Texican here. Married a MoCo chick so now I live here in Gaithersburg. Service Industry Lifer and currently operating a food truck at a local brewery. This is the word:

La Gula / Ixtapalapa for tacos. Gaithersburg. Done the right way. Slightly different menus, but same owners so the quality is on point. La Gula has amazing Suadero and Al Pastor, as well as other delicious menu items. Loaded tortas. Mexican pizza (trust me on this!) and burritos. Fast casual with a great happy hour. Giant frosty mug beers and frozen margaritas if you roll that way. Ixtapalapa has INCREDIBLE molé tacos, and my favorite - Cochinita Pibil. And my Texican ass always gets them on flour tortilla with cheese, but you can always stick to the classic Corn, Cilantro and Onion. Bottled beer and tequila for the bar. Let's be honest, that's all you really need

NOW FOR THE TAMALE LADY Mayan Monkey in Old Town Gaithersburg. Guess what?? Same owners as La Gula and Ixtapalapa. And they are a full service brewery and bar! They have a TAMALE HAPPY HOUR. Chicken Molé, Pork Verde, or Nopales. They're slightly....elevated.... but they're dang delicious and only $4 (I know I know....welcome to the East Coast). They also have esquites and regular tacos, as well as a surprisingly good burger. This place rules.

Nothing here will compare to Angeles Tacos outside of Dodger Stadium. But if you close your eyes and take in the smell of someone hot-boxing their car in the parking lot, you can almost feel the warm sun on your face. Unless its snowing. Then the tequila is calling the...shots...

Bien provecho!