St. Louis, MOMexican

This Ellisville restaurant draws on more than 150 years of family recipes from Mexico City; the family also ran Senor Pique. Tacos take over the menu early in the week, while entrees have included Sope del Sur with cochinita pibil on handmade masa cakes and a Mexican paella with carnitas, sausage, shrimp, skirt steak and asparagus. Pair a larger dish with a Michelada.

Adela and Salvador Esparza have run this Southampton taco shop for more than two decades, bringing Southern California taco-shop influences to St. Louis. Order at the counter and visit the salsa bar. The Lily's Special Margarita is blended with cream in a 1950s milkshake machine; the Camarones a la Diabla brings shrimp with chiles de arbol.

This Manchester Road grocery and restaurant grew from a stand at CityPark. Choose a meat for tacos, flautas or masa gorditas. The pollo pibil sauce gets color from achiote, with fruit and heat; carne asada comes with cilantro and onion. Add salsa and frijoles charros, a bean soup with meat, garlic, onion and chiles.

Executive chef Carlos Hernandez, a Michoacan native and longtime St. Louis resident, makes quesabirria from his mother's recipe. Brisket and sirloin marinate overnight in guajillo and whole spices, then pressure-cook for at least eight hours until the meat shreds. Corn tortillas heat in broth oil with jack and Chihuahua cheeses. Order three and dip them in consome.

Adam and Jason Tilford opened this Mexican restaurant at Euclid and McPherson. Start with tortilla soup, a chile broth with chicken, avocado, fideos and Chihuahua cheese, then duck-confit taquitos in tamarind-ancho sauce. The chile relleno keeps the poblano's texture under a chipotle-sherry drizzle. The bar offers more than a dozen mezcal and tequila cocktails.