The Best Places in the United States

A spinning trompo in the window is the whole argument for this Mission District taco stand. Thin-shaved al pastor lands straight from the spit onto the tortilla, pineapple shard included, with three salsas on the side ranging from tangy to genuinely punishing. The tripas are the quiet move, especially ordered doraditas, fried until crispy. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best tacos in the Bay Area, which feels about right from the sidewalk.

A trompo spins outside a business park on Phelan Avenue, which is either an unlikely setting or a perfect one depending on how hungry you are. This taco trailer is run by chilangos from Mexico City, and the al pastor is their calling card: pork shaved from the vertical spit, crisped on the plancha, landed on yellow corn tortillas with pineapple and three salsas. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best tacos.

A beef head steamer and a roving trompo in a dirt lot next to a KFC: this is Jalisco-style taqueria truck cooking, not a punchline. The family lonchera turns out small tacos packed with cabeza in the classic al vapor style, plus carnaza and ojo for the committed. Canopies and folding seating stretch out to handle the crowd that shows up anyway. The San Francisco Chronicle called them the best tacos in the Bay Area.

The salsa flies through the air here, literally flicked by spoon onto your tacos in a move that's part performance, part seasoning strategy. This Chavinda-style taqueria in Richmond cooks its meats together in one enormous steel cauldron, so the chorizo, al pastor, and beef all end up in each other's business. Mix and match fillings at no extra cost. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's finest tacos, which explains the weekend wait.

Mesquite smoke is the advertisement here, drifting into Foothill Boulevard long before you spot the food truck parked in a doughnut shop lot. This is a Tijuana-style taqueria, the charcoal grill set up out front where it can do the most damage. Meats come properly baptized in smoke, wrapped in paper the traditional way, with thick guacamole on the side. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's finest tacos, and the line makes that case without any help.

Mesquite coals do the heavy lifting at this taqueria in San Lorenzo, where the smoke gets into the chorizo and the asada before anything else happens. The Villa family presses tortillas by hand and wraps each taco into a paper cone Tijuana-style, with a thick scoop of guacamole tucked in. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best tacos in the Bay Area. The fatty cabeza with salsa verde is the one regulars order without looking up.

Tamales have been leaving this carryout window on Vernor since the 1950s, most urgently around Christmas when the line gets serious. The menu sticks to classic pork and chicken, with rotating specials like cheese-jalapeño, and the tamales run on the slender side, which keeps the masa-to-filling ratio honest. Call ahead and your bag is waiting by the time you arrive, which is either efficient or slightly magical depending on your day.

Taqueria Cinco is a casual Mexican spot in a city where locals joke that every closed restaurant gets replaced by another taco place. It's the one you take friends from cities with serious Mexican food, and it comes with a big patio that fills up at happy hour. Order at a relaxed pace, in whatever you wore to work. Check the address before you go, since Jacksonville has several taco spots with confusingly similar energy.

The trompo here gets more local fanfare than most politicians, and for good reason: al pastor is the gravitational center of this Oaxacan taqueria on National Avenue, Milwaukee's first sit-down location from a south-side truck fleet that's grown into something of a mini empire. The menu sprawls into tlayudas, birria de chivo, volcánes, and mulitas, with aguas frescas to cool things down after the fiery red salsa does its work.

The wheat-fiber "asada" is marinated in beer and smoke until it tastes like a backyard grill, which is a reasonable way to open an argument. This snug Oakland taqueria makes the case that vegan tacos don't need an asterisk, with in-house fillings, mushroom carnitas with real richness, and horchata that holds its own. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best tacos in the Bay Area, vegan or otherwise implied.

A stone oven dominates the floor of what was once a fast-food shell on Milwaukee's south side, turning out taboon bread and stuffed fatayer at a pace that explains the "bakery" in the name. The Jordanian and Palestinian menu runs wider than that, though: hummus, baba ghanoush, kebabs, eggs, fried cheeses, Turkish coffee. Elaborate rugs and ornate lamps make the room feel nothing like its previous life.

The dark chocolate-dipped baklava sitting out front does a lot of work attracting first-timers, but it's the shawarma and falafel that keep regulars finding the stall at both the Saturday downtown and Thursday Valley Junction farmers markets. A seasonal Middle Eastern market stand running spring through fall, Tarboosh draws the kind of devoted following where strangers talk each other into trying things unprompted, which is either charming or a lot, depending on your mood.

The menu runs to biblical length and the wall photos of dishes look like lineup shots at a precinct, but nobody in this clattery Malaysian restaurant in Elmhurst seems bothered by either. The New York Times put it on their 100 Best in New York City list, which tracks. Roti canai leaves a sheen on your fingers, and the char kway teow arrives smelling of the wok in a way that suggests Kuala Lumpur, not Queens, until you look up.

