Hello and welcome to part two of arguably the most important piece of food journalism that Phoenix has EVER seen. If you missed part one, read that here. The Hold Your Fork “Taco Hunt” continues. Today, I’m going with Bryan Suarez, cook at Restaurant Progress, to Tacos Huicho to see if they are the taco kings of Phoenix.

Our feelings are … a mixed bag.

Tacos Huicho is regarded highly amongst most of my peers, all of whom claim this is the best taco shop in town. After eating there, I think I understand where they are coming from (and $1.50 per taco is not a bad deal).

Tacos Huicho is located right where Oak St. meets the 51, so McDowell and 16th St. is the closest major intersection. Tucked back in the neighborhood fairly off the beaten path stands Tacos Huicho within a small neighborhood strip mall.

With the exception of their tacos, the menu didn’t have anything that appeared to stand out as “must-haves.” We asked at the counter, “What torta is the house favorite?”

“Pastor with queso,” the woman replied. I looked around at their logo and signage, and it

was all Al Pastor themed.

Consider it done.

We ordered 12 tacos, two large horchatas, and one torta. The final bill amounted to $25 … hell yes.

Tacos:

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Al Pastor: Tasty, clearly the most popular thing there, I don’t know if I would go so far and say it is the best in town, but there is still a great depth of flavor.

Cabeza: Incredibly tender, the only downside was the lack of salt.

Lengua: Good, not great. A squeeze of lime really brought out the flavor.

Longanisa: We’ve had trouble finding a good traditional sausage taco in Phoenix so far. The one at Huichos was really salty and charred well, definitely worth coming back for. This might be the best taco at Huicho.

Make it saucy

Carne Asada: It’s hard to fuck up a carne for me... but I would’ve liked more charr on the beef before it was sliced.

Tortillas:

I feel like finding the best tortilla will be the challenge in the “Taco Hunt.” The biggest issue for us at Huichos had to be the tortillas. They were soggy when we got them. This could’ve been because we ordered so many tacos, so if you order like a normal person you might not get soggy tortillas. However, if you eat like a king, then the tortillas might be the Achilles heel of the meal.

Toppings:

We got a lot of tacos, and apparently you get five cucumber slices per plate. That means we received approximately 300 whole cucumbers. I don’t know if anyone needs that many cucumber slices.

Cu-Cumba

Al Pastor with queso Torta:

This was pretty good! The bread was crunchy yet soft. The meat was great. There was a good amount of cheese, but maybe I could’ve used a little more.

Horchata:

Good, creamy, lots of cinnamon, but a little granular. It was good but it isn’t inciting any horchata sueños for me.

THOUGHTS SO FAR:

While Tacos Huicho left us a little underwhelmed, it is definitely a place worth going to. Get yourself a handful of the Longanisa tacos and try a torta while you are there. Looks like we are still on the hunt for the BEST TACO SHOP IN PHOENIX.

CURRENT RANKINGS:

Restaurant Atoyac Estilo Oaxaca.
Tacos Huicho

TACO HUNT PART TWO: Tacos Huicho