Taquerias in Tyler, Texas

Taquerias in Tyler, Texas: Traditional Mexican Fast Food
By Joffre (JD) Meyer

La Michoacana: Throughout Texas, including Dallas and in Tyler
La Michoacana goes beyond the usual restaurant format, as it includes a taqueria, vegetable/fruit department, meat market, grocery store, bakery, and even a jewelry booth. They make their own tortillas also. The Tyler location is on Beckham, west side of the street, just north of the hospitals. La Michoacana is the godfather of new, traditional, Mexican chain stores. There are at least six in the Dallas area, but they started in Houston. Before moving to Tyler, I already lived near two in East Dallas and Garland. La Michoacana remodeled their exterior last year. Frequently, vendors sell elotes, a cup of corn that may include mayonnaise, butter, thin red hot sauce, and Parmesan cheese.
The taqueria of La Michoacana has a wide variety of stew meats that doesn't remain constant. You can expect pastor, beef fajitas, chorizo, tripas, desebrada, carnitas, carne asada, and more. All of these fine meats may go inside a corn or flour tortilla with all the vegetables and feta-like cheese that you could want. Corn tacos are $1 each while flour tacos are $1.50. My favorites include the pastor, desebrada (shredded beef), fajitas, and tripas. La Michoacana may be the only place in Tyler where you can find desebrada and tripas (beef guts) cooked with onions. I remember the La Michoacana chain as a taqueria that will blend a variety of meats, vegetables, and cheese together far more than the average place. Furthermore, you may choose a gordita, a filled pocket sandwich-like taco, or a sope, a tostada-like dish that starts with a tortilla reminiscent of an English muffin and finishes with a dusting of Parmesan cheese and a swirl of thin feta-flavored cream. Their menudo (roughly $5) on the weekends is tasty and doesn't skip any of the traditional fillers: buche (beef stomach), pig's feet, and hominy.
They've even managed a way to sell pastor in their meat market for only $3/pound. Connoisseurs know what a complicated dish that is. Be prepared to speak Spanish or point in the taqueria section but not the butchers or check-out section.

Some Other Taquerias in Tyler
Taqueria Lindo Mexico...on Beckham, west side of the street, one block north of MLK. Lindo Mexico has a wide range of plate dinners, taqueria fare, and seafood together with a happening nortena/duranguense jukebox. They have the widest range of fruit drinks (aguas frescas) in Tyler, such as Jamaica, tamarindo, horchata (rice milk), cantaloupe, mango, lemonade, and pineapple. The pastor is truly outstanding, and you can get it and other a la carte items in a taco ($1-1.50), burrito ($2.99), torta ($3.50), tostada ($1.99), and gordita ($1.50). My favorite plate is the carne asada (grilled steak) and nopalitos (cactus) for $6. You can get a carne asada and nopalitos tostada also. The menudo on the weekends has the reddest, spiciest broth in town. For once, I didn't miss the hominy. They have weekday lunch specials that are gargantuan. I bet that I made close to ten tacos out of a $6 barbacoa plate. Check the breakfast specials, like 3 tacos for $1.99 and breakfast burritos for $2.25.
Taqueria El Lugar... (1) On East Gentry, west side of street, just south of MLK. (2) Southeast Crossing, Beckham (110) just north of the SE Loop 323. (3) East Fifth Street, past Tyler Junior College, before East Loop 323. El Lugar is the leading Tyler-based taqueria, an immensely popular place that added a second floor to their original restaurant and opened two more locations. They keep a simple menu featuring beef and ham for burrito-like quesadilla fillings. They offer cabbage, a somewhat atypical topping among typical vegetables. You'll enjoy both their red and green salsas, tasty but not real hot.
El Tenampa....on Church Street, just south of MLK in the Tyler Supermarket. Some friendly folks from Miami have transformed the long-deserted Loving's Grocery Store into a Hispanic grocery store. Now they have CD's, T-shirts/jerseys, and a taqueria also. You can watch a huge big screen TV while you dine. Their head chef was recruited from Lupita's! The torta selection, named after Mexican soccer teams, is even larger than El Zarape. Tacos, tostadas, and quesadillas are available. Meats include suadero, carne asada, chorizo, milanesa, steak, chicken, lengua, and more. You can find chicken tinga (with amaranth and chipotle) and cecina.
Cosina Mexicana...On West Gentry, just north of Palace. Cosina Mexicana has a full menu featuring plate dinners, tacos a la carte, tortas, menudo, gorditas, and more. They have a magazine rack full of stuff like People en espanol that you may read without buying. A TV is always on, but they have a juke box with norteno and other traditional fare. It's one of the few restaurants with huaraches, a sope-like dish shaped like a sandal.
Torta King on Beckham, north of the hospitals, across from La Michoacana. This taqueria has one of the widest selection of tortas ($5-6), including milanesa, cubana (with ham), and hawaiiana (with pastor). They serve a unique taco with beef fajita and avocado. Torta King also has notable giant quesadillas. Their owner was the co-winner of The 2007 Tyler Hispanic Businessperson of the Year award.
Tortilleria y Taqueria Palacios.....on South Palace, north of Erwin, south of Bow. This new taqueria is one of the best. They have pastor, barbacoa (ultra-lean), and fajitas. The vegetable toppings brilliantly combine shredded cabbage and thin avocado slices with the standard onions and cilantro-fine green and red salsas too.
Regio's Pollo Asado...on East Gentry near the bridge. Don't let that name fool you. They have barbacoa and pastor as well as chicken. This chain is big in the Dallas area. You get bigger portions than average. Sides include charro beans, rice, and spicy guacamole sauce.
This list doesn't attempt to describe every taqueria in Tyler, as my driving habits change. Here are some more fine restaurants. Others include Don Juan (two locations for this taqueria/restaurant, including the downtown square, great pastor), Taqueria Corona (big combo plates), Taqueria Martinez (homemade tortillas, extra lean meats).
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