The Best Breakfast Tacos in San Antonio
Photograph by Christopher Lee
Who serves the most delicious gumbo in New Orleans? The top burrito in San Francisco? Welcome to Taste of the Town, where we call on a local expert to share the best versions of one of their city's most iconic foods.
Photography by Christopher Lee
Every morning taquerias throughout San Antonio fill with construction workers, nurses in scrubs, college students, and hurried families, all finding salvation in an iconic staple: the breakfast taco. No dish cuts across income, class, and geography quite like this combination of Mexican and American culture. The dish represents the best of the city, nestled in a warm tortilla.
People have been combining breakfast ingredients and fresh tortillas in Northern Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley since at least the early 1900s. Today, breakfast tacos are enmeshed in the fabric of Texas. As anybody who has spent time in San Antonio can attest, the city is home to some of the best in the state, with a style all our own. Much like a proper Neapolitan pizza lives or dies by its crust, great breakfast tacos depend on the quality of the tortilla. A proper San Antonio flour tortilla is sturdy, flaky, and—most importantly—handmade, as they are at each of the restaurants on this list.
You’ll find some combination of the same fillings—bacon, eggs, potato, chorizo, beans, and cheese—at almost every restaurant. Some also feature country sausage, diced weenies, and chicharrones stewed in luscious salsas. It’s the quality of these ingredients and how they’re prepared that can turn breakfast into a religious experience. Little touches at the best spots, like the chorizo chopped and carefully scrambled into the eggs at Little Taco Factory, show care and attention to detail.
These eight purveyors stand out for subtle flourishes that jump-start a perfect day.
Con Huevos Tacos
TOTT: The Best Breakfast Tacos in San Antonio
TOTT: The Best Breakfast Tacos in San Antonio
Chef Hugo Garcia opened Con Huevos Tacos in 2019 to honor the home cooking he grew up on in the Northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Garcia makes the thin flour tortillas of his home region to cradle classic and inspired fillings. Specialty breakfast tacos are named after important women in the chef’s life, such as the Carmen (a combination of potato, scrambled egg, melty shredded cheddar, avocado, and cilantro). He loads others with seasonal fillings such as cactus and sautéed calabaza squash. If your hunger extends beyond breakfast tacos, do not miss the quesadilla de deshebrada de res, an open-face fresh corn tortilla filled with tender, slightly spicy shredded beef, melted Oaxaca cheese, and bright cabbage slaw topped off with a drizzle of crema.
Taco House
Located between downtown and the San Antonio International Airport in a turquoiseÂ-trimmed midcentury building, Taco House is the ideal stop for a fix before you leave the city or right when you return. Second-generation owner Rose Leinen maintains the recipes and standards she inherited from her mother, Rose Mary Harper, who opened the restaurant in 1992. Although customers rave about the cheese enchiladas and puffy tacos, the breakfast taco lineup is what makes this place stand out. When Taco House had its 30th anniversary, regulars began asking for bean and cheese tacos toasted on a flattop grill, creating an instant classic. The crispness of the flour tortilla is a perfect foil to the oozing cheese and rich refried beans.
Mendez Cafe
This snug restaurant next to a West Side thoroughfare is an easy-to-miss destination for one of the city’s best breakfasts. Since 1986, Dolores and Lupe Mendez have been delighting South Siders with soul-Âsatisfying breakfast tacos and other early-morning staples like huevos rancheros. If you only have space for one taco, make it the carne guisada. The flavorÂful beef chunks in a spicy gravy are tender but not mushy, and while many South Side natives swear by adding cheese, the meat needs no adornment. Don’t sweat the choice; you can’t go wrong.
El Milagrito Café
Most taquerias serve barbacoa only on weekends, a testament to the time and attention the dish requires. El Milagrito serves it every day until they close or run out, and it’s always outstanding. At the restaurant, open and buzzing with customers since 1969, cooks combine a mixture of beef cheeks and meat from the head, wrap it in a maguey leaf, place a cow tongue on top, and steam it (the tongue is served separately). The maguey imparts a subtly vegetal flavor, and cooks reserve just enough fat so that each bite of meat is unctuous. Some diners order a barbacoa plate and assemble their own meal, while others prefer to have the tender meat packed into tacos by El Milagrito’s seasoned cooks. Either way, enjoy a side of potatoes cooked in red-tinged chorizo fat and shower each bite with a squeeze of fresh lime.
Maria’s Cafe
Maria Beza opened her snug taqueria in 1989, and her creative offerings established her namesake café as a neighborhood favorite. Here, you’ll find the Puffchilada, a puffy taco stuffed with a cheese enchilada, and the Taco Ondo, blending potato, egg, bacon, carne guisada gravy, and shredded yellow cheese. Outside, Maria’s husband, Tom, smokes a mean brisket that graces many of the best dishes. Try the Big Joe’s Taco, with chorizo, egg, bacon, brisket, cheese, and bright pico de gallo. For something a bit leaner, go for the El Mayor, a tribute to Mayor Ron Nirenberg (a one-time bodybuilder who keeps in impressive shape) with eggs, beans, and serrano chiles on a corn tortilla. A sign describing the mayor’s namesake taco is tacked onto a corkboard alongside his autograph and a note proclaiming “Viva Maria!”
Little Taco Factory
A chorizo and egg taco is simple, but the combination is tricky to get right. The chorizo is often greasy while the egg is prone to becoming rubbery. The Little Taco Factory’s version is a masterclass. Owner Maria Rodriguez takes the time to drain the chorizo and mix the crumbles while cooking the egg so the filling is evenly seasoned. The Rodriguez family has honed their technique since 1970, drawing diners from downtown and the surrounding neighborhood for tacos, gooey yellow cheese enchiladas, and loaded combo plates. Expect to order your breakfast to go because there are only a handful of tables in the tiny dining room.
Original Donut Shop
TOTT: The Best Breakfast Tacos in San Antonio
Cars pack the two drive-through lanes most mornings at this institution that has served the Northwest Side since 1954. One lane is labeled “tacos,” and the other “donuts.” Though the apple fritter is award-worthy, the breakfast tacos are the main attraction. Fresh tortillas are rolled out in view of the dining room, and señoras scoop fillings from a steam table and wrap the tacos in aluminum foil to order. The chorizo and potato taco is a delight, featuring chunks of potato rich with spicy pork fat and bits of salty meat. Staff chat in Spanish during the occasional lull between rushes and fresh tortillas perfume the air, making the space feel like a friend’s dining room.
Yatzil
There’s a bit of neighborly debate surrounding the proper preparation of chilaquiles. The San Antonio approach is to mix tortilla chips with pico de gallo and scrambled eggs, while the version popular south of the border prefers tortilla chips or strips cooked in salsa and topped with queso fresco and crema. Yatzil’s breakfast taco is something of a culinary handshake. The chori-quiles taco combines Mexican chilaquiles in a gently spicy salsa roja with chorizo, scrambled egg, and a flurry of white cheese. It’s all wrapped in an almost buttery flour tortilla. Whichever style you might prefer, you’ll be right at home at Yatzil.
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
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