Is there a place near your work that you just keep meaning to try but never seem to get around to it? Eventually, the situation seems star-crossed. My so-close-yet-so-far restaurant was Tortilleria Lagos, also known as Taco Lagos, in Chantilly. But this week, the heavens finally aligned. I made it to the market, tortilla-maker, and taqueria for a meal that was almost as auspicious as I’d hoped it might be.
First, though, a note about dining inside Lagos: I don’t recommend it. Customers are stacked at a single long table with no social distancing. But there are safer tables outside (I saw them being sanitized after other diners left) and online ordering makes pickup easy.
But one way or another, if you’re craving tacos, tamales, or tortas, you should find your way to this strip-mall outpost for a quick bite. Each of these is $3–a bit pricy for a street taco, but not bad for NoVA. Each taco is wrapped in a pair of chewy homemade corn tortillas. The best of the four fillings I tried were the almost creamy-tasting beef cheeks and crisp, meltingly fatty pork belly. Tacos are showered in sweet onions and bright cilantro, but the salsas may be the most enticing element. The smoky salsa roja would be the star attraction if it weren’t for the tantalizingly tart salsa verde.
The best values at Lagos aren’t tacos, they’re the extra large, extra fluffy tamales. Pork-filled ones contain oversized chunks of meat as well as velvety potatoes. Still got an extra dollar to spare? I did, and was more than pleased to use it for a frozen, chocolate-covered banana. Now I finally know what I’ve been missing, and I’ll try to make Lagos a more regular part of my eat-near-the-office rotation. // 14511 Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy., Chantilly
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