What’s a good place for Mexican food?

If I had dollar for every time someone’s asked me this question, my account balance would be about $65 higher.

As a Mexican in Detroit Metro, one of my duties is to be aware of the “authentic” Mexican food places in the area and evaluate them with my well trained and developed palate to then make educated recommendations to friends, coworkers, and acquaintances. This task is not easy primarily for the following two reasons:

1. What’s considered or qualifies as authentic?
2. Is all authentic Mexican food automatically good?

The answer to these questions will vary depending on where from Mexico the person you ask comes from and how many years this person has been in living abroad. But a general rule of thumb authentic is something that would be eaten any given day in a Mexican household or could be easily found in most restaurants and food places in Mexico. Tips to detect authenticity, must meet a minimum of 4:

1. Cooks and staff are Mexican
2. More than half of the people dining in is Mexican
3. They have michelada
4. They have at least 3 different salsas
5. They have “Horchata” water
6. Mexican regional music is playing
7. At least 1 protein option that you’d consider weird (e.g., beef tongue)
8. They have “3 Leches” and/or “Flan” as desserts
9. They have a money order service

All Mexican food is good,

Adhering to this definition of authentic and taking into consideration my regional bias towards northern Mexico food, I would say these are some good spots to get decent Mexican food:

Las Tortugas Taquería. https://tortugastaqueria.com/

Hands down my favorite place for tacos, tamales, menudo and consome. What makes this place special for me is that the type of tortillas they use, are slightly smaller than the ones used by pretty much every other place, which reminds me of my hometown. The flavor is great and have good salsas. They used to have the market and the restaurant in the same building, they have moved the taqueria to a different place and now is a restaurant bar, so you can have an ice cold michelada with your tacos. Tip: call an order a dozen of tamales for a weekday dinner.

Carnival Market. https://www.facebook.com/carnivalmarketpontiac/

Every Mexican North of 696 knows this place, the market is a go to place to get essential Mexican goodies and ingredients. In my opinion the restaurant is great if you know what to order. I recommend carnival for their carnitas, carnitas verde and roja, bucce (chicharron) verde and rojo, the barbacoa gets an honorable mention, the pastor and steak are hit and miss. Their salsas are great event the mild salsas make the cut. Tip: buy a pound or two of carnitas, a pack of el milagro tortillas, carnival salsa verde, take it home, make your carnitas tacos with pico and guac.

Mi Pueblo https://www.mipueblorestaurant.com/

This one is a big restaurant bar, it has a nice atmosphere resembling a traditional Mexican restaurant, menu is overwhelming, but you can’t go wrong. Tacos are really good, the enchiladas, gringas and gorditas a worth trying, one of the few places where you can find pozole. Every time we’re there we must have a clamato aka michelada, I haven’t tried the margaritas, but they look good. Tip: good place for date night or night out with friends, lots of dining and drink options in a place with Mexican vibes.

La Tienda Mexicana. https://tutacotienda.smartonlineorder.com/

Another market/restaurant combo, la tienda has very good tacos, I like that they have birria, carnitas, tripa (tripe) and lengua (beef tongue), but their pastor and steak are great as well. A lot of people love their burritos and tortas and they must be good, but I’m there for the tacos. Tip: place is very small, try to avoid rush hours if you want your tacos to dine in.

There are some other really good places I know like Sheila Bakery, Taqueria el Rey, La Botana, El Pueblo Mexican Market, but they rank a bit lower on my list, and I’m sure there are a lot of places I’m not aware of, but I wanted to share the places I go to satisfy the crave.