Taco Love Grill

1065 S. Charles St. #128, Baltimore and 11550 Philadelphia Road, Suite 109-110, White Marsh. tacolovegrill.com

There’s not a more delicious way to show your love than to craft a dish from a family recipe. And that’s what Jimena and Gelmin Portillo, owners of Taco Love Grill, have done with their Mexican eateries in White Marsh and Baltimore’s Cross Street Market.

The Parkville couple, both graduates of the University of Baltimore with careers in accounting, said they had searched for a restaurant that would offer a taste similar to the favorites that Jimena Portillo enjoyed during her childhood in Jalisco, Mexico.

“[My wife] was always looking for good and authentic Mexican restaurants in the area. And we were having a hard time finding one, so we started our own,” Gelmin Portillo said.

In 2011, they opened Taco Love Grill with an idea to create a menu of authentic Mexican food, made from scratch using familiar ingredients.

“That’s one of the things that we implemented in the restaurant is family recipes that have been passed down by family for several generations,” said Portillo, whose two teen daughters and young son sometimes help out at the restaurant.

That level of authenticity infuses everything from the marinade to the tortillas. The menu offers standards like tacos and burritos, but also tortas — a Mexican sandwich made with breaded chicken or steak and beef birria, a menu item that is popular with customers.

“It’s a very elaborate recipe and we use somewhere around 25 ingredients into the [birria] recipe,” Portillo said. “Again, that’s something that we also make from scratch that is very labor consuming and time consuming. But that’s one of the things that we like to do, the way that it’s always been done instead of using premade.”

The birria has been such a hit that in December, the couple opened Birria Love in Parkville, offering a broad variety of birria dishes, including fries topped with birria, birria ramen and birria pizza.

“Baltimore is our home and Baltimore County is where we decided to grow roots,” Portillo said. “We’re happy to put our grain of salt into making the community better.”

— Michelle Deal-Zimmerman

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Fuji Sushi

Bakery

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Woodlea Bakery

Newberry Cafe & Bakery

Bertucco’s Bakery

Barbecue

Mission BBQ

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Andy Nelson’s Barbecue Restaurant & Catering

Braglio Farms Smokehouse

Outlaw BBQ Smokehouse

Bartender

C.J. Ransom, Union Jack’s

Honorable mentions

Scott Waters, Covalent Spirits

Francisco Garduno, Taco Love Grill

John Allen, Liberatore’s (Westminster)

Breakfast/lunch

Sunny Day Cafe

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Zeke’s Coffee

Miss Shirley’s Cafe

Dutch Corner Restaurant (tie)

First Watch (tie)

Brewery

Independent Brewing Co.

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Slate Farm Brewery

Hopkins Farm Brewery

Union Craft Brewing

Burger

The Abbey Burger Bistro

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Braglio Farms Smokehouse

Five Guys

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Caribbean

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Island Quizine

Caterer

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Chef

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Chinese

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NiHao

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Cocktail

The Liquid Library

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Covalent Spirits

The Bluebird Cocktail Room

Coffee

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Dunkin’

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Coffee Coffee

Crabcake

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Deli

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Diner

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Distillery

Covalent Spirits

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Sagamore Spirit Distillery

Baltimore Spirits Co.

Patapsco Distilling Co.

Ethiopian

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MA’EDE Ethiopian Market and Café

Farmers’ market

Bel Air Farmers’ Market

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Baltimore Farmers’ Market

Waverly 32nd Street Market

Hampstead Farmers’ Market

Farmers’ market stand

Brad’s Produce

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Zeke’s Coffee

The Farmer’s Daughter

Blacksauce Kitchen

Food hall

R. House

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Belvedere Square

Cross Street Market

Lexington Market

Food truck

La Migueleña Food Truck

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Braglio Farms Smokehouse

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Gluten-free

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Sweet 27

Tea by Two

Happy hour

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Woodstock Inn

Bacco Italian + Wine Bar

The Oregon Grille

Ice cream

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Taharka Brothers Ice Cream

The Charmery

Prigel Family Creamery

Indian

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The Mint Room

Ambassador Dining Room

Namaste Baltimore

Italian

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Frank’s Pizza and Pasta

Sabatino’s

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Japanese

Kobe Japanese Steak & Seafood House

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Sushi Q

Azumi

Yama Sushi Bar

Juice

Pure Raw Juice

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Sunset Raw Juice Bar

The Green House Juice Cafe

Korean

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Kong (Pocha)

Hot Pot Hero

B1 Korean BBQ (tie)

Brown Rice (tie)

Latin

Honorable mentions

Papi’s Tacos

Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse

Alma Cocina Latina (tie)

Mucho Gusto (tie)

Lunch

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Zeke’s Coffee

Vagabond Sandwich Co.

Braglio Farms Smokehouse

Mediterranean

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Middle Eastern

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Lebanese Taverna (tie)

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Outdoor dining

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Pizza

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Kechy Pizza Co.

Pizza Johns

Ledo Pizza

Poke

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Blowfish Poke

Hilo Poke & Sushi

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Ramen

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Mi & Yu Noodle Bar

Toki Underground

Ramen Utsuke

Raw bar

Ryleigh’s Oyster

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Thames Street Oyster House

Conrad’s Seafood Restaurant

Nick’s Fish House

Server

Keke Turner, RockSalt Grille

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Alex Shade, Zeke’s Coffee

Emily Coughlin, Dutch Corner Restaurant

Samuel Gutierrez, Taco Love Grill

Snowball

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Tea house

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Thai

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Thai Spice

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Wine list

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The Vineyard Wine Bar

Winery

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Harford Vineyard & Winery

Old Westminster Winery

Linganore Winecellars

Wings

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iBar Baltimore

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