{"id":383436,"date":"2026-07-02T10:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/383436\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T10:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:35:21","slug":"where-to-find-the-best-mexico-city-style-tacos-and-chilaquiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/383436\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to find the best Mexico City-style tacos and chilaquiles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Though I\u2019m a lifelong lover of chilaquiles, I have yet to scratch the surface of the depth and breadth of styles offered throughout Mexico. Jimmy Shaw, the Mexico City native who opened Loteria Grill<\/a> in Los Angeles, once told The Times\u2019 Steve Lopez<\/a> that \u201cthere are as many chilaquiles recipes as there are homes in Mexico.\u201d Shaw made his with thick tortilla chips tossed in a pan with salsa verde and garnished with plenty of crema.<\/p>\n

You might find chilaquiles rojo in Guadalajara with chips simmered in an earthy sauce made from tomatoes and chiles. Or mountains of chips covered in mole or salsa fortified with chile pasilla in Oaxaca. In Los Angeles, they\u2019re everywhere, served alongside eggs or as a hearty filling in countless tortas.<\/p>\n

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When writer and Mexican cuisine expert Bill Esparza<\/a> says a restaurant serves the best chilaquiles in the city, you pay attention.<\/p>\n

I bookmarked Taquearte after Esparza\u2019s Eater article<\/a> on its excellent chilaquiles. And it was Food manager Laurie Ochoa<\/a>\u2018s inclusion of the restaurant in our 101 Best Tacos guide<\/a> (and her mom\u2019s love of the chilaquiles<\/a>) that brought me to a Pico Rivera strip mall on a recent Friday afternoon in search of tacos campechanos<\/a> and the chilaquiles that would forever alter how I feel about totopos and salsa. <\/p>\n

\"Taquearte <\/p>\n

Taquearte restaurant in Pico Rivera specializes in Mexico City-style chilaquiles and tacos. <\/p>\n

(Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

It was just shy of 2 p.m., and the dining room, filled with a mix of cafe chairs and picnic-style bench seating, was still bustling. Taquearte is a daytime operation that closes at 4 p.m., but there tends to be a line until someone locks the front door. On the walls, black-and-white printouts of newspaper articles, magazines and book pages looked like they were plucked from a Pinterest board on scrapbooking.<\/p>\n

\"Chilaquiles <\/p>\n

The chilaquiles divorciados at Taquearte in Pico Rivera.<\/p>\n

(Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

I ordered the chilaquiles verdes picositos with over-easy eggs and New York steak, then attempted to find a seat. The restaurant shares real estate with Duran\u2019s Bakery, and when it\u2019s busy (always), diners move through the space, looking longingly at the pastry case filled with conchas, barquillo and ni\u00f1o envuelto on their way out to the patio. On days when the Taquearte line stretches into the parking lot, the smell \u2014 and sight \u2014 of the pan dulce may be too much to bear, and you\u2019ll wind up with shards of orejas on your shirt before you order breakfast.<\/p>\n

But on this first visit, the chilaquiles arrived within minutes. The chips were barely visible under an avalanche of green sauce, crumbled cheese, zigzags of crema, two fried eggs and a strip of steak that dangled over opposite sides of the bowl. I moved the eggs and steak aside, then plunged a fork into the mountain of chips. The tang of the sauce was eye-widening and immediate, crackling with the bright, citrusy charge of tomatillos and serrano chiles. A few bites in, the guacachile announced itself in rippling waves of heat.<\/p>\n

Scattered over the top were generous pebbles of queso panela, mild, milky and squeaky like halloumi. The chips beneath were noticeably thin, delicate but sturdy enough to retain their crunch. They hovered in a magical state of limbo between wet and dry, crisp and wilted.<\/p>\n

At Taquearte, owners Monica Quinto and Anyelo Farf\u00e1n are championing a style of chilaquiles specific to their childhoods in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

Taquearte<\/p>\n

4518 1\/2 Rosemead Blvd., Pico Rivera, (323) 545-7387, instagram.com\/taquearte.california<\/a> <\/p>\n

