Con Todo serves “comida frontera” inspired by the food in the Rio Grande Valley, which means barbacoa, carne asada, alambre, queso flameado, bistec estilo Matamoros, and more. It’s this hyper-regional focus, combined with obvious skill and technique, that results in small but ridiculously delicious tacos, all served on supple homemade corn tortillas and topped with intensely flavorful and spicy salsas. What To Get: Barbacoa; Bistec estilo Matamoros; Chori papa tostada

Cuantos Tacos specializes in Mexico City-style tacos, consisting of a double layer of tiny corn tortillas filled with a few different meat options (plus a mushroom one). Ask five friends what their favorite is and you’ll end up with five different answers, but the suadero and cachete are our favorites, along with the weekly lengua special. The tacos are small enough that you can try them all if you’re up for it. What To Get: Suadero taco; Cachete taco; Champiñones quesadilla

Hiding in the parking lot of Michi Ramen are some of our favorite tacos in Austin. The carnitas are sous vide, and the refried beans are lentils, but this blend of contemporary techniques with traditional flavors bridges a gap we didn’t know Austin needed. Show up on Saturdays to get the trompo al pastor, or show up any day they’re open for some excellent carnitas, bistek, and nopalitos. What to get: Bistec taco; Carnitas taco; Nopalitos taco

Nixta Taqueria might best be known for their nixtamalized blue corn tortillas and their very delicious duck carnitas taco, a mainstay of their menu. What sets Nixta even further apart is that a lot of the menu leans vegetarian and sometimes even vegan. A lot of flavor gets coaxed out of vegetables here—we’re especially big fans of the roasted cauliflower taco with romesco, as well as the beet “tartare” tostada with avocado crema and salsa macha. What to get: Duck carnitas taco; Cauliflower taco

Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop is an East Side staple that’s been around since 1962 serving exceptional Tex-Mex/Mexican diner food. We’re big fans of the breakfast tacos here, made with fluffy house-made flour tortillas. Get the miga taco con todo, with still-crispy tortilla chips, as well as the super-crispy bacon that defies all the laws of pork belly physics. And don’t miss the super-tender carne guisada taco. What to get: Miga taco con todo; Bacon, egg, and cheese taco; Carne guisada taco

The suadero tacos at Suerte have developed a cult-like following, due in equal parts to the tender, confit brisket, the house-made nixtamalized corn tortillas, and something called black magic oil. What’s black magic oil, you might ask? It’s a secret, which basically just means that they don’t even know. What we do know is that it’s garlicky, funky, a little spicy, and we’d put it on everything if we could. What to get: Suadero tacos

The default and best way to order the epic carnitas at El Guero here is "surtido," and you'll get a mix of the slow-cooked meats—pork butt, ribs, belly, stomach, and skin—all chopped to order. Or you can get it however you want: lean, fatty, extra skin, or no skin. While the orden personal is technically shareable, you won’t want to. It comes with a half pound of carnitas, a mess of corn tortillas, two kinds of salsa, pickled onions, and a crispy doradita. What to get: Carnitas

As Steve Jobs one said: “Do not try to do everything. Do one thing well.” This is the mantra at Discada, where they only offer a single taco blending marinated beef, pork, and veggies that have been cooked on a large wok-like apparatus called a discada and served on a corn tortilla. They come topped with onion, cilantro, and pineapple, and they’re delicious. What To Get: Discada taco

Everybody likes to think that the little truck down the street from their house makes the best tacos in the city. But those living in Windsor Park might have a legitimate claim. The street tacos at El Buen Taquero are tiny but carried out with the grizzled expertise of someone who grew up on an exclusive diet of well-seasoned, crispy pork. What to get: Al pastor tacos on corn

Autenticos Michoacanos is a food trailer located in a parking lot near Menchaca Dr (and Stassney), with a wide menu of tacos, tortas, quesadillas, machetes, and just about anything else you can fit inside of a tortilla, including quesabirria with consomé. We’re especially partial to the campechano tacos here that pack a savory mix of beef and pork into some excellent house-made corn tortillas. What to get: Campechano taco; Quesabirria taco

We really like when places focus on doing one thing exceptionally well, and at La Santa Barbacha, barbacoa takes center stage. The tender shredded beef is slow-cooked and intensely aromatic, and really pops with the bright contrast of fresh cilantro and white onions. Tacos are the focus here, and they’re served on bright green and red tortillas. You can also get the barbacoa on sopes, in chilaquiles bowls, and in quesadilla form. What to get: Barbacoa tacos; Quesabarbacha

Taqueria 10 de 10 is located in the back of the bar ReyRey a few blocks from Dirty Sixth, and entering through the alleyway feels like a reverse speakeasy, where alcohol serves as a front for a secret taqueria. Once you make it inside and walk past the disco ball, you’ll see a giant trompo spinning al pastor while a hot grill finishes up slabs of carne asada and diners crowd around a few small countertops. What to get: Carne asada taco on flour, al pastor on corn

Vaquero Taquero by campus makes some of our favorite breakfast tacos in Austin, and they’ve since opened a second spot downtown. Both locations serve some of our favorite al pastor in town. Cooked on a trompo, the meat is savory, spicy, and charred and it’s served on either handmade corn or flour tortillas and topped with an expert combination of salsa verde, avocado crema, onions, cilantro, and pineapple. What to get: Al pastor tacos; Breakfast tacos

The simple menu at De Nada Cantina on East Cesar Chavez consists of about a dozen lunch and breakfast tacos, all served on housemade blue corn tortillas. We like to get the fish taco here—it comes topped with pickled pineapples that provide a sweet and salty balance to the thick slabs of seared gulf fish—and round it out with a carnitas taco topped with salsa macha. This is also one of the better places to get crispy shell tacos outside of your favorite fast food “taqueria,” AKA Taco Bell.

