Baltimore's Best Winners 2026 6.28.26 - Flipbook - Page 13
Baltimore's Best | Sunday, June 28, 2026 13
Food & drink
BEST MEXICAN, TACO AND BARTENDER
TACO LOVE GRILL
McHenry Row
1724 Whetstone Way
443-548-5032
Cross Street Market
1065 S. Charles St. Suite 128
443-869-3400
11550 Philadelphia Road
Suite 109-110, White Marsh
410-256-0406
tacolovegrill.com
At Taco Love Grill, husband-and-wife
duo Gelmin and Jimena Portillo have been
slinging tacos dressed with red-hot salsa,
tortas stacked on telera bread and quesadillas stuffed with jumbo lump crabmeat
— first, out of a location in White Marsh
before adding two more in Baltimore City.
“We started out small, and we kept growing, but our way of preparing the food
hasn’t changed,” Gelmin said. “We prepare
everything in-house, and I think that makes
us different.”
Taco Love was established in 2011, to pay
homage to his wife’s native Mexico City.
“She longed for that flavor and that taste
of food from her hometown,“ he said. “We
wanted a place to showcase her recipes
and her family’s recipes.”
While the Portillos are ever proud of
their product, Gelmin Portillo attributed
the business’s success to his team’s ability
to “provide an ambience that customers
feel comfortable in.”
“We have created a relationship with
our customers when it comes to the hospitality,“ he added. “I think that has translated into their acceptance and their love
towards our food [and] our place.”
Taco Love Grill won the Best Latin Restaurant and Best Taco last year, too.
In the past two years, one particular taco
order has become “all the rage” at the local chain: the birria, a 28-ingredient
stewed-beef recipe that the Portillos traveled to Jalisco to learn how to prepare.
“Birria tacos [are] a perfect dish for
someone that comes to visit us for the first
time,“ Gelmin Portillo said.
The couple’s nephew, Jimmy Portillo,
works for them and was voted Baltimore’s
Best Bartender this year.
— Jane Godiner
Gelmin Portillo, left and wife Jimena are owners of Baltimore’s Best Mexican Restaurant Taco Love Grill on McHenry Row.
KENNETH K. LAM/STAFF
