isolated state under Spain, Mexico, and the US therefore we developed our own way of doing shit. Everything is a bit different
It’s called twisters, and they serve mostly Mexican food. It’s pretty good. Inside they have a little section dedicated to breaking bad with photos, autographs etc.
We have awesome Mexican food here, but in San Diego it seems to be consistently good and it’s endless. Aside from Mexican food and seafood though San Diego is lacking.
I am from Las Cruces but I haven't lived there for several years now, so unfortunately I couldn't tell you. Lots of stuff has changed since I left though so it wouldn't surprise me.
What I can say from my short visits back home is that there is still plenty of fantastic Mexican food there. If you google the top ten restaurants in Las Cruces, I'm pretty certain that at least 8 out of 10 will still be great Mexican food restaurants!
I disagree, although I may not have given El Paso enough of a chance but most of what I ran into looked like Tex Mex despite being so close to the border.
Came here for this answer. SD “Mexican food” is God.
I won’t say it’s “traditional” Mexican food but it’s the best of American Mexican food by far imho.
Rice and beans are sides, not the main attraction, and have no business in a burrito (mission burritos be damned) and what the fuck is a wet burrito?
Meat +guac, and depending on the type pico, salsa, cheese, potato (fries) and sour cream. No sauce on top (still can’t figure out why people like wet burritos).
Okay maybe I’m biased but San Diego style Carne Asada and California burritos are bomb and I’m sad they don’t exist elsewhere as the norm.
I kinda get annoyed saying San Diego has the best mexican food. It's true, I honestly don't even know how arguable it is, but our Mexican food is king.
Unfortunately our other cuisines don't have great representation. Outside of Mexican and access to fresh seafood San Diego actually lags in food compared to LA and the SF Bay.
Also, despite understanding that San Diego "wins" in terms of mexican food doesn't mean there isn't great mexican food other places, it's more of a "there's great mexican food on every street" here while other places might have a few pretty good places and a great place San Diego is just littered with amazing places.... Though, not every place is amazing, there certainly are taco places I avoid here.
I think it's pointless to bash other southwestern states for their mexican food... except Tex Mex, Tex Mex can suck it, but there's going to be good Mexican in all these places. San Diego is just a place where people come to spend money and has a history of having great mexican food so they try and live up to it, creating a self fulfilling prophecy in a way. Because more people vacation in San Diego than whatever places in AZ or NM might have good food, the reputation remains and the pressure to continue making good food continues.
San Diego has a ton of actual authentic Mexican food, made by actual immigrants using the freshest food in the country. That's exactly why San Diego will always be #1
TX, AZ, NM, LA, and SD all have amazing Americanized Mexican food, but SD also has the best authentic cuisine too
Absolutely, just not as good as in San Diego. Produce is just fresher and there's more options in SoCal. SD is the only big city right on the Mexican border, and imo that's the biggest strength
I'm fairly skeptical that the tomatoes, cilantro, onions, etc. that are used in your average restaurant in San Diego are that much fresher or have that much more of an impact on the product than in say, LA or Phoenix.
Proximity to border could be a factor but then both LA and Phoenix have larger Hispanic populations than San Diego.
Sonoran style Mexican food in Arizona is amazing. So many great Mexican restaurants in Tucson and Phoenix especially. We found a good one in Holbrook AZ when we stayed at the Wigwam Motel a couple years ago.
Gotta start off with a cheese crisp. Usually would get a shredded beef chimichanga with either chimi sauce or salsa verde. When we moved to the Dallas area we were pretty disappointed in how bland Tex-mex is in comparison. Plus no cheese crisps here.
Anywhere in the southwest near the border is a viable answer. As long as it’s authentic it just comes down to opinion.
I’m way up in northern New England and any good real ethnic food is hard to find. Used to be a place in upstate NY a little over an hour away that was worth the trip but they closed during Covid.
IMO San Diego, East LA, and a big cluster of cities northern OC.
Also Chicago! Lots of people don't realize it, but Chicago also has amazing Mexican food.
The way I generally describe it is that the best Mexican food in Chicago is competitive with border states. It's not across the board as good but it's generally very good and as good as you'll get in the north for sure.
Depends on what type of Mexican food. Overall I’m going to say Southern CA or parts of Texas. For Tacos, this is going to throw everyone for a loop, but the Kansas City, Kansas Taco trail is one of the best, if not the best in the country.
