Taco Journalism's Favorite Tacos of 2013

What a crazy year this has been! We wrote and published our first taco book on Austin's iconic Breakfast Tacos. It became a local best seller and y'all really seem to like it! :) In addition to our new found author-dom, we still eat a lot of tacos, pretty much every day, and in the spirit of the season of lists we decided to name our current favorite tacos in Austin.

In 2013, we ate tacos from everywhere - old school tacos we have loved for years, new & exciting tacos we discovered on our travels and some tacos we shall not name here. Without further ado we would like to present our favorite tacos of 2013:

Sergio from Papalote/Azul Tequilla

El Mundo de Mando
Upset of the year! Sorry no bacon, no Tex-Mex cheesy-nees, not even al pastor. The one that won me over was Papalote's Rajas y Hongos taco. It's sweet and spicy and just warms your belly. just like abuelita used to make.

 Rajas y Hongos Taco - Poblano pepper strips topped with onions, zucchini, mushrooms, cream sauce, cabbage, and queso fresco. Buy a few.

Joe's Bakery Tacos

Cornbiter Deluxe
My favorite taco of 2013 is the Migas Plate at Joe's Bakery. I tear up the amazing homemade flour tortillas and make mini tacos as I go. The combination of the incredible flour tortillas, delicious migas, insane beans and the hot jalapeño salsa has been my jam in the '13.



The Commish
2013 was the year of the Crispy Taco for me. I have to award a tie for favorite as I love a good taco, but I'm also really, really cheap. The "Old School" at Mellizoz wins out for best. It has a hand-fried crispy shell with top quality ingredients inside. At 95c, Tamale House East's crispy taco is cheap AND delicious. And you can order almost 3 times the tacos for the same price as the "Old School". (Technically, you can order 2.8 tacos for the same price. I'm not sure how receptive they'll be to an order for 3/5 of a taco, but you should try anyways. You're on a budget.)

El Jarod

Migas Taco from Veracruz

I'm also gonna go with the tie this year. I've been eating two tacos pretty consistently for the past year. For me, 2013 has been the year of the Carne Guisada, Bean & Cheese tacos at Joe's Bakery and the Migas Taco from Veracruz All Natural.
1. This year my world became a little brighter when I added a regular trip to see the amazing taco angels at Veracruz All Natural (1704 E Cesar Chavez & E. 6th and Waller) Their migas tacos are so perfect and so delicious and so soul piercingly amazing that I dare you to not fall in love with those little pieces of heaven.
2. Joe's Carne Gusiada is stewy, meaty goodness. When you add some refried beans & cheese up there - it just takes it to a whole other level.

Papalote
Joe's Bakery
Mellizoz
Tamale House East
Veracruz All Natural


Happy Holidays and see y'all in 2014 and beyond!!

-The Taco Mafia