The taco and Tex-Mex list

Baytown is a Tex-Mex town first and everything else second. Here's where, and what to order, ranked by how often locals actually go — not by review count.

The list. Bocanegra's, 214 West Texas Avenue. The one the town adopted fastest — it only opened a few years ago and already has regulars who act like it's been there since their parents' wedding. Fajitas for the table, the enchiladas verdes if you're alone, and a margarita that doesn't apologize. Closed Sunday; Friday and Saturday it runs to ten. Downtown, which means Market Saturdays and Grito Fest make it a wait; if the line's out the door, El Rey Pupusas on Garth will change your afternoon.

El Toro. The institution. The door says eleven on weekdays and means it — no seven a.m. breakfast, whatever the internet claims. The plate combos haven't changed and nobody wants them to. Chile relleno, the number-four, sweet tea. The kind of place where the waitress asks about your mother.

Mi Parrillada. Asada done properly over a real grill, nopales on the plate, rice and beans that taste like somebody's kitchen. This is where you take the person who says Tex-Mex is all the same, and where you order the parrillada for two and take half home.

El Sinaloense, 3002 Market Street. Sinaloa-style — aguachile, mariscos, ceviche, lime on everything, a michelada that comes with a shrimp on the rim. No website, barely any social media, a line anyway. Cash is safer. If you only eat at one place on this list, and you like seafood, it's this one.

Antonio's and Mambo. Two more that the town keeps in rotation — Antonio's for the family plates, Mambo when you want the Latin side of the menu. Both restored to the guide with their hours after we'd let them go thin.

El Rey Pupusas Tacos y Mas, 5622 Garth Road. Not tacos, mostly, and on this list because it's the best pupusa in the county. Revuelta, two, with curtido and the red sauce. Salvadoran, not Mexican, and nobody in the lot cares.

Cuban Cafe. Also not tacos. The pressed Cuban is the sandwich of Baytown and it belongs on every food list in this town until someone beats it, which nobody has.

What to skip. The chain corridor on Garth. It's fine. It's the same as the one where you live. And any place whose "Mexican" section is longer than its Tex-Mex section is confused about which town it's in.

The rules. - Weekday lunch specials run roughly 11 to 2 almost everywhere and are the best value in town. - Sunday is a Tex-Mex day for the whole town; go before noon or after two, and check the hours on each page — several close Sunday or Monday. - Cash is welcome and sometimes preferred at the smaller places and every truck. - Breakfast tacos are a separate sport, played before eight, and the Doughnut Wheel's kolaches compete in the same league.

En español. Esta es la lista de tacos y Tex-Mex de Baytown, en el orden en que la gente de aquí realmente va. Los horarios de cada lugar están en su página.