The breakfast taco is San Antonio's daily ritual, a warm flour or corn tortilla folded around eggs and a filling: bean and cheese, bacon, potato, chorizo, or carne guisada. It is eaten by the dozen, dressed with salsa from the counter jar, on the way to work or as a slow weekend plate.
Where to eat it: 5 restaurants across 1 city.
Breakfast tacos grew out of the Mexican-American kitchens of San Antonio's West and South Sides in the 20th century, and the city claims to be their birthplace. By the 1970s and 1980s family taquerias had made the taco a daily habit across the city. San Antonio's identity around the breakfast taco is fierce enough to fuel a long-running rivalry with Austin over who does it best, a debate that runs to flour versus corn tortillas and which fillings count as canon.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy
Tip from the editors. Use a fresh, soft flour tortilla and warm it on a dry comal, not a microwave, for the proper San Antonio texture.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Garcia's Mexican Food on the West Side is a small, cash-friendly counter where the cheap carne guisada taco is the order; go early before the breakfast crowd.
Try: Breakfast tacos and carne guisada
Tip: The carne guisada taco is cheap and excellent. Small and cash-friendly; come early before the breakfast crowd.
Eddie's Taco House is a long-running Caballero family counter on the South Side where breakfast tacos run a couple of dollars and the weenie-and-egg has fans.
Try: Breakfast tacos a couple of dollars each
Tip: A few tacos make a breakfast for well under ten dollars. The weenie-and-egg taco is the cheap local favourite.
Lucy's Cafe on the north side keeps breakfast cheap, with a bean and cheese with bacon taco under three dollars; it is cash-friendly and busy at breakfast.
Try: Bean and cheese with bacon taco
Tip: The bean and cheese with bacon is the order under three dollars. Cash-friendly and busy at breakfast.
Mendez Cafe has sold cheap, generous carne guisada tacos since 1986, a South Side breakfast counter where a couple of dollars buys tender beef in peppery gravy.
Try: Carne guisada taco in spicy gravy
Tip: The carne guisada taco is the cheap order to make. Small and busy, so expect a short morning wait.
The Original Donut Shop on Fredericksburg Road sells a breakfast taco and a fresh donut for a few dollars, the cheapest and most San Antonio of breakfast.
Try: Taco-and-donut combo for a few dollars
Tip: A taco and a donut for the price of a coffee elsewhere. The drive-through line moves fast.
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