The Commercial Appeal - Go Memphis
Cinco de Mayo: 5 must-try Memphis tacos
It’s Cinco de Mayo next week, and we think one of the best ways to celebrate is with tacos.
To help you decide which restaurant to order tacos from for your Cinco de Mayo fiesta, we asked The Commercial Appeal newsroom team to share their favorites.
Here are five of our favorite tacos.
Maciel’s Tacos & Tortas: Chicken Tinga Tacos Two locations: 820 Cooper St. and 45 S. Main St.; macielsonmain.com
You know those moments when you realize you have in fact progressed into adulthood? The Chicken Tinga Taco and I had one of those at Maciel’s recently.
This is not the deliciously greasy street cart taco you eat standing on the sidewalk with girlfriends after dancing all night. This taco is a classy, shredded chicken affair, billed as “spicy.” But for those of us who just expect our food to have flavor, the chipotle in the tinga sauce, coating more chicken than I thought could fit in a taco, brings just a little smoke. The onions and cilantro that top it off are a nice, fresh contrast. But it’s a couple squeezes of limes and added avocado, for me, that really make the chicken tinga sing, as my new grown-up taco of choice. (I’ll always love you, though, 2 a.m. street cart steak taco.)
— Sarah Macaraeg, investigative and features reporter
Taconganas Food Trucks: ‘Off the Menu’ Veggie Taco Multiple locations
On a warm Saturday in April, friends and families patiently wait in line listening to music on artificial grass. They are waiting for juicy tacos from the green Taconganas truck parked in the Malco Cordova Cinema lot.
The taco truck employees work fast cooking on a flat top grill, flipping marinated chicken and beef while someone prepares and packs the tacos, burritos
and consomé in Styrofoam to-go boxes.
Another employee calls the names and numbers of orders on a microphone.
The veggie Taconganas taco has a warm corn tortilla dipped in dried pepper oil filled with crisp pickled cabbage and carrots and topped with melted cheese, cilantro and onions.
The taco drips with juice, and each bite is accompanied by a cheese pull and
a mouth full of spices and a sour tang.
The tacos are best enjoyed sitting on one of the wooden benches in front of the truck and squirting some lime juice and pouring Taconganas’ homemade spicy salsa verde over every bite.
And just so you know, this veggie taco is not listed on the menu. But, they are happy to make this “off menu” taco when you ask.
Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana: Chicken Tinga Tacos
Two locations: 6300 Poplar Ave. and 1215 South Germantown Road, Germantown; delimexicana.com
As I walked into Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana for my first visit, I was greeted by a line of about five people. It took a