El Taco de Mexico is a restaurant in Denver, Colorado. In 2020 it was named one of America's Classics by the James Beard Foundation.[1]
The restaurant was founded by Maria Luisa Zanabria, who emigrated from Mexico City, then moved from California to Colorado in 1985; she first operated the business from a trailer parked on Denver's Santa Fe Drive in Denver's Art District on Santa Fe.[2]
The 2020 America's Classics award was a first for a Colorado restaurant.
The restaurant serves Mexican staples such as burritos, enchiladas, gorditas, tacos, tortas, tamales, and menudo.[3] The Beard Foundation in their announcement called the pork burrito "the restaurant’s crowning glory...smothered in green chile humming with earthy spice".[4]
In 2020 the restaurant was named one of America's Classics by the James Beard Foundation;[5] in their announcement the foundation called it a "lodestar...among Denver's thriving Mexican food culture".[6] Eater Denver called it "the mother of all Mexican food institutions in Denver".[7] Andrew Zimmern called it "Denver's quintessential taqueria".[8] Conde Nast Traveler, naming it one of Denver's 20 Best Restaurants, said the green chili "represents the gold standard of the Southwestern staple".[9] Food & Wine, naming their burrito one of the best in the country, called their smothered chile relleno burrito "the breakfast dish of your dreams."[10]