I love tacos. Some might even say I’m obsessed with tacos. You could even go as far as calling me taco loco. I didn’t really even have a real taco until I was in my early 20’s. I grew up with Americanized Mexican food like Taco Bell and Chichi’s in Ohio and a good taco just didn’t exist. When I began a life of travel I began frequenting food stalls whenever I could and it opened my eyes to the vastness of the taco landscape. Now that I’m settled in Brooklyn, I make frequent trips to the taqueria. I’ve eaten a lot of bad tacos in Brooklyn, though the majority are as good as anything I have found in Mexico. Here are my ten favorite tacos in Brooklyn:

The markets of Oaxaca, Mexico draw tourists from across the world who come to shop for the unique and wide array of traditional Mexican crafts, foods, and to soak in the enchanting atmosphere.

The Riviera Maya on the Caribbean coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula is more traditionally thought of as dead space for the adventurous foodie. Most assume that, like Cancun, it’s filled with American chain restaurants and overpriced resort food. To some extent that’s true, but there is also some excellent street food, regional restaurants not aimed at tourists, and a growing group of internationally trained chefs that are utilizing the products of the Yucatan.

I’ve been intrigued with Mompox, Colombia (sometimes called Mompos) since I first heard about it. The colonial town 125 miles south of Cartagena de Indias on the coast on an island surrounded by marshes in the middle of the Magdalenas and was once a port used to store gold, silver,… Read More →

Across from a Mega super store the world’s saddest looking mariachi is playing to a packed open-air grill, Taqueria El Fogón. There’s not an open table in sight. One large horno a la leña, wood fired oven sits on one side of the restaurant. A cook is preparing Tacos Al Pastor. He’s cutting off pork from a tower of spit-roasted meat, a Shawrama like cooking style brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants. Beers are served michelada, with hot sauce, limejuice, Worcestershire sauce, and a salted rim. Waiters race across the restaurant with trays of Alambre Beef, Chorizo Quesadillas, and Tacos and Tortas of various fillings. Three bowls of hot sauce sit on every table. It’s lively and local, though a few tourists wander in. When the mariachi is done he packs his things up in a wooden crate and covers it with a black garbage bag and walks off into the night.

Every May 5, you hear of a holiday called Cinco de Mayo, and, even though you don’t really know what it celebrates, you know that Corona and salty margaritas are half price at the bar around the corner.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico is a city that didn’t really even exist 15 years ago. It’s surrounded by jungle, now the city has been infiltrated by hundreds of hotels and even more restaurants, many of which serve stylish, contemporry food. Being that there was nothing here before and Cancun was never exactly a gastronomic hotspot, where do the chefs come from?

Not far from the Señor Frog’s restaurant and jewelry shops where the more than one ginormous cruise ship docks each day in Cozumel’s main town of San Miguel, there’s a small market serving the local population. Few tourists venture past Avenida 10, so the market sits several blocks beyond the border of where real Cozumel begins.

Until a trip to Mexico last week, I have never quite grasped the concept premium, sipping tequilas. While I’ve always dug margaritas in just about any flavor, well tequila shots have lead to far too many bad incidents that I tried to avoid “My Mexican Cousin” at all costs. With the number of 100% agave Reposados and Anejos now on the market in the United States growing daily, I knew I couldn’t avoid exploring the better end of the spectrum any longer. My first purchase, a Partida Reposado.