The ales are named after tax terms, which is either the best brewing pun or the most on-brand origin story you'll ever hear. This gastropub a few blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium pours Belgian-style beers alongside a menu built on Indiana-grown meat and produce. The kitchen leans hearty, think brisket croquettes and beer-battered pork tenderloin with Belgian fries. The cocktail list takes itself only slightly more seriously than the beer names do.

The hotel claims to have invented the Reuben sandwich, which is either true or the greatest piece of lobby mythology in the Midwest. The Committee Chophouse, upstairs in the historic Blackstone, is a proper steakhouse leaning into the full period drama: Delmonico and chateaubriand, creamed spinach, potatoes Lyonnaise. Jackets optional, expense accounts welcome, time capsule very much intended.

Every book on the shelves, and even pressed under the glass bar top, is about wine. The Library is a wine bar tucked into Spring Branch, where the staff knows their Jura from their Savoie and a "Head Librarian's Preferred Drinking List" exists for anyone who needs a nudge toward a bottle. The selection leans toward esoteric and cult producers, so this is less "Cabernet for the table" and more a place where the menu rewards curiosity.

A deli tucked inside a gym in a business park, which sounds like a punchline until you taste the sandwich. The chef behind the counter trained at Californios, and it shows in small ways, a lemon aioli that quietly rewires a turkey-cheddar, sourdough from Petaluma's beloved Della Fattoria. A second location has since opened with more room, but the original health club stall carries on, improbably, for those who know.

A bakery in Mountain View that bakes sesame rolls and Dutch crunch bread exclusively for the Rōzmary Kitchen popup, which sets up here on Fridays. The sandwiches are the draw: the Southern Peach pairs turkey and pimento cheese against sweet pickled peaches, and the Italian cured meat options are just as good. The San Francisco Chronicle named it one of the Bay Area's best sandwich spots, which tracks.

The Nitro Bar is a casual coffee shop on Broadway, and the nitro cold brew has convinced local firefighters to skip Dunkin', which in New England is practically a defection. Monthly specials run toward things like caramelized banana, and there's a breakfast sandwich with avocado and poblano aioli. The indoor space is small and shared with a bike shop, so take your drink outside if the weather cooperates.

Parked next to Liberty Park, this neighborhood breakfast and lunch diner draws an eclectic mix: hungover 20-somethings, hip parents, and apparently some professional soccer players. The counter fills fast on weekends, service moves with purpose, and the whiteboard specials are worth a look before you order. Biscuits and gravy and the French Toast Foolishness are the regulars' anchors, but the daily huevos rancheros with pork chile verde have their own following.

The all-day cafe sits beneath the historic Eldorado Ballroom in Houston's Third Ward, which tells you something before you've even ordered. Breakfast tacos, sandwiches, and farm-fresh salads fill the menu, and the indoor market stocks condiments, desserts, and wine curated by neighborhood residents. Emancipation Park is right across the street if you'd rather eat outside, and the Hogan Brown Art Gallery is next door if you'd rather linger.

The Stil is an ice cream shop whose name stands for Sweetest Things in Life, which is a lot of pressure to put on a scoop. The flavors run to churro and lavender with berries, and some come spiked with booze. You can build an ice cream sandwich, an affogato, or a beer or wine float, or go for a flight if you can't commit. Dairy-free and vegan options are on hand, so nobody gets left holding a napkin.

A sausage bar where the cocktails come on draft and the burger is made with a Velveeta-sauced sausage patty, which tells you everything about the philosophy here. The Vanguard is a laid-back Milwaukee watering hole built around an uncommonly serious sausage program, brats and poutine and fried curds all sharing the menu with Midwestern beers and house cocktails. The crowd is here to eat well without taking any of it too seriously, which is a harder trick than it looks.

Around 500 whiskey labels line the shelves at this low-key east side lounge, with bottles coming in from Japan, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and well beyond Kentucky. The Novaks built the place around a near-singular devotion to amber spirits, but there are wines and cocktails for anyone who just tagged along. Small plates and live jazz on weekends keep things from feeling too reverent about the whole thing.

The Wylder is a downtown Boise pizza-and-cocktails spot built around a sourdough starter that's been alive for over fifty years, which makes it older than most of the staff and possibly the building's plumbing. The pies run from a white one with spicy honey to a red one with pickled chiles, and there are nightly suppers like fried chicken and a lasagna the owners won't give up the recipe for. Eater counts it among Boise's essentials.

Third Space is a brewery and taproom in the Menomonee Valley, parked alongside a river and a set of train tracks in a way that feels more discovered than designed. The indoor-outdoor space fills up with live music and food trucks on good nights, and their hoppy, hazy ales show up on taps all over Milwaukee. Happy Place, the sessionable flagship, is the one you'll see everywhere and order without looking at the menu.