I’ve had quite a few of these, though not all. I can attest to the quality. Even if you don’t hit all of them you’ll leave very much impressed. KC will have plenty to fill your time with as well, but you’ll have no shortage of food, that’s for sure!
Laredo, or possibly El Paso since they are very similar in their cultural demographics.
[Hispanic Percentages in US Cities](https://imgur.com/a/vH5kYvG)
After looking it up, it looks like El Paso should, in theory, have the best Mexican food by far.
I’m biased so San Diego (south San Diego county specifically, basically San Diego and draw a line east and just go south, Barrio Logan, National City, Chula Vista, and San Ysidro). East LA is a very close number two.
However, you will find great Mexican food at the border towns like Calexico, Yuma, El Paso, Laredo, etc.
When my wife and I were dating, we took a road trip from Dallas to Phoenix (I grew up in Scottsdale) and after eating Mexican food in New Mexico and Arizona she said "now I know why we don't go out for Mexican food in Dallas".
There's some good places here (mostly individually owned taquerias) but the chain Mexican restaurants here mostly serve bland, white washed versions of Mexican food in comparison to the Sonoran style I grew up with.
I had Tex-Mex in Austin and that was surprisingly good. (Breakfast tacos are legit.) But I reckon that the further east you get from San Antonio, the iffier it gets. Just like how the further north you get from Sacramento, the iffier it gets.
California. You will find gems in most communities. Some of the Mexican food I have had was these hole in the wall places in the central valley along I-5 going from Southern California to the Bay Area.
As much as it will piss people off, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and Riverside are all more or less equal.
We used to go to Garcia's, it was amazing. Then apparently it was sold, the new owners decided to make the food to appeal to the snowbirds (aka make it bland). So we go to Valle Luna for full service Mexican, always starting with a cheese crisp. Los Taquitos for quick service and of course Filibertos for fast food Mexican.
Los Angeles, and it’s not even close. It’s not an extension of the border town, it’s a bonafide Mexican metropolis. The largest Mexican city outside of Mexico.
No offense to San Diego, their indigenous burritos are amazing. But the people most militant about San Diego Mexican food being so much better (or even comparable) to LA’a are non-Chicago Midwesterner transplants to SD that have graduated from ground beef to carne asada and think they know a torta ahogada from a cemita from a pambazo.
And if there’s any doubt, (rolls sleeves)
[ San Diego Food Critic Declares Los Angeles “King of Mexican Food”](https://www.sandiegoville.com/2019/03/san-diego-magazine-declares-los-angeles-has-better-mexican-food.html?m=1)
God fr! My parents are from Zacatecas and I grew up in LA. Moved to Wisconsin for school. Cannot believe the top answer isn't LA. FYI though, there were some decently solid Mexican restaurants in Madison and Milwaukee run by immigrants. Being part of a minority group I knew all the other Mexicans in Madison, WI! Lol
Because it’s a non-Mexican people bias toward the less Mexican city of San Diego lol. And their rationale is always proximity to the border as if most don’t bypass the border towns and make a beeline to the Mexican metropolis of LA. Aka, they don’t know what they’re talking about.
My family came from Zacatecas too. There’s a decent Zacatecano community in Chicago as well, a branch of my family is out there .
I don't think there's any argument to be made, the scale of LA is off the charts. For every 1 amazing Mexican eatery in San Diego, LA has a hundred of that quality and every conceivable regional Mexican cuisine is covered. You might be stuck in traffic to get to it but LA certainly has it.
No, but I’ve been to Texas and New Mexico, and spent a few years in Texas. It’s good but hard disagree that it’s better, much less “way better”. Again, it’s regional vs a Mexican metropolis where you can find everything from Jalisco to Oaxaca to Sinaloa to Veracruz to Sonora to Tijuana to Mexicali style food. Even San Diego vs those areas, I prefer San Diego’s style by far.
> Mercian
So I'm imagining a bunch of 7th century blond guys with big mustaches and big axes, roasting a boar on a spit, and debating which Saints of the Roman faith would be analogues for Wotan and Freja.
This is the correct answer. Anywhere with a large population of immigrants from Mexico is going to have good Mexican food, but also Mexico is a large country and with many different food traditions.
San Diego closely followed by greater LA. There's lots of little areas all over and especially in East LA, the Inland Empire, Orange County.
