Santo Taco

Santo Taco is a compact taqueria on Kenmare Street in Nolita, opened in 2025 by Santiago Perez, who spent more than a decade working alongside chef Enrique Olvera and was a founding partner of the group behind Cosme. The setup is quick and casual, with a short line, a salsa bar and outdoor seating in the street-level space that once belonged to La Esquina; servers from La Esquina's downstairs restaurant will even bring out a drink menu. Santo Taco calls itself an everyday taqueria held to a higher standard, and it shows in the details: corn tortillas are pressed and grilled to order, and you can watch them come off the griddle while you wait. It has since grown to Union Square and the West Village.

Featured by the YouTuber New York Turk in 2025, Santo Taco keeps the menu tight, with only a handful of tacos. The star is the steak trompo, ribeye and strip steak stacked on a vertical spit, seasoned simply with salt and sliced thin; The Infatuation suggests ordering two. The carne asada brings charred steak with tiny pieces of fried potato for texture, and the pork carnitas, made with belly and ribs, is best finished with chicharrones from the salsa bar. There is also a fried shrimp taco and a zucchini taco for non-meat eaters. The line moves quickly, and a margarita brought out from La Esquina turns an outdoor seat on Kenmare into a small vacation on a warm afternoon.