Los Tacos No. 1

Los Tacos No. 1 began in 2013 as a standing-room taco stand in Chelsea Market, opened by three friends from Tijuana and Brawley, California, who wanted to bring the tacos they grew up with to the East Coast. This Times Square shop on West 43rd Street, opened in 2017 as the company's first brick-and-mortar location, carries the same spirit into the busiest blocks in Manhattan. The format is fast and focused: a short menu, meat cooked in plain sight and a line that moves with surprising speed. The recipes come from family and the ingredients are kept simple, and the result has become one of the most dependable affordable meals in Midtown, loved by theatergoers, office workers and visitors alike.

Featured by the YouTuber New York Turk in 2025, Los Tacos No. 1 is built around four fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, adobada and nopal, the grilled cactus. The adobada, marinated pork cooked on a vertical trompo and finished with strips of pineapple, is the one most regulars reach for first. Fans of the hidden menu can ask for a quesataco, which wraps the filling in a shell of grilled cheese, or a vampiro, an open-faced tostada with a crisp cheese top, in any of the same four fillings. Lightly fried jalapeños and grilled onions are complimentary if you ask your taquero. Plan on a quick, casual meal, the perfect fuel a block from the Broadway theaters before a show.