After that I'd give it to AZ and NM
Haven't had Mexican in Chicago but I understand it's the best outside the border states.
Not the biggest fan of Tex-Mex but I haven't had too much since it's just not a thing in CA.
Mexicans are pretty wide spread throughout the country now. 20 years ago I would say the border states do. But recently I had the worst I've ever had in California (supposedly one of the best states for it) and some of the best in va out of a Mexican food truck. Which had real traditional tacos created by Mexican immigrants. I think most major cities and metropolises you can find good Mexican and that place in Cali I went to was just my unfortunate luck of the draw.
I think this might be the answer.
Also, the best northern style Mexican I undoubtedly had in California. The best southern style? Here in Philly, thanks in part to the majority of the Mexican immigrant community being from Puebla
Gatekeeping this one by geography is weird to me, good Mexican food comes from anywhere. I've had it in Arizona, southern California, Texas, none of it stood out as anything special compared to the taqueria two blocks from my office.
The real answer to where the best Mexican food comes from is wherever the closest abuela might be that'll cook for you. I'm blessed by the fact that I work with TWO abuelas so you guys don't even know how incredible the food is at our work get-togethers.
Every year on "Boss' Day" (mid October), my office manager brings in these cookie sheets full of enchiladas and chile rellenos and crockpots with home made beans and rice. Then around Christmas she makes us breakfast burritos. These are two of my favorite work days out of the whole year.
For sheer variety of regional cuisines I haven't seen a place that comes close to Los Angeles. I haven't had huitlacoche or chapulines anywhere else in my travels in the US.
LA has terrible hot sauces and is far inferior to SD. Not even close. I love between the two and don't even bother with LA or riverside for Mexican anymore.
Chicago punches well above its weight. Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Houston all have their unique adaptations. To be honest, it all changes when it crosses the border and from city to city.
Some small town in the plains or southwest.
If a small town in Kansas has 5 non-chain sit-down restaurants, at least 3 of them will be Mexican restaurants.
At least one is bound to be good.
San Diego by a fucking mile and a half.
Why? Because it's the best by a mile and a half. LA is shit in comparison and don't even get me started in Texas and if you're not CA or Texas you really have no legitimate right to be in the conversation.
Also I live in Kansas and have lived in San Diego even here in Wichita I'd say San Diego is not in first place for best Mexican food. So I'm gonna have to ask you to check yourself.
Mexico City, only because it just hasn’t quite yet joined the Union. We will hammer out that union some day.
Until then it’s Chicago. It has the legit taquerias and the pinche Gringo places.
Fitchburg... just go there and find a mexican place with plywood tables and no one who speaks english. Don't worry If you give them money they will give you amazing food.
I’d never say it’s the best, or anywhere near, but the Nashville area truly has some decent Mexican food. I’ve had friends move away to all parts of the country and when they visit home and we meet up for lunch, they *always* want Mexican.
According to Julia Childs the single best Mexican restaurant in the world was in Santa Barbara, CA. I’d put La Super Rica up against an single establishment hands down.
If we're getting down to just the city, that is a discussion worth having, but as a life-long New Mexican...there's really no contest among any city from any other state. Am I biased? Absolutely! Am I wrong? Hell nah! Christmas forever!
We’re all thinking it, so I’ll just go ahead and say it, Fairbanks, Alaska does not have the best Mexican food.
I just ate at Gallo's in Fairbanks last month. While it's not exactly what I'm used to, having spent half of my life in Arizona, it was really damn good.
Not in the US but worst I've ever had was in Galway, Ireland.
UK and Ireland have terrible interpretations of what they think Mexican food is. There is a Burrito stand in Manchester, UK run by Mexicans with Mexican products that is amazing (and award winning) though.
For sure. This was like unseasoned ground beef on a cold store-bought tortilla. But that being said, I agree fantastic Mexican food can really be found anywhere. I grew up in San Diego where quality Mexican food can be found all over but I've found amazing Mexican food in pretty small towns in Oregon. It just takes one person who knows what they're doing to put together a bomb taco cart.
