Are Los Tacos No.1 the Best Tacos in New York, or the Most Overhyped?

Start with the taco, because the taco is the whole case. A taquero shaves adobada off the trompo, the marinated pork catching the heat as it falls, a slice of pineapple riding down with it. The tortilla was pressed minutes ago, corn or flour, still warm and thin enough to see through. Con todo means guacamole, onion, cilantro, and salsa, and the salsa bar behind the counter handles the rest. That is the argument for Los Tacos No.1, and it fits in one hand.

The argument against it does not fit anywhere. It lives in 1,100 comments.

One creator’s LA-vs-NYC reel, pitting Los Tacos No.1 against the entire West Coast, pulled 21,000 likes and 1,100 comments, and the thread turned into the loudest taco fight on the internet right now. Nobody disputes the meat, the tortillas, or the salsas. The fight is about authenticity, and whether six dollars a taco buys it.

Photo: Ciera Velarde / The Infatuation

The stand

Los Tacos No.1 opened in 2013 inside Chelsea Market at 75 9th Avenue, the work of three friends from the West Coast, two from Brawley, California and one from Tijuana, who decided the East Coast needed a real Tijuana-style taco. The formula never changed: four fillings, carne asada, pollo asado, adobada, and nopal, tortillas pressed to order, salsas and marinades made from scratch, everything con todo if you want it. The line is long and moves fast, the room is standing-room-only tile and marquee lights, and the trompo spins in plain sight. There are now nine locations, including Times Square, but Chelsea Market is the original and still the one people mean.

Photo: Molly Fitzpatrick / The Infatuation

Photo: Google Maps

Team NYC

The NYC case is simple: this is the rare exception. In a city where a taco is usually a hard sell, Los Tacos No.1 does the two things that matter, the meat and the tortilla, at a level most places do not touch. The adobada comes off a real trompo. The tortillas are pressed to order, thin and warm. The salsa bar is serious. Defenders call it the one New York taco stand that would survive in Los Angeles, and they point at the line, which has never really gone away in over a decade, as the verdict.

Team LA

The LA case is simpler: nobody beats California, and six dollars is a lot for a taco. LA loyalists look at the price, look at the marquee, look at the private equity money that arrived in September, and see a brand, not a taqueria. In Los Angeles, the same taco costs less, comes from a truck with no line for tourists, and nobody films it. The argument is not that Los Tacos No.1 is bad. It is that “best in NYC” is a low bar, and that the hype outran the tortilla a long time ago.

What the fight is really about

Three things. First, the math. Current menus put tacos around five to six dollars each, and three tacos plus a drink per person puts two people past fifty dollars before they stand up. For a standing-room taco counter, that number does real work in the comments.

Second, the money. Word got out in September that private equity firm TSG Consumer had taken a stake in the company, and social media declared it the beginning of the end, half-joking about tiny portions and bad food. The founders promised nothing changes: no extra charge for guac, no messing with the tacos. The comments did not believe them. Whether the tacos change or not, the story around them already did.

Third, authenticity, which is the one nobody can settle. A Tijuana-style taco, built by Californians, served in a Manhattan food hall, funded by private equity, defended by New Yorkers and attacked by Angelenos. Everybody in the thread is arguing about what counts as real, and the taco is just the thing they are pointing at.

Photo: Molly Fitzpatrick / The Infatuation

If you go

• Los Tacos No.1, Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue, New York.
• Open Monday through Saturday 11 am to 10 pm, Sunday 11 am to 9 pm.
• Order the adobada on corn, con todo, and work the salsa bar.
• Official site and locations: lostacos1.com

What did we get wrong? That is the debate. Is Los Tacos No.1 New York’s best taco, or its most overhyped? Does six dollars buy authenticity, or just a shorter line than the hype suggests? Tell us in the comments. The best replies get featured.

Sources: Los Tacos No.1, Chelsea Market (official site) · The Bull Post on the TSG Consumer stake · Eat the World NYC