The wildly popular Los Tacos No. 1, which opened on Church and Warren in fall 2019, has opened another location at 67 Exchange Place, just south of Wall. That makes eight locations in the city.

The local chain was founded just over a decade ago in the incubator space at Chelsea Market by three friends from San Diego: Christian Pineda, Tyler Sanders and Kyle Cameron thought downtown Manhattan needed some authentic Mexican street food (that’s why there are no seats). They were burned out on life as young architects moving documents around and making no money. So they sublet their apartment, went back to Tijuana and spent four months observing taqueros in Mexico – “we couldn’t touch, only watch,” Christian told me back in 2019 – and collecting family recipes.

They went with Christian’s mother’s salsa (tomatoes, Chile de árbol, jalapenos, habaneros, onions, cilantro), tacos from scratch – nothing produced in New York at that time was good enough — and $80k from Kyle’s father for seed money.

“We had zero passion for the restaurant world on its own, and we’re not chefs, but we had an educated palate,” said Christian, who of the three is the only Mexican — his parents grew up in Tijuana.

The experience at Los Tacos is meant to precisely mimic the Mexican taco stand experience, down to the color scheme. That’s why the menu is so simple. In Mexico, if a stand is red and white then they only serve beef, pork and chicken. If you want fish tacos, you have to find a stand that is yellow and blue (“It’s sacred not to combine them.”). The trio invented the veggie option of grilled cactus for the NYC market.

“We are not reinventing the wheel,” Christian said. “The idea is to take a taco shack from Tijuana and with a crane, drop it in Manhattan. That’s what we wanted to bring to New York.”

Enjoy, Fidi.

Los Tacos No. 1
67 Exchange Place | Broadway & William
Monday-Saturday, 11a to 10p
Sunday 11a to 9p