In a parking lot at Rundberg and Lamar, Tacos El Charly is a cash-only taco truck that doesn’t even open until 7pm. It’s open super late, and there’s almost always a crowd. All the classic fillings are covered here, but the al pastor is the reason to keep coming back. Cooked on a trompo, the al pastor gets shaved thin, crisped up to order, and packed with layers upon layers of flavor. What to get: Al pastor tacos on corn (mini or regular); Gringa al pastor

The tacos at Palo Seco (formerly known as La Tunita 512) are excellent, and the chili and lime-infused consomé is so good that we’ve debated if it’s socially acceptable to carry around a small flask of it. They usually have a limited menu of rotating specials and tortas here, but most of the people anxiously lined up are here for the beef birria tacos or the quesabirria. What to get: Birria and quesabirra tacos

El Perrito in South Austin serves El Paso-style food, something of a rarity in Austin. Get the very good tacos ahogados, in which fried flautas—filled with shredded chicken or ground beef and potato—get doused in a spicy tomato-based chile sauce, sprinkled with cheese, and then topped with a salsa verde. We’re also fans of their griddled, crispy tacos topped with shredded lettuce, tomato, and grated Muenster-style cheese. What to get: Tacos ahogados; Crispy taco

The migas taco at Veracruz All-Natural sets the bar for all other migas tacos. Like Super Mario Bros. 3 or the brisket at Franklin Barbecue, they’re best-in-class—a legend. What makes these migas tacos so much better than all the other ones out there? The ingredients (they make their own tortilla chips), the execution, and the attention to detail (they take their time cooking things). What to get: Migas originales; Migas poblanas

A lot of people will tell you to head to CJ’s Tacos near Burleson and Ben White for birria tacos. And while you can get great versions of them, we’re here for the fish tacos. The fish packs a delicate flavor, with flaky, tender meat, and the crispy batter serves as the perfect contrast to the fluffy corn tortilla holding it all together. Top it with a bit of sweet mango pico and some creamy chipotle mayo, and you’ve got one of the best fish tacos in town. What to get: Fish taco

El Tacorrido has multiple locations around town, and more likely than not there will be a line of cars backed up in the drive thru because yes, the tacos are that good. We’re most impressed with their dedication to the many varieties of pork-based tacos, including a textbook carnitas taco and the revuelta taco—a triumvirate that combines cuerita, buche, and carnitas, all into a textural and flavorful triumph. What to get: Carnitas taco; Revuelta taco

Unless you’ve been to Granny’s—or have your own grandmother with a family recipe for excellent mole and chilaquiles—there’s a good chance you haven’t had a breakfast taco quite like their chilaquil taco. Here crispy corn chips in a fluffy flour tortilla get topped with a spicy and earthy house-made mole, cotija cheese, onion, and pickled jalapeno. This is an eggless taco, but after a few of those ultra-savory and crunchy bites, you’ll forget eggs ever existed. What to get: Chilaquil taco

Las Trancas is one of Austin’s favorite spots for late-night tacos, and their close proximity to downtown on Cesar Chavez makes them perfect for soaking up a few drinks after a long night out, without sacrificing on flavor. There are a lot of solid options here, but you should definitely make some crispy tripas, lengua, and carnitas tacos a part of your order. What to get: Crispy tripas; Lengua; Carnitas; Campechano tacos

Tacos al vapor aren’t a style we’ve seen a lot of in Austin, which makes it especially exciting when one of the city’s few options is a great one. The tacos here—first stuffed with a thin layer of meat, then seasoned, fried, and steamed until they become soft and flexible—pack a lot of flavor into a small, corn tortilla envelope. We like the chicharron and the dishebrada de res (shredded beef). What to get: Tacos al vapor with chicharron or deshebrada de res; Lengua taco

When you’re drunk at a bar downtown, all tacos are good tacos. And for that reason, we had to make a follow-up visit to Asador after we woke up the next morning reminiscing on dreams of crispy, griddled brisket tacos. There are three locations downtown—Buford’s, Las Perlas, and on Rainey—so the tacos here clearly cater to a post-bar clientele. But we can confirm after an evening of nothing but Topo Chicos that they live up to our memories. What to get: Brisket taco; Grilled chicken taco

Existing as equal parts panaderia and taqueria, Mi Tradicion wears many hats, and it wears them well. There are some really interesting specialties—including a plate-sized taco stuffed with rice, beans, and a fried chile relleno—but our favorite here is the bistek. It’s seasoned well and cut just thick enough to keep each bite juicy without getting chewy. What to get: Bistek tacos, chile relleno tacos de arroz

Waiting in lines for food is basically a sport in Austin. There’s often a very good reason for the line—and at El Primo’s it’s the fantastic breakfast tacos. Like moths to a light, people are powerless to the migas tacos (the default version is made with deli ham, which is pretty unique to this place) and the homemade chorizo and egg. What to get: Migas (with ham); Chorizo and egg