The Fold: The Rankings After Five Tacos
A mid-series comparison from Ann Arbor's west side to Southwest Detroit. Here's how the entries stack up.
Five tacos in. Time to rank them.
The Fold started as a search for the best taco in Ann Arbor. Five entries later, the search has left Ann Arbor entirely. The series includes a Scio Township taqueria, a Depot Town cantina, a Dexter strip mall, a Packard Street late-night counter, and a Southwest Detroit institution on Vernor Highway. They are not all playing the same game, and ranking them requires deciding what matters most: tradition, creativity, value, or the thing that happens in your mouth when the tortilla, the meat, and the salsa all do their jobs at once.
This is the mid-series ranking after five entries. It is provisional and will change as the series adds reported visits.
1. Taqueria El Rey
4730 W Vernor Hwy, Detroit. The barbacoa at El Rey is the best single taco in the series. The beef is braised until it shreds without losing structure, seasoned with a warmth that builds across each bite. The al pastor has real char from a grill that runs hot, not from a flat-top where the meat steams. Together, those two tacos form the strongest one-two punch any entry in The Fold has produced.
El Rey also has the lowest prices in the series, and the $11.50 whole chicken dinner remains the best deal any entry has produced, taco or not. The 45-minute drive from Ann Arbor is the practical tradeoff for the strongest combination of flavor and value in the series. Read the full entry.
2. Tmaz Taqueria
3182 Packard St, Ann Arbor. Tmaz's al pastor is a strong contender, with a deeper, spicier marinade than the rest of the field.
Then there are the hours. Tmaz is open until 4 a.m., Monday through Saturday. No other entry in The Fold is open past 9 p.m. In a college town where late-night food options range from mediocre to regrettable, a taqueria serving excellent al pastor at 2 a.m. is not just convenient. It is essential. The tortillas are not as good as the ones at Dos Hermanos, but the marinade and the hours push Tmaz into second place. Read the full entry.
3. Dos Hermanos Express
25 Jackson Industrial Dr, Ann Arbor (Scio Township). The entry that started the series, and the one that still sets the standard for fundamentals. The tortillas at Dos Hermanos are house-made, pressed daily, and you can taste the corn. The al pastor has caramelized edges and a marinade that lets the pork taste like pork first. The salsa verde is bright, sharp, and has heat that arrives after the flavor.
Dos Hermanos is a useful introduction to the series' fundamentals: house-made tortillas, scratch preparation, and a clear salsa program. Its third-place position reflects the different strengths of the entries above it. Read the full entry.
4. MAIZ Mexican Cantina
36 E Cross St, Ypsilanti. MAIZ is the creative outlier. The baked avocado taco (battered, golden, sitting on a corn tortilla with pico and crema) is the most distinctive thing in the series. No other entry would put it on the menu. Three textures in one taco, none of them fighting each other, and the whole thing holds together in a way that battered avocado usually does not.
The carnitas, elote, and hand-shaken margaritas broaden MAIZ beyond the traditional taqueria comparison. The baked avocado is the creative outlier, while the traditional entries emphasize deeper braises and marinades. Read the full entry.
5. Chela's
7065 Dexter-Ann Arbor Rd, Dexter. Chela's earned its spot in the series on the strength of one thing: the birria tacos, served Fridays and Saturdays only. The tortillas are dipped in consomme and griddled until they crisp. The beef is braised, shredded, and rich with dried chiles. The consomme on the side is dark and salty and holds up on its own. This is birria done right, and it gave the series something it did not have.
The birria carries Chela's ranking, served on the restaurant's stated Friday and Saturday schedule. Read the full entry.
What the Series Has Shown
Five tacos have clarified a few things. First: al pastor is the series benchmark. Every entry serves it, and the differences reveal what each kitchen values. Dos Hermanos lets the pork speak. Tmaz pushes the marinade harder. El Rey cooks over fire. Chela's stays traditional.
Second: geography matters. The series started in Scio Township and ended up on Vernor Highway, where taco shops compete in a dense corridor. That context is part of comparing Washtenaw County entries with Southwest Detroit.
Third: value and quality do not always move together. Prices change, and MAIZ's baked avocado demonstrates why a creative taco can belong in the conversation even when it is not the traditional benchmark.
This ranking will change. New entries will push existing ones up or down. The series has not yet covered a food truck, a late-night campus spot, or anything south of Vernor Highway. For now, El Rey holds the top spot, and the margin between second and third is a marinade and a set of hours.
Read the full Fold series: The Fold: Best Taco in Ann Arbor.