Tacos

Come y calla.

Eat and shut up.

Tacos are not a serious meal, but they are taken very seriously in Mexico, where even the most humble taco stand is plastered with signs proclaiming that there are to be found tacos ricos, tacos super-fantasticos, tacos los mejores del mundo. Humility is clearly not part of the recipe for a great taco. What is essential are freshness and character—delivering big flavors in small bites.

You need never be without a taco in Mexico. In the morning, stands offer meltingly tender braised meats, juicy and savory with chile and tomato—a perfect morning pick-me-up. At midday the streets fill with the wonderful smells of grilling carne asada and chickens smoke-roasting over wood, rotisseries loaded with pork al pastor and discas bubbling away with crisp fish and shrimp for tacos.