Angela’s Cafe
Launched in 2007, this homey restaurant with branches in Eagle Hill and Orient Heights is an East Boston institution. Founder Angela Atenco Lopez, a Puebla native, introduced many a local diner to traditional dishes like mole poblano and pipian verde. Since her death five years ago, her family continues the tradition. The tacos are always good: soft and fragrant corn tortillas filled with pork, steak, shrimp, and more, garnished with onion and cilantro. While you’re in, try the chiles en nogada, stuffed poblanos in a creamy white walnut sauce, sprinkled with red pomegranate seeds and green parsley: the colors of the flag. They’re served this time each year, in honor of the holiday.
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131 Lexington St., Eagle Hill, 617-567-4972; 1012 Bennington St., Orient Heights, 617-874-8251; East Boston; www.angelascafeboston.com. Tacos $2.50-$5 each.
Crispy shrimp tacos with a prickly pear margarita at Barra. A new fall menu is coming soon.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Barra
Mexico City-style food from Mexico City natives. The slip of a bar has a great nighttime vibe plus plenty of mezcal and sotol, on their own or in cocktails. (You can get your margarita with a chile-grasshopper rim if you like.) Along with other delights, the menu includes tacos made with hand-pressed tortillas, blistered and charred. Try the crisp fried fish with morita chile mayonnaise, pickled cabbage, and a dollop of avocado salsa.
23a Bow St., Union Square, Somerville, 617-764-1750, www.barraunionsquare.com. Tacos $8-$9 each.
Casa Verde
Here’s a departure from tradition, and a welcome one, particularly for vegetarians. Chef Valentine Howell, who wowed diners at Krasi and his Black Cat pop-up at Vee Vee, has remade the menu at this Jamaica Plain spot. Now tacos range freely from carnitas to fried chicken with bread and butter pickles. I like the meat-free versions, such as yuca fritters with kale curtido and chipotle ranch; roasted carrots with charred scallion salsa and avocado crema; and Brussels sprouts with pomegranate, cotija cheese, and salsa verde (visually appropriate for Mexican Independence Day). Quesabirria tacos, the omnipresent griddled beef and cheese tacos served with consomme for dipping, are made here with jackfruit too.
711 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-477-9977, www.casaverdejp.com. Tacos $7.60 each.
A lengua taco at Chilacates.Kayana Szymczak
Chilacates
This tiny spot serving Mexican street food — hecho a mano con amor — opened on Amory Street in Jamaica Plain 10 years ago. Since then it’s expanded. There are nearly a dozen locations, from Brookline to Cambridge to South Boston. The original is still the best, and it’s the one I continue to go to, even though there’s a different branch around the corner from me. Tacos on handmade tortillas with potato and chorizo, carnitas, grilled shrimp, and more are always satisfying; order a plate, which comes with rice and beans. Don’t forget to ask for extra hot sauce. It’s good. (With the addition of the delightful but less taco-focused Abuela’s Table, JP’s Mexican food scene is on the up.)
224 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, 617-522-6000, www.chilacatesmx.com. Tacos $4.99-$5.99 each.
Esquite
A cheerful ode to Mexican street food, Revere’s tiny, tasty Esquite helps make this corner of Shirley Avenue shine. It’s located across from Revere Beach Pizzeria and next to 4 Season Boba Tea. America, the beautiful intersection. The owners ran food cart Eloti prior to opening this location and another on North Shore Road, and they still sell the Mexican corn they became known for. It’s part of a long menu stocked with delicious things — including excellent Mexico City-style tacos, from birria to carne asada to cochinita pibil with pickled onions.
194 Shirley Ave., Revere, 781-629-5713, www.esquiterestaurant.com. 1148 North Shore Road, Revere, 781-629-5117, www.esquitetaqueria.com. Tacos $4.99-$5.99 each.