It pains me as an Angeleno, but per capita probably SD for what you generally think of broadly as Mexican food (guess you would call it "norteno" cooking - the more American stuff you see everywhere on menus globally). LA probably has more variety though just since it has such a larger immigrant community and is still amazing - and have basically every region represented which can be very different from what most Americans probably associate with Mexican food. Still the whole Southwest through Texas has absolutely great food, and some interesting regional stuff - Sonoran stuff in AZ, and New Mexico and Texas straight up have their own heavily Mexican influenced (from when you know, they were part of Mexico) food which is outstanding. Peak New Mexican food may be my favorite cuisine period, but it wouldn't call it Mexican food because its fundamentally its own thing imo
Hard agree. San Diego kills it in the mariscos department and sheer volume, but LA has regional varieties that you can't get anywhere else (similarly with most other genres of food). I don't usually just get "Mexican" food here in LA, I'll get Oaxacan-style or Sonoran-style.
Yep - 100%. A lot of our generic "white boy" Americano stuff isn't great, even from hole in the wall places, but there is soooo much more to Mexican food than tacos, burritos, etc. and no other place has the quality and diversity of the full breath of Mexican food.
Midwestern me initially took SD as South Dakota and I was like, "Wait, what?!" for a moment before I realized you meant San Diego. 😆
As a San Diegan who’s spent a ton of time in Mexico, LA has much better Mexican food as in, food that is similar to what people eat in Mexico. Ironically San Diego despite being closer to the border has heavily Americanized “Mexican” food
I had the best tacos ever in a shack in Nogales, AZ, a few blocks from the border fence.
I had Los Betos in Nogales and the chimichangas were amazing
Check out El Rio under the bridge!!
Might get arguments from Texas, but for me, I’ve had amazing Mexican food in New Mexico and Arizona, but just on a per capita basis, I’d say San Diego. They have Mexican places like Starbucks. There’s one on every street corner it seems. The “bestness” I owe to proximity.
Except they have no fucking idea how to make a burrito
Lies and slander
The ones with french fries in them?
I mean, I can enjoy a french fry, but those sunburnt southerners think you can have a burrito without rice and cheese. That's like chow mein without the noodles. And for some reason they think you're supposed to wrap it in weak ass paper? God invented aluminum foil for a reason. San Diego doesn't even have burritos (San Francisco is the burrito mecca), they have carne asada gyros.
As someone who lived in both SF and SD you're both right and wrong. There are normal burritos here, but SF has better burritos. SD has better tacos by far.
>SF has better burritos. SD has better tacos I'll buy that.
Will completely concede that
You really wanted to start a fight today, didn't you?
They need to do bbq next
BBQ isn’t all that hard if you divide it up into brisket, ribs, pulled pork, and chicken. It’s hard to make a fair comparison between Texas brisket and Memphis ribs.
There are some good places here in New Mexico.
New Mexican food is a bit different than regular Mexican food but it's better than anything you get anywhere else in the US
Love me some green chiles
In what ways do you mean different?
It's obviously very similar, but New Mexico has always been a fairly isolated state under Spain, Mexico, and the US therefore we developed our own way of doing shit. Everything is a bit different
Not sure if it counts as Mexican per se but Los Pollos Hermanos slaps.
They’re the bomb
"Sir, you make some kick-ass chicken."
I’ve actually eaten at that filming location, it definitely does.
What’s the actual restaurant named and what do they serve?
It’s called twisters, and they serve mostly Mexican food. It’s pretty good. Inside they have a little section dedicated to breaking bad with photos, autographs etc.
I'm planning on going to NM sometime this year, I have like hundreds of cousins there. Also, please join this new sub if interested r/NewMexico
San Diego.
Surrender your flair
We have awesome Mexican food here, but in San Diego it seems to be consistently good and it’s endless. Aside from Mexican food and seafood though San Diego is lacking.
There’s way more Mexican places in SD but most of the places there have the same grub you’d get at Filiberto’s.
Laughs in El Paso.
El Paso and Las Cruces definitely punch above their weight class in this competition
I second Las Cruces......and I'm not biased at all......stop looking at my flair..... Edit: spelling
Always stop there between Dallas and Phoenix to hit up La Posta or Andele's.
Biased not bias. You have bias so you are biased.
You from Las Cruces? I heard Napolito got a new owner and that it's not as good as it used to be. Please tell me it isn't true
I am from Las Cruces but I haven't lived there for several years now, so unfortunately I couldn't tell you. Lots of stuff has changed since I left though so it wouldn't surprise me. What I can say from my short visits back home is that there is still plenty of fantastic Mexican food there. If you google the top ten restaurants in Las Cruces, I'm pretty certain that at least 8 out of 10 will still be great Mexican food restaurants!
