THD | Eat the world
Holy taco fullness, I feel like I’ve relived every day for the past week as Tuesday. So many tacos were eaten, I don’t want another for at least 6 months. Except for on Cinco de Mayo, which as you know, is right around the corner.
Before conquering this epic taco tour, I thought I would find all the best tacos in one spot: Buford Highway. Well, I hate to disappoint all of you, but BuHi is only getting one mention in this Top 5, for completely legitimate reasons I will happily explain in just a few moments.
That being said, I found the flavor, whether traditional or not, because that’s what makes the best taco. I did the research, so you don’t have to. I searched far and wide, and I found the best. Here are my picks for the top 5 tacos in Atlanta, in order from “I could eat this fairly frequently” to “Tuesdays will never be the same again”.
This may come across as blasphemous to a good majority of you, but I was a bit underwhelmed with my options on Buford Highway. Allow me to explain. A lot of words are thrown around like “authentic” and “traditional” when it comes to BuHi tacos, but honestly, none of that matters without the most important word: FLAVOR. At most Buford Highway taco joints, I felt like I needed condiments to taste something, anything, on my tacos, but not at Supermarket Chicago. Supermarket Chicago makes the most flavorful meat on Buford Highway, and that’s why they’ve earned a spot on the Top 5. They also boast a pretty impressive toppings bar, which again, you don’t necessarily need because the meat can stand on its own.
So, I have a confession to make. The above picture isn’t actually of Superica’s carnitas taco. It’s a picture of their carnitas fajitas. Has a nice ring to it, right? Since fajitas come with flour tortillas, I’m treating their carnitas fajitas as deconstructed tacos, because they’re that tasty. What’s included in the carnitas care package, you ask? Superica’s fajitas come with some of their amazing guac, smoked onions, pice do gallo, the most gorgeous pieces of meaty, twice-cooked pork belly that you’ve ever seen, a literal tub of melted Mexican butter for dipping, and some of the best flour tortillas I’ve ever had. I don’t care how you feel about Ford Frye, the man is OK in my book if he’s giving me that much pork for my buck.
Mmmm, tongue. The food that tastes you back. If you’re like me, the idea of eating tongue (lengua) is less than appealing. Lengua is a very popular taco meat because of its “meaty flavor and soft texture”, but honestly, all I see is cubed-up taste buds, and I find the flavor to be less beefy and more minerally in many of the lengua tacos I’ve tried. However, at Rreal tacos, they are doing something genius. They are cooking their lengua down with tender, slow-cooked barbacoa. making the finished product succulent and unctuous. It’s kind of like breeding a poodle with a golden retriever. Separate, they’re pretty good, but mixed? Practically perfect.
Few things in life make me happier than gooey, melty cheese. The thought of said gooey, melty cheese being the main ingredient in a delicious taco almost makes me tear up. At Nueva Laredo, their queso flameado with chorizo also comes deconstructed, but trust me, assembling this taco is just as good as devouring it. The first step is spooning the still-bubbling queso blanco into the tender flour tortilla.
Next comes the chorizo, which is twice cooked to achieve all those delicious crispy brown bits you see pictured above. That’s where all the flavor lies, people. All of that meaty, cheesy yumminess is topped off with pico de gallo, which gives a freshness and acidity to the taco, and balances the flavors out perfectly. I had to share my queso flameado with friends on my last trip to Nuevo Laredo. There’s no chance in hell that’s happening again on my next visit.
Taco L 1000000 was recommended to me by a local chef, so I had a pretty good feeling about it from the get go. Then, I found out that, not only is this place OTP on some random side road in Marrietta, but that they’re serving tacos out of an unmarked food truck in a parking lot that’s shared with a gas station. My feeling then went from being “pretty good” to “1000000% certain” that I was about to eat something incredible.
When I arrived, I had no clue what I wanted. My usual move would be to order one of everything, but let’s get real, I’ll have to be wearing bathing suits soon. Luckily, they were happy to give me a small sample of any meat I wanted. I went with the barbacoa, pork and steak tacos, which come with diced onion and cilantro, and I added freshly sliced avocado and their house sauce for good measure. First off, all of the meats were so absolutely amazing. The corn tortillas were corny without tasting meal and held up great. The tortilla to filling ratio was perfect. And most importantly, everything tasted amazing together. These are easily the best tacos I’ve ever had, not just in Atlanta.
Now that I’ve eaten all of the tacos in Atlanta, I won’t need to guess where to go when I have a craving, and neither will you. That’s it for this week’s top 5. Now it’s your turn to go out and show these taco-making restaurants some love for doing such a phenomenal job. It’s up to us to separate the good eats from the bad and show recognition and appreciation where it’s due.
