NYC Taco Power Rankings: 4 New Contenders Emerge

We have a new entry in the top 6

There is a tray of 200 deep-fried taco shells between me and Oscar Hernandez, co-owner of Wayne & Sons.

“It starts with a fresh crunchy shell,” he tells me. “I call them shells now. Sorry, grandpa.”

He grabs one. It’s a deep-fried, nixtamalized tortilla from Mi Familia, in the Bronx. He laces some of his picadillo in the center of it—his mother’s recipe–and then tops it with a mayo-based sauce. After I eat the first, I ask for 2 more.

“The amount of people who are like super taco aficionados that have been coming in here… They’re like ‘Man, this is fucking good’” Oscar says proudly.

The “crunchy taco” from Wayne & Sons. $6.

Oscar Hernandez originally hails from Jalisco, but he’s an OG in the New York Mexican food scene. He began his career as a dishwasher in his family’s restaurant on the Upper West Side, before working his way up to a job with celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez, and eventually joining Tacombi as their culinary director and “master taquero”.

“At the time, we were not so lucky to have as many taquerias as we have now,” he explains about his time opening Tacombi in New York. “Right now we are very spoiled in New York, because we have so many good ones.”

It’s hard to interview Oscar, as we keep veering off into conversations about other spots, other chefs, other niche dishes we’d like to see in New York. When I mention recado negro, he offers to teach me how to make it, and tells me how it differs from recado blanco. When we talk about burritos, we both talk about how much we love the bean & cheese burrito from Son del North, and he prods me to go try Electric Burrito. He asks if I’ve been to Taco Mix in Harlem; I hadn’t. So he tells me to go right after this shoot and try a tripa taco. I do.

But before I get ahead of myself—Yes, a crunchy taco is entering my NYC Taco Power Rankings. What a day. There are three reasons why I feel strongly that Wayne & Sons is making some of the most delicious tacos in New York:

1. The salsas are unbelievable. The salsa fresca is one of the freshest salsas I’ve tasted since dining at Nicos in CDMX. The salsa de arbol, kept in honey bears and referred to by the team as “Oso Sabroso,” is near-painfully spicy but also rich and textured.

2. They use high quality ingredients. The tortilla is high quality. The picadillo is homemade. The spirits are sourced well and the drinks taste great, due to one of the co-owners, Tiffany Collins, having co-founded Las Chingonas Imports.

3. Pure deliciousness. They’re not as traditional as Carnitas Ramirez. They’re not as innovative as Taqueria el Chato. But I just want to eat them all the time. I ate 3 on my first visit, 4 on my second. Next time I might go for 6.

When I point out that there’s something strange about Oscar—who has made millions of authentic tacos and whose birria recipe is served in Tacombis across America—making Tex Mex tacos in New York, he doesn’t waver. “There’s always a grandma involved in this,” he says. He points out the lineage of fried tortillas in Mexico: flautas, tostadas, tacos dorados. “It’s just another part of a grandma trying to show her culture with anything available. I think that makes it authentic.”

“We do have them in a soft shell,” he admits. “And I tell people, listen: You can find a soft shell taco even in the Irish bar on the corner. Try a crunchy taco.”

There are 2 other taquerias in New York going viral right now: Cariñito in Union Square, and Santo in the West Village. I stopped in to both to see how they stand up, and whether or not they belong on the Taco Power Rankings.

Behind the paywall: My top 6 tacos in New York, and my thoughts on Cariñito, Santo, and Taco Mix.