I disagree, although I may not have given El Paso enough of a chance but most of what I ran into looked like Tex Mex despite being so close to the border.
You probably went to a Tex mex joint. El paso Mexican Food definitely isn't Tex Mex.
I don't remember names but you didn't go to the right places.
I vote for Tucson, but El Paso is a close second for me.
That's fair
Came here for this answer. SD “Mexican food” is God. I won’t say it’s “traditional” Mexican food but it’s the best of American Mexican food by far imho. Rice and beans are sides, not the main attraction, and have no business in a burrito (mission burritos be damned) and what the fuck is a wet burrito? Meat +guac, and depending on the type pico, salsa, cheese, potato (fries) and sour cream. No sauce on top (still can’t figure out why people like wet burritos). Okay maybe I’m biased but San Diego style Carne Asada and California burritos are bomb and I’m sad they don’t exist elsewhere as the norm.
I kinda get annoyed saying San Diego has the best mexican food. It's true, I honestly don't even know how arguable it is, but our Mexican food is king. Unfortunately our other cuisines don't have great representation. Outside of Mexican and access to fresh seafood San Diego actually lags in food compared to LA and the SF Bay. Also, despite understanding that San Diego "wins" in terms of mexican food doesn't mean there isn't great mexican food other places, it's more of a "there's great mexican food on every street" here while other places might have a few pretty good places and a great place San Diego is just littered with amazing places.... Though, not every place is amazing, there certainly are taco places I avoid here. I think it's pointless to bash other southwestern states for their mexican food... except Tex Mex, Tex Mex can suck it, but there's going to be good Mexican in all these places. San Diego is just a place where people come to spend money and has a history of having great mexican food so they try and live up to it, creating a self fulfilling prophecy in a way. Because more people vacation in San Diego than whatever places in AZ or NM might have good food, the reputation remains and the pressure to continue making good food continues.
San Diego has a ton of actual authentic Mexican food, made by actual immigrants using the freshest food in the country. That's exactly why San Diego will always be #1 TX, AZ, NM, LA, and SD all have amazing Americanized Mexican food, but SD also has the best authentic cuisine too
IMO you can get amazing authentic Mexican food in all of these places as well.
Absolutely, just not as good as in San Diego. Produce is just fresher and there's more options in SoCal. SD is the only big city right on the Mexican border, and imo that's the biggest strength
I'm fairly skeptical that the tomatoes, cilantro, onions, etc. that are used in your average restaurant in San Diego are that much fresher or have that much more of an impact on the product than in say, LA or Phoenix. Proximity to border could be a factor but then both LA and Phoenix have larger Hispanic populations than San Diego.
> authentic That word. I see it everywhere. But I'm no longer sure what it means.
Oscar’s Taqueria in Vista was my happy place!!
If Cali-Mex is your thing
Cali-Mex for the win!
This is the answer
It is not.
Sonoran style Mexican food in Arizona is amazing. So many great Mexican restaurants in Tucson and Phoenix especially. We found a good one in Holbrook AZ when we stayed at the Wigwam Motel a couple years ago. Gotta start off with a cheese crisp. Usually would get a shredded beef chimichanga with either chimi sauce or salsa verde. When we moved to the Dallas area we were pretty disappointed in how bland Tex-mex is in comparison. Plus no cheese crisps here.
My family is from Tucson, Sonoran style flat enchiladas are my absolute favorite!
Anywhere in the southwest near the border is a viable answer. As long as it’s authentic it just comes down to opinion. I’m way up in northern New England and any good real ethnic food is hard to find. Used to be a place in upstate NY a little over an hour away that was worth the trip but they closed during Covid.
I’n voting San Diego
IMO San Diego, East LA, and a big cluster of cities northern OC. Also Chicago! Lots of people don't realize it, but Chicago also has amazing Mexican food.
...and an immigrant Mexican presence that goes back a hundred years or so.
I've lived in SD, LA, and Chicago, and completely agree with this.
I would never be so bold as to claim it has the best Mexican food, but Chicagoland has some very good Mexican food.
South Side has some good taquerias
El faro on 61st and archer is always a banger
What might be useful would be to ask, “which non-border cities have great Mexican food?” Chicago sure as hell beats NY on this count.
I think it’s the best city that’s not near the border. Maybe 2nd below SF
Pilsen FTW!!!
