Dare You or Don't You?

You are walking around Vallarta and the scent of bar-b-queing meat, grilled onions, sizzling pork and deep fried fish keep calling out to you but do you dare eat at a taco stand?

For sure! Taco stands are some of the best places to grab a quick and economical bite to eat.

All you need to be aware of are a few taco stand rules:

• Always look for lots of locals eating. A busy taco stand is a good taco stand. Word gets around quick here in Vallarta so almost every stand makes sure to practice good hygiene and food controls as otherwise they would be out of business pretty quickly.
• Make sure the person who handles the money uses a bag to cover their hand, washes their hands or only handles money and does not cook or handle the food.
• Look for stands where they cover the plates with a new plastic bag each time or uses a new styro/ plastic plate. Stay away from places that wash plates in a small sink or bucket.
• Most stands have a place you can wash your hands before eating. If you do not know how to ask, make a washing motion with your hands or ask "lava mis manos?" Normally it is a five gallon bucket with a spigot attached, soap and a towel or napkins.
• The cool thing about taco stands are you order your tacos, quesadillas or what have you and you can keep ordering more until you are full...why? You pay at the end... they'll ask you, "What did you have?" and you tell them what you ate. How trusting is that?!

Recommended Stands

Marisma Fish Taco

In the middle of Naranjo Street, Between Basilio Badillo and V. Carranza on the southside of Vallarta/Emiliano Zapata Colonia .

Excellent fish and shrimp tacos (battered and deep fried) plus smoked marlin tacos and ceviche. 12 pesos for most items. Probably the cleanest and best run stand in all of Vallarta. All girls/women and they scrub this puppy down every day from top to bottom, plus they have a house and another kitchen so everything is 100% fresh all the time.

Memo's Tacos

On the corner of Basilio Badillo and Aguacate- Southside Vallarta/ Emiliano Zapata Colonia.

Memo is usually only open at night starting around 7:00 PM, sometimes a little later. He speaks pretty good English and has a great sense of humor. Excellent quesadillas and carne asada tacos, but the real winner is the Bin Laden Burritto filled with grilled shrimp, cheese, special sauce, lettuce and tomato. Huge! And the George Bush is good too...very beefy!

La Hormiga

Next to Farmacia Guadalajara on Cardenas/Insurgentes/ Southside/Emilano Zapata Colonia

La Homiga, "The Ant" is a favorite of late night eaters. I have been going here almost 10 years and they are still the best tacos, especially around 4:00 AM. There are three or four taco stands in a row here, so make sure you are at La Hormiga and not the "other one" which is closest to the street light. That's the one you send your enemies to.

 The quesadillas and carne asada tacos are the best...I always say "con todo" (with everything) but you may want to skip something, so make sure you say "sin frijoles" or "sin cilantro" or whatever you do not want them to put on.

 Rosa's

Up the river Cuale from Old Town Vallarta is a small colonia (community) called Buenos Aires. It's just before the popular Paso Ancho with its horse trails, canopy tour and 4-wheeler excursions. You get to Buenos Aires by foot (a 30 minute walk up the river from Los Muertos Beach), by taxi or by the R-04 Paso Ancho bus.

Every night Rosa serves 4 varieties of tacos at 6 pesos each and each one is big enough to split. Since these tacos come with 2 tortillas it's like getting 2 for one. The meats change often and can be anything so be prepared for authentic Mexican street food. Everything is home-made and the meats are grilled while you wait. This food is first class, but it isn't normal tourist fare. It's prepared for people who live, play and work in the area. The stand is set up under a cover (nice when it's raining), has tables and is on a small deck overlooking the Cuale River. Rosa is open most nights from dark until about 1am.