Searching for the Best Tacos in Utah County: Tacos CDMX

There’s little wonder that of all the foods in the culinary world, the one to lay claim to an entire day of the week is the taco. It’s simple, versatile, fresh, cheap, and in one word, sublime. No wonder Americans devour over 4 billion tacos per year.

In Utah, we have tacos stuffed with everything from fish to curry and tongue to coleslaw. There’s no doubt that on taco Tuesday, you have unlimited options to choose from.

That’s why Utah County Living has set out on a quest to uncover the ultimate, hands-down, all-around best tacos in Happy Valley. Our team started this epic journey at a taquería in Lindon called Tacos CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico)—a restaurant that is not short on charm or delicious options. 

The genesis of Tacos CDMX started at the sidelines of a soccer game in Utah County, where two dads were “lamenting the lack of authentic Mexico City street-style tacos” in the area, Tacos CDMX’s website states. The restaurant had humble beginnings, with tacos being served out of a trailer for a year before the first location opened. Now, they have two restaurants in Utah County, one in Lindon ( 569 State Street, Lindon) and Provo (94 North 500 West, Provo). 

“Our goal is to honor the taco in its simplest and most common form, tortilla, meat, and salsa. Not really common, just perfect,” their website states.

And that’s a goal there is no doubt they have mastered.

Since Tacos CDMX seeks to present an authentic Mexican experience and get to the core of what a taco truly represents, we thought it would be fun to indulge in a little history of the origins of this ingenious food. According to an article in the Smithsonian, one of the first known mentions of the word taco in connection with the tantalizing food we know today was in an 1891 novel The Bandits of Cold River. “This depiction stuck. Four years later, Mexican dictionaries listed tacos and credited Mexico City for their origins,” the Smithsonian article states.

But the history of tacos goes even deeper than that. In another Smithsonian article, Professor Jeffrey M. Pilcher, who has traveled the world studying the history and politics of Mexican food, noted: 

“The origins of the taco are really unknown. My theory is that it dates from the 18th century and the silver mines in Mexico, because in those mines the word ‘taco’ referred to the little charges they would use to excavate the ore. These were pieces of paper that they would wrap around gunpowder and insert into the holes they carved in the rock face. When you think about it, a chicken taquito with a good hot sauce is really a lot like a stick of dynamite. The first references [to the taco] in any sort of archive or dictionary come from the end of the 19th century. And one of the first types of tacos described is called tacos de minero—miner’s tacos. So the taco is not necessarily this age-old cultural expression; it’s not a food that goes back to time immemorial.”

If you would like to taste some of this rich history in action, check out Tacos CDMX. Their taco options include age-old classics as well as ingredients like steak, radishes, pineapple, hog maw, birria, beef tongue, chorizo, and beef intestines. Check out their menu here.

And check back on our blog, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube to get new updates on our quest to find the best tacos in Utah County.