Taquería Los Primos, which opened in November with a day-long free taco fest, is actually on Fleet Street, thus a block south of Eastern Avenue’s taco row—a short stretch of excellent Mexican food that includes Bmore Taqueria, Tortilleria Sinaloa, and El Taquito Mexicano. Which is fine, as I suppose not every storefront can be a taqueria, but it’s in great company.
Los Primos is the most recent and first Baltimore location of a Mexican-family-owned empire that began with a food truck in Jessup. It has since expanded to include six more food trucks and four brick-and-mortar locations throughout the state, everywhere from Frederick County to Prince George’s County.
The Fells Point shop is roomy and bright, with colorful paper flags hanging from the ceiling, a big open kitchen in the back, flatscreens on the walls, a dessert case, a salsa bar, and a separate kitchen counter where women can often be seen lining hotel pans with dark, rich caramel for flans.
The menu is expansive, with quesabirria, mulitas, caldo de mariscos, sopes, burritos, ceviches, tortas, and more. There’s aquachile, chile rellenos, barbacoa, gorditas, and many, many tacos to choose from. There are also some dishes that are harder to find on local menus, including huarachas—the sandal-shaped dish of masa, meats, beans, cheese, and garnishes—as well as something called a machete, which is a tortilla the size of a machete filled with, well, pretty much everything.
Though the kitchen doesn’t make its own tortillas, it makes everything else in-house, including a superlative pozole, which arrives in a huge ceramic bowl loaded with crimson chile-spiked broth, hominy, and big chunks of pork. It’s accompanied by a plate of garnishes, including radishes, julienned lettuce, limes, and a bowl of tortilla chips. This is where the salsa bar can come in handy, as it features not only the expected pico de gallo and green and red salsas, but salsa matcha—a dense, thick sauce that’s kind of like the Veracruz version of chile-crisp.
The tacos run the gamut from al pastor, pollo, chorizo, barbacoa, and asada to cabeza (head), tripa (tripe), and buche (stomach). They come tricked out with roasted onions, jalapeños, cucumbers, and lime, as well as the requisite cups of red and green salsa.
There are also weekly specials—which are always a good reason to head out to your local taquería, as if you needed another excuse. Look out for $2 tacos on Tuesdays, $10 burritos on Mondays, $10 tortas on Wednesdays, and $10 quesadillas on Thursdays, plus occasional specials on mole enchiladas, chile rellenos, and birria pizzas.
Los Primos also delivers via UberEats, but tacos are really meant to be eaten as close to their source as possible—especially when it’s as cozy and welcoming as this one is.