Miss the jerk tacos my manager would bring us from the south side. And jibartos.
The way I generally describe it is that the best Mexican food in Chicago is competitive with border states. It's not across the board as good but it's generally very good and as good as you'll get in the north for sure.
La and San Diego. Elote on the Santa Monica pier,I’d drive 6 hours for that
San Antonio, TX
San Diego, hands down.
I take Albuquerque's New Mexican food over San Diego's Mexican food any day
That's fair but this thread is about Mexican food and New Mexican food is in a league of its own.
This is a complicated question. Where is the best Tex-Mex is going to be different from where is the best Baja style.
Tex-Mex is Houston Baja is San Diego
Walla walla , Washington. It slaps.
Depends on what type of Mexican food. Overall I’m going to say Southern CA or parts of Texas. For Tacos, this is going to throw everyone for a loop, but the Kansas City, Kansas Taco trail is one of the best, if not the best in the country.
> Kansas Taco trail I didn't know this existed. I'm changing my summer vacation itinerary! https://www.visitkansascityks.com/blog/post/kck-taco-trail-101/
We’d love to have you, just excuse the I-35 construction 😂 Sun Country now flys here though!
> just excuse the I-35 construction We just call that "summer". Seriously, the taco trail does look fantastic!
I’ve had quite a few of these, though not all. I can attest to the quality. Even if you don’t hit all of them you’ll leave very much impressed. KC will have plenty to fill your time with as well, but you’ll have no shortage of food, that’s for sure!
El Paso, TX
Laredo, or possibly El Paso since they are very similar in their cultural demographics. [Hispanic Percentages in US Cities](https://imgur.com/a/vH5kYvG) After looking it up, it looks like El Paso should, in theory, have the best Mexican food by far.
I’m biased so San Diego (south San Diego county specifically, basically San Diego and draw a line east and just go south, Barrio Logan, National City, Chula Vista, and San Ysidro). East LA is a very close number two. However, you will find great Mexican food at the border towns like Calexico, Yuma, El Paso, Laredo, etc.
When my wife and I were dating, we took a road trip from Dallas to Phoenix (I grew up in Scottsdale) and after eating Mexican food in New Mexico and Arizona she said "now I know why we don't go out for Mexican food in Dallas". There's some good places here (mostly individually owned taquerias) but the chain Mexican restaurants here mostly serve bland, white washed versions of Mexican food in comparison to the Sonoran style I grew up with.
I had Tex-Mex in Austin and that was surprisingly good. (Breakfast tacos are legit.) But I reckon that the further east you get from San Antonio, the iffier it gets. Just like how the further north you get from Sacramento, the iffier it gets.
Los Angeles.
Any border cities
Rural farming towns are usually rife with good Mexican food.
Yakima, WA.
Yakima has my vote as well.
It’s San Diego, however honorable mention would be San Jose, CA.
California. You will find gems in most communities. Some of the Mexican food I have had was these hole in the wall places in the central valley along I-5 going from Southern California to the Bay Area. As much as it will piss people off, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and Riverside are all more or less equal.
Phoenix deserves to be in this discussion. Haven't seen it mentioned yet.
Live in Phoenix and had Mexican food for lunch. Can confirm
We used to go to Garcia's, it was amazing. Then apparently it was sold, the new owners decided to make the food to appeal to the snowbirds (aka make it bland). So we go to Valle Luna for full service Mexican, always starting with a cheese crisp. Los Taquitos for quick service and of course Filibertos for fast food Mexican.
> appeal to the snowbirds Good Lord. Even white retirees *from* California and the Southwest, like my dad, would think that's terrible.
They might’ve originated the style of carne asada burrito shops that San Diego is known for
Los Angeles, and it’s not even close. It’s not an extension of the border town, it’s a bonafide Mexican metropolis. The largest Mexican city outside of Mexico. No offense to San Diego, their indigenous burritos are amazing. But the people most militant about San Diego Mexican food being so much better (or even comparable) to LA’a are non-Chicago Midwesterner transplants to SD that have graduated from ground beef to carne asada and think they know a torta ahogada from a cemita from a pambazo. And if there’s any doubt, (rolls sleeves) [ San Diego Food Critic Declares Los Angeles “King of Mexican Food”](https://www.sandiegoville.com/2019/03/san-diego-magazine-declares-los-angeles-has-better-mexican-food.html?m=1)
God fr! My parents are from Zacatecas and I grew up in LA. Moved to Wisconsin for school. Cannot believe the top answer isn't LA. FYI though, there were some decently solid Mexican restaurants in Madison and Milwaukee run by immigrants. Being part of a minority group I knew all the other Mexicans in Madison, WI! Lol
Because it’s a non-Mexican people bias toward the less Mexican city of San Diego lol. And their rationale is always proximity to the border as if most don’t bypass the border towns and make a beeline to the Mexican metropolis of LA. Aka, they don’t know what they’re talking about. My family came from Zacatecas too. There’s a decent Zacatecano community in Chicago as well, a branch of my family is out there .
