Trompo
There are no-frill hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and then there’s Trompo. Next door to a tire shop, this fluorescent-lit room could feasibly fit a few tables, but there are none (something about the building code), so the only furniture is a couple of stools and a small table on top of which sits a mini fridge of Cokes. And yet, behind the cut-out window where orders are taken, owners Luis Olvera and Juan Carlos Overa oversee the creation of some of the best tacos we've had all year. There are three simple but surreal tacos: deep-pink tacos de trompo, which reaches its crispy-juicy peak thanks to the trompo (the rotating vertical spit) for which it’s named; bistek (beef); and surprisingly good vegetarian paneer-poblano, all set on corn tortillas and sprinkled with onions and cilantro. Even the quesadilla is a must-order, an open-face flour tortilla topped with the same taco fixings plus melty fresh mozzarella. A splash of one of the house-made hot sauces—green (avocado, jalapeño, serrano) or red (chile de árbol and tomatillo)—really ties the room together, does it not? PRO TIP: Trompo also operates the kitchen at the music venue The Kessler, serving a similar menu of tacos. THE DETAILS: 11 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.