A pour-your-own beer wall sets the tone at this food hall carved out of a former downtown mall. Peruvian chicken, arepas, pho, ramen, tortas, and pizza share the floor with cornhole and shuffleboard, so the crowd skews toward groups who can't agree on dinner, which turns out to be a fine reason to visit. Dairyland anchors the whole thing with cheese curds, frozen custard, and an old-fashioned burger that needs no introduction.

A cocktail bar that operates out of an actual tiny house in Little Bohemia, with a patio in summer and a heated outdoor igloo when Omaha decides to be Omaha. The drinks lean playfully political, the comedy nights and drag performances keep the calendar full, and the crowd tends to arrive with opinions about both. It's the kind of neighborhood bar that takes its cocktails seriously without taking itself too seriously.

Filipino comfort food in a Cleveland area that doesn't have much of it. Tita Flora's is a sit-down restaurant in Independence filling a real gap, and the menu stays traditional: lumpia fried crisp, pork adobo deep with soy and garlic, sisig arriving on a sizzling platter, pancit noodles with your choice of protein. Halo-halo closes things out, a shaved-ice dessert piled with ice cream, evaporated milk, and assorted toppings that takes a while to work through.

Toro Toro is a Pan-Latin steakhouse inside the Downtown Four Seasons, where the meat shows up on a cart and gets finished at your table, as if the steak needed an entrance. Richard Sandoval's menu also runs a ceviche and sushi bar, so the table can split between the cow people and the fish people without a fight. Expect hotel-dining prices and a room dressed for business dinners and anniversaries.

Track 15 is a food hall inside Union Station that squeezes seven local restaurants under one roof, so a group that can't agree on dinner gets to stop pretending. Order at the counters, cafeteria-style, then carry your tray to low-lit seating and a full bar of Rhode Island beer and booze. Indian, Turkish kebabs, burgers, and square Roman pizza are all on the table. In winter, the fried fish sandwich stands in for the beach.

A giant neon sign reading "Death is coming. Eat trash, be free." sets the tone at this raccoon-themed cocktail bar in Houston. The murals and paintings lean fully into the bit, and the drinks follow suit, running to things like a pho-inspired martini built on rye with Thai chile and star anise. The kitchen stays open until 2am, which is exactly when you need churros and birria ramen the most.

House-baked rolls are the foundation here, which tells you a lot about how seriously this Italian quick-serve sandwich shop takes a chicken parm. The chef behind Lox, Stock, and Brisket kept the same formula, a tight menu done with real care, this time nodding to his grandparents' Sicilian hometown. Thick sheet-pan pepperoni pizza sits ready to go, and pasta comes with sausage or meatballs. Fast, focused, and cheap enough that nobody's pretending otherwise.

Patrons congregate at the pick-up window before they've even made it through the door, which tells you most of what you need to know. Tutti is a neighborhood pizza shop with a 30-seat room of butcher block, steel ovens, and dough being stretched in plain sight, all of it smelling powerfully of garlic. The menu splits into square pies, round pies, and desserts, and the wine program leans on the bar next door.

The 100-day dry-aged tomahawk arrives on a silver platter, which tells you everything about the room. Tutto Carne is an Italian-themed steakhouse in Little Italy, with chophouse classics like steak tartare and shrimp cocktail sharing the menu with bistecca alla Fiorentina and chateaubriand. The kitchen pulls its meat from a sister butcher shop, which tends to show. Forty-five seats keep things close, and the bistro vibe softens the splurge just enough.

Two Tony's is a big Creole Italian dining room in Lakeview where everyone ends up glancing at the next table's plates, and the portions guarantee you'll be carrying leftovers out to the car. The seeded bread arrives in baskets and does a lot of the damage before the entrees show up. Fried artichoke hearts, stuffed mushrooms, tiramisu, and a limoncello to close, in the manner of a last supper with a reservation.

There is no pool, no lake, not even a decorative fountain at this roadside seafood spot off Arnold Drive, which makes the name either a joke or a flex. White walls, a dog-friendly patio, and a long view of the Sonoma hills set the tone for a menu that plays casual but thinks clearly, with a tuna bowl leaning poke and a fried cod sandwich doing polished things to a fast-food classic. The wine list is longer than you'd expect from a place you can bring your dog to.

The leopard-spotted crust on a wood-fired Neapolitan pie is the whole point here, and Vero has been packing Cedar Road over it for years. The space expanded not long ago, adding a bar and twice the seating, though waits still stack up on busy nights. Classic toppings, careful technique, and a room that finally has enough room in it.