The Breakfast Tacos of Austin

(A Guest Blog By Nisha George)

In a city flush in killer b-fast tacos, a few really rise to the top. Everyone has had a Torchy’s one or a Taco Deli one. Don’t get me wrong; I love both of those places A LOT. However, Austin has an endless supply of breakfast taco opportunities. Why should we limit ourselves to the small handful of convenient places? I decided to make like Robert Frost and take the road less traveled in order to find the hidden gems of the breakfast world. A quest for the best. A breakfact taco pilgrimage. A journey even young Frodo would not dare attempt. Okay, I’m done.

First, I visited Paco’s tacos.

1304 E 51st St

This place made me really happy. This place was made to look old and wooden with old signs covering the inside. Lots of seating, indoor and out. There was great service and I’m pretty sure I got a small discount since it was my first time there. The breakfast taco menu consists of pretty much just migas but there’s a build your own taco option so that’s what I did. It was $1.75 for 2 ingredients and .35 for each additional which is fair, so I got that and a taco from their lunch menu. However, the breakfast taco was MASSIVE and that was all I needed. Everything about the breakfast taco was good. Fresh and yummy. Anything that spilled out of my taco I ate with a fork, no shame.

Then there’s El Chilito (2219 Manor Rd)

I literally just google-mapped the closest taco place when I happened to be in East Austin and this came up. It’s a cute little place with outdoor seating, half covered. I ordered the Cherrywood (eggs, potato, bacon, cheese, avocado) and frankly it felt sort of tasteless. I couldn’t quite place why it wasn’t very good. The tortilla was thick which I like and the ratio of ingredients was good, but it didn’t stand out to me. I was convinced something was wrong with me till I had a second taco from there. I ordered the tomatillo pork which was just a tortilla overloaded with corn and giant chunks of pork. It was not pleasant at all and I couldn’t even take more than a few bites. I probably won’t come back here for the tacos honestly. However, I may come back to try their “ojo rojo.” It’s horchata with espresso!

Next, there’s Donut Taco Palace (6214 N Lamar Blvd). I think this one is actually pretty famous but just in case you haven’t heard, I decided to include it anyways.

There are actually three of them (Donut Taco Palace I, II, and III). I went to III because it appears to be closest. Equipped with old school tables, framed photographs of donuts, and a giant Buddha statue, the place is pretty random. As the name suggest, they have breakfast tacos and donuts AND they also combine the two to make a taco donut. I did not venture out to try to taco donut but I tried a taco and a raspberry donut. I thought both were pretty great. It was made to order and had a great ratio of bacon and egg. Their sauce also has a little bit of an extra kick to. Spicy and cilantro-y, just the way I like it. Almost most importantly, it’s all extremely cheap. Bravo, DTP3. I wonder if 1 and 2 are just as good.

Check out that ~WoRd ArT~

Then there’s Tyson’s Tacos.  (4905 Airport Blvd)

A friend of mine from church mentioned that this was his favorite place; I am now eternally grateful to him. This place was so SO good. It’s not the closest place around but I think it’s worth the trip over to Airport. It’s a taco stand with outdoor seating, mostly covered. I ordered the Wild Feminist (egg, sausage, avocado, potato, pico and just $2.50) and the Al Pastor. They were delicious and perfect in all ways. I was actually really hungry when I went so I really need to go back to double check that this was actually that delicious. These were smallish tacos so I’m definitely glad I got two.  If I had to pick, this place might have been my favorite taste-wise.

In conclusion, I didn’t find the best taco in the world. I simply can’t choose, especially knowing that I went to 4 out of the one billion taco places in Austin and enjoyed almost all of them. I think the main thing to gather is that there ARE other options when Torchy’s has a line out the door and Taco Joint is closed because it’s after 8pm. Austin has so much to offer so carpe diem and buy some tacos.