Post-Dispatch file photo
Mission Taco Joint
You don’t need to be a savvy restaurateur to recognize that traditional Mexican tacos have been white-hot over the past few years. If you’re hoping to make something out of that trend, though, it helps to possess the Mexican-restaurant experience of Adam and Jason Tilford. The brothers’ success with Tortillaria Mexican Kitchen in the Central West End and, even more so, Milagro Modern Mexican in Webster Groves ensured that Mission Taco Joint would be a blockbuster as soon as it opened in 2013 in the Delmar Loop — and, as of 2014, at a second location in Soulard. Mission Taco Joint’s menu of tacos, tortas and burritos hits the trifecta of creativity, technique and fun, whether you’re the anthropological type who wants to see if the kitchen does right by the classic torta ahogada (a roasted-pork sandwich covered in ancho-chile sauce, and, yes, the kitchen does do it justice) — or you just want to munch on chips and queso, blended here with housemade chorizo.