El Morelia

If you haven’t been here on a Saturday or Sunday for tacos you are completely missing out. Without a doubt the best tacos in St. Louis. I’ve been numerous times now and really the Al Pastor and the Carnitas are perfectly spiced porky goodness and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you miss out.

This has been my experience after quite a few visits.
Pros:
They sell tacos (They smell amazing. I haven’t tried them).
They have cheap plantains and are always stocked with poblano peppers.
They have nice selection of flavored sodas.
They have a decent selection of meat and chicharrones that I could use when cooking some of my grandmother’s dishes.
Cons:
Their produce is meh. Most of the stuff is spoiled and wilted. They always have limes on sale, but they are the driest limes. What do I want 20 limes for if they will produce the juice of one good one? My fav brand of queso fresco is Supremo, and all the packages were moldy and warm. It was disgusting. Their milagro corn tortillas? Same thing.
There are always a LOT of gnats and flies all over the pan dulce (sweet bread) which is usually stale. There has never been a cashier at register when I’m ready to check out. I’ve always had to find one or wait.
I bought pork to make tamales the other day, and that was the last straw. It was prepackaged, and when I took it out, it was nothing but fat– 4 lbs is what I was charged for, and I MIGHT have gotten 1 lbs of actual meat. I was pretty upset. Spices, teas, and dried chiles are overpriced. The dried chiles aren’t «fresh.» What I mean by that is they are super hard instead of malleable, so it would take effort to re-​hydrate them for use.
Unfortunately, this is the only Mexican store around me. I prefer El Torito on Cherokee, although it’s not that much better.
Hope I don’t seem melodramatic. If I go back, it will be to try tacos, or get the 3 things listed in my pros.

Great authentic Mexican tacos. Brings memories of Tucson with great flavor, sauce choices and veggies. They give free samples of horchata and Aqua frescos. The Sandia (watermelon) was really tasty.

The grocery store is what it is but the taco cart is everything! The best horchata. The best tacos in St. Louis! These tacos are better than anything I’ve tried down on Cherokee. Love the carnitas, al pastor & the lengua.

The taco stand is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 – 5 (as of now!). There is a small area to sit and eat, but it can get crowded quickly! The tacos are made right in front of you and they are good. Personally, I think the chorizo and carnitas are the best. The carne asada was not very flavorful and I wouldn’t get it again. The chicken was good, but compared to the carnitas/​chorizo, it came in third place. They have a table full of cilantro, salsas, onions, etc to load up on the tacos. The tacos themselves are quite small and are 1.98 a piece.
Overall it was very good and I would definitely go back, but not as incredible as I was hoping.
The market itself is awesome!

Coming from someone who used to live in Southern California, where there is a Mexican grocery store on every corner, this one is pretty good for it being in St. Louis. They have a big selection from Mexican candy, to spices, to a whole meat section. They also serve really good tacos at the entrance! I don’t live too far from it, so it’s definitely my go to store.

Mostly this is a Mexican food grocery store but they do serve to go tacos and tamales. Very authentic. The biggest pork rinds I’ve ever seen!

This place has a massive selection of groceries and a fantastic deli-​style café. Place your order at the counter, and once you receive it there’s a table with an extensive array of toppings including many different kinds of salsa, grilled onions with hot chili peppers, onion, cilantro, etc, etc, etc. I am so happy to have found this place!

Great Saturday lunch!

I travel back to St. Louis just for those tacos. And my friends… But I just try to get them together for tacos. The bakery is a favorite too. I’m in Chicago now and there is no shortage of tacos here, but they are all terrible after having eaten here. The food, the people. I love them so much I really got on Unilocal just to tell you how much this place rocks. Viva El Morelia!!!

Great latin grocery store outside of the city. Their tamales are to die for, and they’re wrapped in a corn husk the way they should be.

… fuck’n awwwesome…
I’d say this is the biggest Mexican grocery store in the St. Louis area?
They have a shit ton of produce and instant dry whole milk, which was the original reason why I came here.
Their butcher section is impressive. I think they actually take the whole hog and butcher everything there where you can get liver, tripe, feet, etc.
They have fresh chicharrones… the kind with the meat on it… pretty much crackl’n. CRACKL’N. These are made fresh Friday mornings and they say they last until Sunday morning… but if you want some with the meat still soft… get in on this shit on Friday.
My over-​exuberance for this place is my excuse for all the cussing.