The famed tacos of Taquería El Califa de León, Mexico’s only taquería with a Michelin star, will be available in Manhattan this month in partnership with Tacombi, a fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain.
The awarded taquería will open a pop-up on Oct. 16 at Tacombi’s Flatiron location on West 24th Street in New York City. The tacos will be served from 6 to 10 p.m. Subsequently, from Oct. 17 through Oct. 31, two of El Califa’s tacos will be available at other Tacombi locations throughout New York City.
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The culinary event on Oct. 16 will feature the four award-winning tacos from El Califa de León — Bisteck, Costilla, Gaonera and Chuleta tacos — as well as its two popular sauces, created and served by the owner of El Califa, Mario Hernández Alonso.
“We are honored to partner with El Califa de León and share their tradition with our Tacombi diners,” Tacombi founder Dario Wolos told the magazine El Restaurante. Wolos told the magazine that he came up with the idea of taking the tacos to New York after meeting Hernández during a recent trip to Mexico City.
Tacombi, which started out of a Volkswagen van — sometimes called a combi — in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula over a decade ago, now has Tacombis in Miami Beach, New York, Chicago and the suburbs of Washington D.C. It has 16 locations in total and has plans to open 60 more in the next five years.
For its part, Taquería El Califa is a tiny, no-frills taquería in the modest San Rafael neighborhood of Mexico City. Founded in 1968 by Hernández’s parents Juan Hernández González and Josefina Alonso Ruiz, it is the only taco purveyor among the 18 restaurants that received one or two stars in the first-ever Michelin Guide to Mexico 2024.
After earning the accolade, Hernández told the newspaper El Universal that this recognition was “a reward for perseverance, hard work and the quality of the products.”
“It is a responsibility that makes us better every day,” he said. “And it encourages us to continue meeting the standards to which our clientele is accustomed. Few taquerías in Mexico actually offer their diners authentic 50-gram beef filet tacos.”
In Mexico City, El Califa operates 365 days a year, from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., except on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
With reports from Eater and El Restaurante
