With inspiration from the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Taqueria Sinaloense mainly serves a pan-Mexican menu in Marble Hill, a picturesque Bronx neighborhood overlooking the Harlem River. Two unique tacos are available, including tacos gobernador (“governor’s tacos”) loaded with shrimp and hot green chiles, and tacos de canasta, with the tortillas dipped in oil as a sort of temporary preservative that allows them to be sold from baskets by street vendors, hence the name. Birria tacos available, too.

Despite its unexpected location in the midst of the Bronx’s Little Italy, this informal sit-down “Little Star of Puebla” (founded 1999) has some of the tastiest organ meat tacos in town. Don’t miss out on the lengua (long-braised tongue). In fact, nearly all the tacos are top notch — though skip the shrimp — and the salsas are homemade. Mixed drinks available.

Xochimilco is a sweet spot in the Melrose section of the South Bronx, named after a neighborhood of Mexico City that boasts canals, artificial islands, and gondola-type boats called trajineras. The restaurant specializes in molotes — fried tacos made from hand-patted masa something like San Antonio’s famed puffy tacos. The choice of fillings include cheese, chicken, or chorizo and potatoes, with the latter preferred.

This absolutely killer taco spot joins a decades-old dining room to a broad taco window through which you can see the kitchen. A sign lets you know that this restaurant, now faded like a red rose, was founded back in 1971 — though then it was a Puerto Rican and Dominican joint with a dance floor. Now, take your clue from the al pastor cylinder rotating in the window, for some of the finest tacos of that sort you’ve ever tasted, served with green onions charred from the grill.

There’s no need to look further than the beautiful twirling cylinder of pork al pastor in the window, well-rubbed with spices and oozing juices, to know which taco to get. It’s one of the best al pastor tacos in town. Watching the carver at work makes the taco twice as tasty, and there’s an impressive array of taco toppings, running to dried red chiles, chiles in oil, pickled jalapenos, and an array of colorful salsas. Miniature tacos and a wide variety of traditional fillings are also available.

This old-fashioned Upper East Side lunch counter was taken over by a Mexican proprietor, who still offers all the expected items — like hamburgers and toasted cheese — but the menu has been built out with tacos and burritos. The taco fillings form a short list (chicken, steak, chorizo, and carnitas), but they’re all good, and a special features two tacos sharing a plate with an order of french fries, which feels like a genius cross-cultural genius move (also, put the french fries inside the taco).

As some Mexican immigrants have taken over pizza parlors in Astoria, Woodside, and Jackson Heights, they’ve added tacos and other antojitos to their menus. The tacos are often good in a unfussy sort of way, overstuffed and garnished only with chopped cilantro and onions. And the pair of salsas that accompany, if not housemade, are at least full of flavor. At Salerno, chorizo and tongue tacos are the standout choices.

Named after a village in southern Puebla, this place started out as a deli, added some seating for an informal taqueria in front, and eventually the owners annexed the next-door storefront, turning it into a full-blown restaurant where customers can wash your tacos down with beer. Check out the rolled and deep fried taco dorado, a Pueblan specialty, stuffed with chicken, beef, or cheese.

This institution started out as a humble cart on Roosevelt Avenue, eventually morphing into a full-blown Mexican gastropub. The cart introduced the taco placeros to New York, stuffed with startling combos of rice, boiled eggs, sautéed chiles, chiles relleno, and potato patties. This is one of the few taquerias licensed to serve liquor, which means you can wash the tacos down with shots of tequila.

On weekdays, all the usual tacos are available at this Corona stalwart located in a semi-subterranean space where the carnitas are made right in the window. Over the weekend, the place comes alive when barbacoa is offered by the pound, with a DIY taco kit that includes outsize corn tortillas made on the premises (also right in the window, who could resist?), chopped onions and cilantro, lemons or limes, and two kinds of salsa. It’s a feast!

Generating long lines, Los Tacos No. 1 in Chelsea Market is one of the city’s foremost taquerias, and now there are further branches in Noho, Times Square, near Grand Central, and in Tribeca. The idea was to recreate a seaside taco shack near Tijuana, and the design aspirations are faithfully executed. So is the slender menu, offering four choices on just-made corn or flour tortillas, of which the best is adobada, which is very much like pork al pastor. Best deal are the mulas, which are like California quesadillas.

