El Taco de Mexico

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714 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204

303-623-3926

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16 User reviews Write A Review

Westword
Recommended
Best Green Chile
Award Winner 2010

Cuisine(s): Mexican, South American

Hours: Sun-Thu 7:30am-10pm, Fri-Sat 7am-11pm

Price: $
Payment Types: cash

Features: Catering, Kid Friendly, Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Takeout, Wheelchair Accessible

Serving: Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, Late Night, Lunch
Alcohol: None

Reservations: Accepted, Call-Ahead Seating Available

Parking: Lot Available

Description

Stop in El Taco de Mexico during the worst crush of a busy rush, and you'll be in the most jumbled, bungled, mingled, noisy, crowded and cosmopolitan spot in the entire city. The narrow space (which includes a diner-style counter and a few hard plastic booths) will be full of wholesome kitchen smells and packed with people chasing after El Taco's reputation -- regulars from the neighborhood, Denver foodies with a yen for the simple charms of authentic old Mexico City flavors, cholos, gringos and everyone in between.

2010 | Best Green Chile

The clean-kitchen-obsessed women with permanent frowns on their faces who bust their asses at El Taco de México They understand a lot more English than you might think, and if you're stupid enough to malign their green chile -- which we've heard a hell of a lot of bullying gringos do -- then you deserve whatever bad karma creeps into your tortilla. El Taco's green chile is in a class by itself, an incredible food high that's full of invigorating spices, deposits of pork and... More »
2009 | Best Sunday-Morning Mexican

Yeah, it's busy. Yeah, real estate at the counter (bests seats in the house) can be tough to come by, particularly on Sunday, when people are stopping in before and after mass, on their way to work or just going home. The ladies working said counter won't take any shit, and they'll get pissed if you dither too long over the menu. But the Sunday-morning scene at El Taco de México is not to be missed, and the food that's served at this most authentic of Mexican diners is some of the... More »
2008 | Best Hangover Breakfast

There's a flighty kind of magic in the air at El Taco de Mexico on its best weekend mornings, something frail and almost inexplicable, moments when the swirling white church dresses and the tock of cleavers in the kitchen and the fast, hard-edged patter of Spanish at the counter all come together. The spell can easily be broken by a wrong word, a wrong order, just a momentary lull in the action. But even to someone coming down from a long drunk, the magic is discernable -- particularly... More »
2007 | Best Taste of Mexico City

All day, every day, whenever you need it and whatever you want: That's the defining joy of having a joint in town like El Taco de M�xico. Though the crowds ebb and flow, the work in the open kitchen is constant, with the women there always chopping, stirring, slicing and cleaning to stay on top of the rushes that hit this place with the constancy of the tides. From standards like crispy rellenos and beef tacos to more traditional Mexican comfort foods like tacos cabeza and menudo on the w... More »
2006 | BEST TACO

It's named El Taco de Mexico for a reason: Tacos are what this little Mexican lunch counter does best. All of the tacos on the menu -- from the most pedestrian shredded-beef variety to the gastronaut special packed with ropy calves' brains -- are as authentically Mexican as you're going to get this side of Tijuana. So is the eatery itself, a popular institution in Denver for over twenty years. The counter is long and usually packed with demography-confounding customers who know the real... More »
2005 | Best Hangover Breakfast

Long touted as mankind's only guaranteed cure for the common hangover, menudo is a hearty, spicy, slow-cooked stew made from hominy, chiles and stock, plus tripe, feet, knuckles, trotters or any other unattractive leftover cut of a cow requiring several hours (or days) of cooking to bring out its more subtle charms. El Taco de México -- which serves menudo only on the weekends -- knows exactly what it takes to make a pot powerful enough to cure any human ailment, hangovers included.... More »
2005 | Best Burrito

El Taco de México doesn't do much to attract customers. It doesn't take credit cards. It doesn't advertise. It doesn't serve liquor. It doesn't provide more than a scant few places to sit. And still the customers keep coming -- because the one thing this taquería does do is offer the best taste of real Mexico available north of la frontera, served by a crew of ladies tougher and more serious about their business than an entire culinary-school graduating class put together. One... More »
2004 | Best Menudo

Long touted as mankind's only guaranteed cure for the common hangover, menudo is a hearty, spicy, slow-cooked stew made from hominy, chiles and tripe, feet, knuckles or any other unattractive cut requiring several hours of cooking to bring out its more subtle charms. On weekends at El Taco de México, these lowly ingredients are brought together into something far greater than the sum of their parts in one fine menudo. The kitchen is wise enough to use honeycomb tripe (the darker, more... More »
2003 | Best Mexican Mexican

For decades, El Taco de México has been the place to go in Denver for a real taste of Old Mexico. It's a gathering place for the Spanish-speaking community, an after-church destination for big bowls of menudo, a hot spot for wasted musicians looking for some quick grub after the gig, and a jumping lunch joint that attracts a generous cross-section of Denver diners. The big menu, which runs the whole length of the long counter, details offerings as tame as tacos al carbón and... More »
2001 | Best Original Big Burrito

Long before those new Mexican grills started popping up on almost every corner, featuring big, big burritos the size and weight of bricks, stuffed with quality meats and drapped with an assortment of nuevo salsas, there was El Taco de Mexico. At this very down-home, very authentic Mexican joint, the friendly servers take big, fresh flour tortillas and wrap them around a mound of rice, beans and your choice from some of the most exotic meats in town. The winner and still the chomp. More »

Some like it hot! Diego's and El Taco de Mexico win the Cinco de Mayo green chile contest

By Patricia Calhoun | Thu, May 12, 2011

Some like it hot! The festivities at this past weekend's Cinco de Mayo festival in Civic Center Park included the fourth annual green chile contest. And the winners are: Judges' awards: First place:... More »
Who has the best green chile in Denver? El Taco de Mexico

By Patricia Calhoun | Fri, April 2, 2010

Green chile could well be this state's major contribution to the culinary canon. Unlike the stew of green chiles, and sometimes just green chiles, served in New Mexico, Denver's various green chiles c... More »
Bite Me

By Jason Sheehan | Thu, January 15, 2004

As an American, your odds of dying from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- a variation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow -- are roughly one in a million. Odds of dying in a car accident? One in 242, according to the National Safety Council... More »
The Brains of the Operation

By Jason Sheehan | Thu, September 26, 2002

So where'd you go for lunch?" I asked. "We ended up at El Taco de México -- it's got real Mexican Mexican food. You been there yet?" I shook my head. I've been eating like a pig since I came to town a few months ago, and despite the fact that I... More »

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likemestephen | Denver, CO | 44 Reviews

| Mon, November 23, 2009

Best authentic Mexican in Denver. Tacos El Pastor is my favorite dish but everything I've ever had was delicious. I'm not brave enough to try the tongue burrito but it's on my to do list.
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superdupersmart | Denver, CO | 9 Reviews

| Mon, August 3, 2009

Old school Mexican food on Santa Fe.
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westwordbestof | Denver, CO | 102 Reviews

| Wed, May 6, 2009

Yeah, it's busy. Yeah, real estate at the counter (bests seats in the house) can be tough to come by, particularly on Sunday, when people are stopping in before and after mass, on their way to work or just going home. The ladies working said counter won't take any shit, and they'll get pissed if you dither too long over the menu. But the Sunday-morning scene at El Taco de M�xico is not to be missed, and the food that's served at this most authentic of Mexican diners is some of the best in the entire city. The menudo is an excellent hangover cure, and every taco is a work of short-order art. We brake for El Taco on Sunday morning � and you should, too.
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