The benchmark taqueria in Phoenix — Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin's family-owned street-style taqueria drawing on Chihuahua city cooking traditions, with the Taco Chiwas (beef, ham, jalapeño, Anaheim chiles, asadero cheese in a handmade corn tortilla) and a Paloma that justifies the drive from anywhere in the Valley.
Why It Belongs on the List
Tacos Chiwas is the restaurant that appears on every Phoenix chef's 'where I eat on my night off' list — a counter-service taqueria on Indian School Road that draws from the Northern Mexican city of Chihuahua rather than the Sonoran borderlands cuisine of Bacanora, producing a different and equally excellent expression of Mexican food as it is actually eaten in Mexico. Co-owners Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin built the restaurant around family recipes passed through generations, and the result is a taqueria with the honesty and specificity of a regional Mexican dish cooked by someone who grew up eating it. The Taco Chiwas (beef, ham, jalapeño, Anaheim chiles, and asadero cheese in a handmade corn tortilla) is the signature; the gorditas and quesadillas are equally serious. The Paloma cocktail — grapefruit, tequila, lime — is the house drink. Hernandez and Holguin also operate Cocina Chiwas (the sit-down, James Beard–nominated restaurant version) and were recently involved in Santo, a new Arcadia opening.
What Stands Out
- Most celebrated taqueria in Phoenix — appears on every local chef's night-off list
- Taco Chiwas: beef, ham, jalapeño, Anaheim chiles, asadero cheese in a handmade corn tortilla — the signature
- Northern Mexican Chihuahua cooking: a different and equally excellent tradition from Sonoran borderlands
- The Paloma: grapefruit, tequila, lime — the house drink at Phoenix's correct taqueria
- Cocina Chiwas (James Beard–nominated sit-down version) for the full Chiwas experience