Tacos from a Mexican restaurant in Toronto were just voted the best in the entire city, so here’s everything you need to know about them.
Another annual Toronto TacoFest has come and gone, leaving a tortilla crumb trail of carnage in its wake. While taco lovers across the city are nursing their birria-induced food comas, one taco joint in the city is busy celebrating its newly minted title as the creators of the best taco in Toronto.
According to the scores of attendees at the food festival, at least.
From Friday, Aug. 8 to Sunday, Aug. 11, dozens of local Mexican restaurants joined forces with food fanatics in the thousands to spend a weekend consuming as many tacos (among other things) as their bodies would allow. On the last day of the festival, the pièce de résistance came in the form of a golden taco trophy awarded to the local taqueria that won the majority of votes from attendees.
This year, it went to Kensington Market force Birria Catrina.
Billed as Toronto’s “first and only birria-specialized eatery,” it’s not hard to understand why the restaurant was able to snatch the title.
The restaurant was founded as a hole-in-the-wall, takeout-only stall nestled in the heart of Kensington Market in 2020 by a then-25-year-old Abraham Luna, who grew up in Guadalajara, learning the craft from his father, who ran a stall of his own.
Focused solely on serving the slow-cooked beef dish in various forms like tacos, quesadillas, tortas and even ramen, always with an ample side of the consommé that we genuinely believe we could drink by the litre, Luna is an avid subscriber to the “do one thing really well” school of thought, and it works for him.
In the years since, Birria Catrina has gone on to open additional locations at Yonge and Dundas and on Roncesvalles, but has lost none of its appeal.
Luna told Dished Toronto that “it is both a joy and an honour to bring our food to the community that has always supported us,” and says that, more than winning the title, the greatest honour is “the opportunity to share our passion and flavour with [Toronto].”
For his part, Luna believes that Birria Catrina’s commitment to serving a birria recipe straight from the birthplace of the dish is the secret to success.
“We neither invent recipes nor imitate others; we are the number one in birria because it is our true specialty,” he told Dished Toronto.
That, he says, and the fact that Birria Catrina has “the finest team, made up of hardworking Mexican staff who give their all for [the restaurant.”
If we may inject our own opinion on top of that, if we hadn’t made it clear already, the consommé here certainly helps.
To make matters even more exciting, Birria Catrina is also gearing up to open a brand-new location in Kensington Market at 267 Augusta Ave. While the opening date has yet to be announced, Luna promises that it’s coming soon.
In the meantime, you can try Birria Catrina for yourself at 131 Roncesvalles Ave., 335 Yonge St., or its original stall.
Address: 214 Augusta Ave.
Phone: 647-237-0359