This Is the Best Mexican Restaurant in Every State

This counter-service restaurant near Honolulu proposes a modest menu offering just six tacos, five quesadillas or sincronizadas (two-tortilla quesadillas), four “snacks,” and one dessert. The relatively small choice isn’t a problem, though, since everything is delicious.

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The extensive menu here includes plenty of seafood and vegetarian dishes, as well as chicken, beef, and pork in various guises (chicken breast in chipotle sauce, carne asada tacos, pork carnitas, etc.). The service gets good marks from reviewers.

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Rick Bayless is the country’s leading non-Mexican authority on Mexican food, and at this flagship restaurant of his, the authentic fare includes Veracruz-style fresh corn tamales, grilled swordfish with squash blossom crema, crispy carnitas tacos, and cochinita pibil (achiote-marinated sucking pig roasted in banana leaves).

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This place claims to have “the best guacamole in town,” and its fans seem to agree. Other top choices include costillas (honey-and-guajillo-braised pork ribs with chipotle crema)(according to the restaurant), several taco variations, carne asada, and an unusual preparation of whole rainbow trout with morita chile salsa.

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The large menu here ranges from ceviche-like aguachiles and shrimp soup through both Mexican- and “Texano”-style tacos in numerous variations and all the way to hearty pork stew or stuffed poblano chiles served with house-made tortillas.

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