Mexico City’s El Califa de León Opens in NYC

Even people who aren’t familiar with Mexico City’s food scene likely know about El Califa de León, owing to the 60-year-old institution’s reputation as the first taqueria to be awarded a Michelin star. After receiving the honor in 2024, it became clear to third-generation owner José Andrés Hernández Elizalde and his father, Mario Hernández, that it was time to think about opening outside of its hometown. But where to go? That year, the restaurant partnered with Tacombi on a ten-week pop-up tour to New York, Chicago, Miami, and Washington, D.C., that sold over 180,000 tacos nationwide; New York was “easily” the most enthusiastic market and inadvertently won the bid to house the taqueria’s expansion.

Instead of tapping hospitality behemoths or venture-capital firms to fund and oversee the expansion, they turned to family and friends, who in turn furnished the bulk of the financial backing needed for the expansion. “This has been a family business forever,” Hernández Elizalde says. It’s why his partner leading the growth is Rodrigo Rivera, who built a successful career in tourism, airlines, and restaurant tech in Toronto and, more crucially, has been best friends with Hernández Elizalde since the 11th grade.

The restaurant is planning to open its new Flatiron location at the end of August. Despite the new location, the approach is the same as it’s ever been: the same concise menu of tacos (prime rib eye, tenderloin, pork chop, and New York strip), placed in tortillas made with masa from Bushwick’s Sobre Masa and designed to be doused in homemade rojo or verde salsa. “We’re not adapting the taco to the U.S. market — we’re bringing the real thing,” Hernández Elizalde says. “New Yorkers and Americans have gotten used to a taco that’s been adapted to them, but every time they go out in Mexico, they’re like, Why did all those tacos taste that good down there?”

There are some new additions, including the use of USDA Prime-graded beef in the tenderloin taco, a vegetarian option made with roasted poblano peppers and huitlacoche, and an alluring “MARGARITA” sign that looms above a bar to signal a robust selection of mezcal, tequila, and beer. The interior also feels befitting of a second chapter. While the original taco stand is less than 100 square feet, the Flatiron location seats up to 60 and includes a table-service section, a seated taco counter, and standing room for those who want a dining experience most similar to what they’d find in Mexico City. The family partnered with friends at CDMX-based interior firm MERO MX, which outfitted the space with glossy, blood-red subway tiles as well as accordion-style doors at the entrance and an open-air grill that gives customers a plancha-to-plate view of their orders.

“We’re here to set the standard, not only for the best tacos in New York, but in the U.S.,” says Hernández Elizalde, who will relocate his family to New York City early next year to oversee the taqueria’s continued American expansion, which he hopes will include at least several more locations year. “New Yorkers will have exactly the same taco as we prepare in Mexico,” he says, “but I like to think it’s going to be a little bit better because of the quality of the meat we can serve here.”