Zaragoza sets itself apart as one of the last remaining Mexican-owned delis in lower Manhattan, serving a short menu of enchiladas, burritos, and tamales assembled right at the front counter. Tacos can be ordered with a selection of meats that rotates daily, and keep an eye out for the chorizo with potato, strewn over two blue corn tortillas and decorated with shredded lettuce. Enjoy them in the narrow back dining room, where an extroverted orange-and-black bodega cat holds court, or haul them to nearby Tompkins Square Park.

This counter-service taqueria has earned a following for its suadero and tripe tacos, prepared in the stainless steel vat of stewed meats known as a choricera. Don’t mind the line, which may well stretch to the end of the block at peak hours: Things moves quick, and these tacos are worth whatever the wait. The tortillas here are smaller than most of this list, making it possible to eat a taco in two to three bites — and get away with ordering one of everything on an empty stomach.

Before there was a birria boom, there was Birria-Landia. This small collection of taco trucks is credited with putting Tijuana-style birria — crunchy red tacos, dipped in a takeout container of meaty consomé – on the map in New York City. In Jackson Heights, where Birria-Landia got its start, the lines remain fierce and there’s now a bouncer to keep things moving, but this second location in Williamsburg is lower key and every bit as good. Order one of everything, including a large cup of consomé for proper taco dunking.

This Mexican storefront in a pleasant Ridgewood residential neighborhood remains mainly a grocery store, with a fully realized Mexican menu as a sideline, to be carried out or eaten at a single long communal table. Brilliant! The food couldn’t get any fresher, and the list of tacos is prodigious. Our favorite is pollo asado (you can smell the chicken grilling), with cecina, the salted and dried beef that is a favorite of Pueblans, a close second.

Opened just before the virus hit town like a ton of bricks, Taqueria Al Pastor seemed very new and modern among the numerous historic bodega taquerias of Bushwick. There were super graphics on the walls, a limited menu of meats, including a twirling cylinder of al pastor that was the center of attention, and an ordering system and open kitchen to be enjoyed like theater. The al pastor remains one of the city’s lushest, particularly when deposited with lots of pineapple on a volcan, a Mexico City specialty that consists of a tortilla turned up at the edges and deep fried.

Hidden in plain sight near Pratt Institute, Taqueria Tepango boasts one of the city’s greatest collections of taco types. Sure, there are the soft double-corn-tortilla tacos of southern Mexico, but also find hardshell tacos and tacos placeros — loaded with rice and other ingredients like boiled eggs and grilled jalapeños. The place also offers a creation of its own called the super taco: grilled chicken, onions, and crema stuffed in a big flour tortilla and smothered in melted cheese.

This comfortable Sunset Park restaurant launched a famous taco truck that parks at 37th and 5th avenues, but go to the mothership not far away for a longer menu with more tacos. Miniature tacos pequeños are the specialty of the house, a tortilla that’s easier to maneuver but not lacking in fillings. El Bronco’s tripe (small intestine rather than honeycomb stomach) is legendary, but be sure to try the campechanos, a mixture of several meats, usually including steak and chorizo. A charred green onion comes as a bonus, and the taste is sweet.

When this taqueria was founded in 2001, it took over the sprawling premises from a Dominican restaurant, serving one of the most complete taco menus in town from a nostalgic setting. The cabeza (beef cheek and other face meat) taco is particularly fine, and the picadillo de res is good if you want something that tastes Tex Mex. Tacos can be ordered in a number of preparations, including tacos dorados (flautas), tacos árabes, and tacos placeros.

This long-running Tompkinsville landmark, which took over a pizzeria on Victory Boulevard long ago, is the taqueria closest to the ferry terminal. The tacos are of the overstuffed variety, and extensively braised tongue is the preferred filling, with al pastor and carne enchilada a close second and third. Add Oaxacan cheese or sliced avocado to any taco for a small extra charge, or go for a taco Azteca with cactus and caramelized onions.

Staten Island has more than a few taquerias, including this bare-bones one in the Port Richmond neighborhood. In addition to the standard roster of fillings deposited in double corn tortillas, a cow eyeball taco is available; it’s the only place in town I know that serves this specialty. Other recommended tacos: maciza (cow’s head) and chorizo.

Bensonhurst might not seem a likely location for a distinguished taco truck, but Lupita, parked at the major crossroads of 65th Street and 18th Avenue, attracts throngs of customers on weekends. The tacos are available in more than a dozen varieties, including the usual meats, plus a few harder-to-find fillings like oreja (pig ear) and buche (pig stomach). A number of other hand-patted Pueblan antojitos are also served, including quesadillas and huaraches.