Most taquería menu boards are a short list of Spanish words and no descriptions, on the reasonable assumption that you already know. Here is the list, so you can order the thing you actually want.
The meats
- Al pastor
- Pork marinated in dried chiles and achiote, stacked on a vertical spit and carved off as it roasts, usually with pineapple. Lebanese shawarma by way of Puebla. Our full guide to al pastor.
- Carne asada
- Grilled beef, chopped. Skirt or flank, marinated simply, cooked hot and fast. Judged on char and on whether it stayed juicy.
- Carnitas
- Pork slow-cooked in its own fat until tender, then crisped. Michoacán's contribution. Should be simultaneously soft and browned — never uniformly grey.
- Barbacoa
- Meat — traditionally lamb or goat, often beef in the US — steamed or pit-cooked slowly until it shreds. Sunday food.
- Birria
- Chile-braised stew from Jalisco, traditionally goat, now commonly beef, served with consommé for dipping. See the birria guide.
- Suadero
- A thin cut between the belly and the leg of the cow, confited slowly until velvety. Mexico City's signature. Mild, rich, and a good gateway to the offal cuts.
- Lengua
- Beef tongue, simmered for hours, peeled, and diced. Silky and mild — texturally closer to pot roast than to anything alarming. The cut that most often converts a skeptic.
- Tripa
- Beef small intestine, cleaned and then fried until the outside is crisp and the inside stays chewy. Assertive. Order it when the shop is known for it.
- Cabeza
- Meat from the head, steamed until it falls apart. Rich and gelatinous.
- Buche
- Pork stomach, simmered then fried. Chewy, porky, and a Southwest Boulevard staple.
- Chicharrón
- Pork skin. Fried crisp on its own, or stewed in salsa (chicharrón en salsa verde) until it goes soft and absorbs everything.
- Pollo asado
- Grilled chicken. Judge it on whether it is seasoned through or only on the surface.
- Pescado / camarón
- Fish and shrimp. Battered and fried in the Baja style, or grilled. Usually served with cabbage and a crema-based sauce rather than raw onion.
- Nopalitos
- Prickly pear cactus paddles, diced and cooked. Slightly tart, texturally close to green beans. Common as a side or a vegetarian filling.
- Rajas
- Strips of roasted poblano pepper, frequently with cream and corn. The most reliable vegetarian order on a traditional menu.
Advertisement
The forms
- Taco
- Filling in a folded tortilla. Everything below is a variation on where the tortilla went.
- Quesabirria
- Birria and cheese griddled inside a fat-dipped tortilla until crisp, served with consommé.
- Quesadilla
- In central Mexico, a folded tortilla with filling — and famously not always with cheese. In the US, assume cheese.
- Torta
- A sandwich on a soft roll, usually with beans, avocado, and the same fillings as the tacos.
- Tostada
- A flat fried tortilla with the toppings on top. Structurally doomed and worth it.
- Sope
- Thick masa disc with a pinched rim to hold beans, meat, and salsa.
- Huarache
- A larger, sandal-shaped masa base — hence the name — with the same treatment.
- Gordita
- Thick masa pocket, split and stuffed.
- Tamal
- Masa steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf around a filling. Plural tamales; one is a tamal.
- Vampiro
- A tortilla crisped hard on the griddle, often cheese-first, then topped.
- Mulita
- Two tortillas with meat and cheese between, griddled. A taco sandwich.
Salsas and sides
- Salsa roja
- Red, from dried or roasted red chiles and tomato. Usually the deeper, earthier of the pair.
- Salsa verde
- Green, from tomatillos and green chiles. Brighter and more acidic — generally the better match for fatty meats.
- Pico de gallo
- Raw chopped tomato, onion, chile, cilantro, lime. Fresh, not cooked.
- Guacamole / salsa de aguacate
- Chunky mashed avocado, versus a thinner pourable avocado-and-tomatillo sauce. The latter is more common on tacos.
- Crema
- Mexican cultured cream. Thinner and tangier than sour cream.
- Queso fresco / cotija
- Fresh crumbling cheese, versus a hard salty aged one. Neither melts like cheddar and neither is trying to.
- Cebolla encurtida
- Pickled red onion. Yucatecan by origin, now everywhere, and correct on almost anything.
- Consommé
- The strained braising liquid served alongside birria for dipping.
- Escabeche
- Pickled jalapeños and carrots. The little cup that is always on the counter.
Equipment and technique
- Trompo
- The vertical spit that al pastor is carved from. Literally "spinning top."
- Comal
- Flat griddle for cooking tortillas.
- Plancha
- The flat-top griddle for meat.
- Molino
- The mill that grinds nixtamalized corn into masa. A shop with one is telling you something.
- Nixtamal
- Corn cooked in an alkaline solution — the process that makes masa possible. See tortillas and masa.
- Masa
- The wet corn dough itself.
- Masa harina
- Nixtamalized corn dried and milled to flour, rehydrated at the shop.
- Tortilleria
- A tortilla factory. Often attached to a taquería or carniceria, and usually a very good sign.
- Carniceria
- A butcher shop. Many of the best taquerias in Kansas City are attached to one.
- Taquería
- The taco shop itself.
Ordering phrases
- Con todo
- "With everything" — onion, cilantro, salsa.
- Sin cebolla / sin cilantro
- Without onion / without cilantro.
- Para llevar
- To go.
- Para aquí
- For here.
- ¿Qué me recomienda?
- "What do you recommend?" The single most valuable sentence on this page. Ask it, then order that.
Regional usage varies — a word that means one thing in Mexico City can mean another in Sonora, and Kansas City menus borrow from everywhere. If a shop uses a term differently, the shop is right about its own menu. Tell us what we should add.