Prices: Starters including chicharr\u00f3n de queso and guacamole and chips $7.49- $16.49, tacos $6, campechanos $8, chilaquiles $11.50 – $16, mega quecas and molletes $11.50 – $12, flan de la casa, jericalla and other desserts $6, non-alcoholic beverages $3.59 – $5. <\/p>\n

Details: Open Monday through Saturday for breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Free parking lot and street parking.<\/p>\n

Recommended dishes: Chilaquiles divorciados, campechanos with with costilla and chorizo, chicharron de queso, molletes and mega queca. <\/p>\n

To drink: The restaurant\u2019s cooler is stocked with a variety of non-alcoholic beverages, including Mexican Coke, Jarritos, Fanta and other sodas. And you can count on a few aguas frescas like horchata or cucumber and lemon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up with my mom\u2019s chilaquiles recipe,\u201d said Quinto during a recent call. \u201cAnd the queso panela is definitely a Mexico City thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The green sauce is Quinto\u2019s mother\u2019s recipe, while the rojos comes from Farf\u00e1n\u2019s family. It\u2019s a tomatoey salsa punched up with red chile serrano, and guacachile if you order it spicy. Though the menu doesn\u2019t advertise it, you can go red and green halfsies with the chilaquiles divorciados.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just the Mexico City-style chilaquiles Quinto and Farf\u00e1n were hoping to bring to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the tacos here are small,\u201d Farf\u00e1n said, referencing the Tijuana-style tacos that dominate Los Angeles restaurants, trucks and stands. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a place that makes really big tacos like in Mexico City. That was the whole idea of what we wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mega \"The \"From <\/p>\n

The mega queca at Taquearte in Pico Rivera. The flight of salsas and chicharr\u00f3n de queso at Taquearte in Pico Rivera. From left, manager Caida Miykel, HR manager Salma Cobian and head cook Jovany Enriquez of Taquearte. (Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

After noon, the kitchen flat top is crowded with hunks of pork chop, bistec, chopped chorizo, costilla and chicken. The meat is slid onto a vast corn tortilla and topped with grilled nopales, onions and boulders of fried potato that turn creamy and spreadable. If you\u2019re protein-maxing, order a campechano, which comes with chorizo and a second meat. Then add some cheese. The triple decker taco boasts chorizo on the bottom, a half-melted, half-crunchy cheese skirt, perhaps a grilled pork chop, and the usual potato and vegetables. It will seem impossible to grasp in your hands, but you\u2019ll manage.<\/p>\n

Whatever you order, it will be served with a wooden plank carrying four bowls of red, green, black and orange salsas. The red is a salsa de pepino, fruity with cucumber and chile de arbol. The salsa macha is an oily, toasty condiment pasty with peanuts and sesame seeds. There are seven roasted, charred and crushed chiles in the orange salsa. And the hottest of the bunch, the green, is a fiery combination of both jalape\u00f1os and green habaneros.<\/p>\n

When you place your order, make sure there is no shortage of things on the table to dress with the salsas. Maybe start with the chicharr\u00f3n de queso, a big, curved sail of cheese melted until crispy. You break off shards of the cheese and add heaping spoonfuls of the salsas. If you\u2019ve got enough Lactaid in your pocket, you may want to think about the mega queca, a gargantuan quesadilla made with a thick corn tortilla folded over about a half an inch of melted cheese and saut\u00e9ed mushrooms.<\/p>\n

The best time to visit is just before noon, when you can still order one of the restaurant\u2019s molletes, then loop around back in line for the tacos. The restaurant sources its birotes from Duran\u2019s to make the open-face, bean and cheese-smeared breakfast sandwiches popular throughout Mexico. At Taquearte, the split rolls are slathered with refried beans and chorizo, then blanketed in a single layer of mottled cheese. While some molletes are made with crusty rolls, these birotes are so soft and fresh, they border on squishy. Depending on how you spent your childhood afternoons, it may remind you of a slightly underbaked French bread pizza. Once you try it, you\u2019ll never show up past noon again. And whatever time you visit, L.A.\u2019s best chilaquiles will be waiting.<\/p>\n

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Taquearte restaurant manager Caida Miykel delivers an order of chilaquiles to customers at the Pico Rivera restaurant. <\/p>\n

(Jason Armond\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n