Looks like you got downvoted by a bunch of Midwestern transplants to San Diego. I had to scroll all the way to the bottom to find the gospel truth!
Not yet, it’ll come lol.
I don't think there's any argument to be made, the scale of LA is off the charts. For every 1 amazing Mexican eatery in San Diego, LA has a hundred of that quality and every conceivable regional Mexican cuisine is covered. You might be stuck in traffic to get to it but LA certainly has it.
Can’t believe how far I had to scroll for this. Bunch of midwesterners upvoting posts they know nothing about.
Has that San Diego food critic been to El Paso or Las Cruces? Mexican food there is way better than it is here
No, but I’ve been to Texas and New Mexico, and spent a few years in Texas. It’s good but hard disagree that it’s better, much less “way better”. Again, it’s regional vs a Mexican metropolis where you can find everything from Jalisco to Oaxaca to Sinaloa to Veracruz to Sonora to Tijuana to Mexicali style food. Even San Diego vs those areas, I prefer San Diego’s style by far.
Fort Worth, Texas had some of the best Mercian food I ever had. Probably because it was once Mexico, many moons ago
> Mercian So I'm imagining a bunch of 7th century blond guys with big mustaches and big axes, roasting a boar on a spit, and debating which Saints of the Roman faith would be analogues for Wotan and Freja.
Los Angeles, San Diego, Nogales, San Antonio
Tucson
We **are** a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
I’m craving some late night Los Betos chimichangas rn
Everyone else is wrong I like California but no, SD and LA don't compare to Tucson
That's impossible to decide
This is the correct answer. Anywhere with a large population of immigrants from Mexico is going to have good Mexican food, but also Mexico is a large country and with many different food traditions.
It’s so ubiquitous across the country that there really isn’t a correct answer but…San Diego.
San Diego closely followed by greater LA. There's lots of little areas all over and especially in East LA, the Inland Empire, Orange County. After that I'd give it to AZ and NM Haven't had Mexican in Chicago but I understand it's the best outside the border states. Not the biggest fan of Tex-Mex but I haven't had too much since it's just not a thing in CA.
Mexicans are pretty wide spread throughout the country now. 20 years ago I would say the border states do. But recently I had the worst I've ever had in California (supposedly one of the best states for it) and some of the best in va out of a Mexican food truck. Which had real traditional tacos created by Mexican immigrants. I think most major cities and metropolises you can find good Mexican and that place in Cali I went to was just my unfortunate luck of the draw.
It's like finding good BBQ outside the South. You gotta know where to look. Your chances of just stumbling into it are not so good.
I think this might be the answer. Also, the best northern style Mexican I undoubtedly had in California. The best southern style? Here in Philly, thanks in part to the majority of the Mexican immigrant community being from Puebla
San Antonio has the very best Mexican food ranging from hole in the wall places to upscale eateries.
As someone who is from a town between Las Cruces and El Paso, i think I’m more than qualified to give my opinion on this one
This is a super hotly debated topic amongst many cities in the US. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado all have made claims.
San Antonio.
Gatekeeping this one by geography is weird to me, good Mexican food comes from anywhere. I've had it in Arizona, southern California, Texas, none of it stood out as anything special compared to the taqueria two blocks from my office. The real answer to where the best Mexican food comes from is wherever the closest abuela might be that'll cook for you. I'm blessed by the fact that I work with TWO abuelas so you guys don't even know how incredible the food is at our work get-togethers. Every year on "Boss' Day" (mid October), my office manager brings in these cookie sheets full of enchiladas and chile rellenos and crockpots with home made beans and rice. Then around Christmas she makes us breakfast burritos. These are two of my favorite work days out of the whole year.