Pátzcuaro’s birria tacos, filled with braised beef, cheese, onion, and cilantro, served with beef consomme. House-made salsas elevate whatever they touch.Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe
Pátzcuaro Taqueria & Bar
This warm and friendly Newton restaurant is named for the town in Michoacán, Mexico, where chef-owner Avelina Saavedra grew up in her father’s taqueria. Tacos are served with caramelized onions and potatoes, as they are back home. The birria version with its rich consomme is a highlight, but you can’t go wrong here. The house-made salsas elevate whatever they touch.
398 Watertown St., Newton, 857-297-2079, www.patzcuaronewton.com. Tacos $6-$7 each.
On the side of Plazita Mexico Tacos in Watertown are the words “No Tacos No Life.”Devra First
Plazita Mexico Tacos
The words “No Tacos No Life” are painted on the side of this Watertown taqueria, and eating here makes me inclined to agree. If the message isn’t enough to lure you in, the beguilingly tortilla-scented air surrounding the place will be. Plazita Mexico opened here in December; its original Wakefield branch debuted in 2023. Meats are juicy, salsas are on point, house-made tortillas are thick, pliant, and fragrant. I’m a little jealous of the Watertown High students who get to eat here all the time. Come on the weekends if you want tamales.
385 Main St., Watertown, 617-923-2339; 10 Vernon St., Wakefield, 781-666-0364; www.plazitamexicotacos.com. Tacos $3.25-$4.95 each.
The Taqueria Don Roge truck is parked in a lot on Revere Beach Parkway in Everett.Devra First
Taqueria Don Roge
When you see the red truck, pull into the parking lot. On Revere Beach Parkway in Everett, Taqueria Don Roge serves tacos worth the stop. Customers range from police officers to food-tripping hipsters to Spanish-speaking locals. Place your order, take a buzzer, and soon enough you’ll be cradling a container of warm tortillas filled with cabeza, lengua, al pastor, and more.
1739 Revere Beach Parkway, Everett, 781-513-7340, www.taqueriadonroge.com. Tacos $3.49-$4.49 each.
A carne asada taco at Taqueria El Amigo.Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff
Taqueria El Amigo
A beloved classic in Waltham: friendly, tasty, speedy. You’ll know the place by the Mexican flags that hang outside. Walls are decorated with folk art and kids’ drawings, and banda music plays on the speakers. Get your tacos to go, or if you’re lucky grab one of the handful of tables in this tiny taqueria run by the Timoteo brothers, who took over a few years ago. The cabeza taco, made with tender and rich beef cheek, is a favorite.
196 Willow St., Waltham, 781-642-7410, www.taqueria-elamigo.com. Tacos $3.75-$4.95 each.
Taqueria Jalisco is deservedly known for its birria tacos.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Taqueria Jalisco
Open for more than 20 years in East Boston’s Day Square, this has long been a contender for Boston’s best tacos. Owner Ramiro Gonzalez grew up in California, where his parents operated taco trucks. He learned the business, and their recipes. Three months ago, he opened a second Taqueria Jalisco, in Orient Heights. It is just right for the neighborhood, serving a similar menu in an Instagram-ready space. Staff make fresh tortillas on one side of the restaurant. Kids are here eating dinner with their parents; people are celebrating birthdays (the staff sings, and the whole room joins in); customers lose their minds over the soccer game on at the bar. It’s festive and delightful, and the food is still great.
Greis Garcia makes tortillas at Taqueria Jalisco in the Orient Heights neighborhood of East Boston.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Now there’s also breakfast, with chilaquiles, concha French toast, and other Mexican and American classics. A full cocktail list serves up Oaxacan Old Fashioneds, spiked aguas frescas, and margaritas garnished with house-made popsicles. But I digress! You’re here for the tacos. Al pastor, lengua, cabeza, adobada … all are excellent as always. And the birria tacos, for which Taqueria Jalisco is well-known, remain some of the best around.
980 Saratoga St., Orient Heights, 617-418-5121; 293 Bennington St., Day Square, 617-567-6367; East Boston; Instagram @taqueriajaliscoeb. Tacos $4.50-$5.50 each.
Alberto Salinas tends bar at Taqueria Jalisco, where you can get your margarita garnished with a house-made popsicle.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @devrafirst.
Dining and Cooking