Discovering Austin’s best tacos with Google Places

Tacos. If there’s one truly quintessential Austin food, this simple Tex-Mex staple may well be it.  From breakfast tacos to fish tacos to Korean-fusion tacos, Austin’s got an app-etite for that. So to help us explore some of the best Austin has to offer, we turned to our friends at Taco Journalism to help lead a tour of Austin’s taco hotspots.

Twenty hungry Places users joined us on the adventure as we piled into our luxury bus and headed out to the first locale. Izzoz Tacos got the tour started as riders sampled the Slowrider (braised Machaca beef), the Padre (carnitas and pineapple), the Del Mar (blackened tilapia), and my personal favorite, the Fried Avocado. Attendee Marcie described the offerings from Izzoz in her five star review: “The slow rider and padre tacos had a pleasant mixture of sweet and savory, and the fried avocado taco was fried perfectly constructed - light, but super flavorful.”

Next up, we headed north to Taqueria Valle De Bravo (aka Pepe’s Tacos) for some truly authentic street taco–style fare. Here we indulged in lesser known delicacies like tripa, lengua, and chicharron — that’s stomach lining, tongue, and skin for you exotic taco novices! Bus rider Mikey stuck to more traditional fare, but still gave the spot five stars, remarking “The carnitas and barbacoa tacos were insane (and cheap)! Definitely some great authentic flavors without all the glitz of the more popular places.”

All those tacos can make an adventurer thirsty, so the next stop on the bus was none other than Azul Tequila for a margarita break. With everything from prickly pear to avocado margaritas on the menu, our group ended up with a rainbow of delightful drinks to choose from.

Our thirsts quenched, we were ready to reboard the bus and head to our final destination, Rosita’s Al Pastor for some of the city’s best al pastor on handmade flour tortillas. Rosita’s did not disappoint, leading rider Jillian to comment, “The flavor of the taco alone was good, but I recommend that you add the accompanying sauce (a variety of salsa, I think) which takes the taco from good, to ‘Darn-I'm-so-full-but-I’ll-just-have-one-more!’ Check them out.”

With stuffed bellies and new Places friends, we headed home, only to chat about what we should do for the next food tour of Austin. All in all, a taco-riffic day!

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Posted by Whitney Francis, Austin community manager