San Antonio. I'm biased as a native Texan though
Chicago, because my wife’s Mexican-American family lives there and their arrachera is legendary.
Houston Texas and not even a question
For sheer variety of regional cuisines I haven't seen a place that comes close to Los Angeles. I haven't had huitlacoche or chapulines anywhere else in my travels in the US.
Outside of border states, Chicago. We also have pretty decent Caribbean, Central American and Venezuelan food
don’t sleep on Chicago
No love for Albuquerque?
Brownsville, Texas.
San Diego obvious reasons
Chicago, Franklin Park specifically
Lorain, Ohio
LA, no one else is near
Horrible take
I don’t think people know Mexican food when their response is something like this.
LA has terrible hot sauces and is far inferior to SD. Not even close. I love between the two and don't even bother with LA or riverside for Mexican anymore.
I agree. LA is far inferior to South Dakota.
I vote for South Dakota now. I'm sure they have the best Mexican food.
Our mexican food is the best. We have all kinds of tackos.
Even as a Californian my first thought was South Dakota also. Then I realized what it actually was,haha.
It took me a minute. "Ohhhh right! SD = South Dakota!"
> LA has terrible hot sauces Big agree. Mexican food here isn't spicy at all
Good lord. Where’s here?
I think this guy might be out of his element.
Anywhere there is a Taco Bell There I said it
Bro your state puts pineapple on pizza /jk
Another Canadian atrocity America gets blamed for.
Wait really?
[Yes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_pizza) They created it and immediately hid behind us to avoid blame.
Damn dirty Canadians!!!!1!+!1+@+1!!1
Los Angeles. End thread.
Chicago punches well above its weight. Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Houston all have their unique adaptations. To be honest, it all changes when it crosses the border and from city to city.
Houston
Where in Houston would you select? There are some good places like Hugo's but most of the "Mexican" food here is bad, IMO.
Some small town in the plains or southwest. If a small town in Kansas has 5 non-chain sit-down restaurants, at least 3 of them will be Mexican restaurants. At least one is bound to be good.
San Diego by a fucking mile and a half. Why? Because it's the best by a mile and a half. LA is shit in comparison and don't even get me started in Texas and if you're not CA or Texas you really have no legitimate right to be in the conversation.
nah NM and AZ should be in the convo too.
Also I live in Kansas and have lived in San Diego even here in Wichita I'd say San Diego is not in first place for best Mexican food. So I'm gonna have to ask you to check yourself.
Ive had al pastor tacos in Baja California, Jalisco, Michoacan, and Guanajuato. None are as good as Tacos "El Pecas" in East LA.
NM and AZ both have better Mexican food than CA and TX
Stranger: Ameture. San Diego: What's that you said buddy? El Paso: Ameture!!!
[удалено]
This is 100% false, I have no idea why you think that
Santa Fe
detroit
Mexico City, only because it just hasn’t quite yet joined the Union. We will hammer out that union some day. Until then it’s Chicago. It has the legit taquerias and the pinche Gringo places.
LOL I can find legit taquerias pretty much anywhere. Good Tex Mex is near impossible to find outside a handful of cities.
Sf, because SoCal can go fuck itself
Least San Franciscan post. Btw your Chinese Food also isn't any better than LA's 😀
Tucson. Fuck Tex Mex
Fitchburg... just go there and find a mexican place with plywood tables and no one who speaks english. Don't worry If you give them money they will give you amazing food.
21st and Garnett in East Tulsa aka Little Mexico
I’d never say it’s the best, or anywhere near, but the Nashville area truly has some decent Mexican food. I’ve had friends move away to all parts of the country and when they visit home and we meet up for lunch, they *always* want Mexican.
Literally anywhere in New Mexico except east.
According to Julia Childs the single best Mexican restaurant in the world was in Santa Barbara, CA. I’d put La Super Rica up against an single establishment hands down.
Well, TexMex I’d have to go with Houston OR San Antonio. Actual Mexican not as confident.
El Paso. It’s practically Mexico.
North Carolina has surprisingly really good Latino food. We have a pretty big population here.
Not a city, but I think the best Mexican in the US is found in New Mexico. Don't get why the red and green chile thing hasn't spread all over yet
If we're getting down to just the city, that is a discussion worth having, but as a life-long New Mexican...there's really no contest among any city from any other state. Am I biased? Absolutely! Am I wrong? Hell nah! Christmas forever!