Taco Tasting in NYC
Fast and Fresh at 84 Hoyt St. gets toooooooons of praise around town – real ass kissing occurs. I was excited to go there. It’s a side-street, hole-in-the-wall deli where local Mexicans chow down and it’s acclaimed by Californians. Californians always know what’s up! (debatable) When we arrived, we ordered up chicken, salted beef, carnitas and, last but not least, goat tacos! (goat is pictured above)
I’ve been going to Los Pollitos II in Park Slope for many years now. Not because it’s great but because there isn’t any real competition close by (Mezcals is slop, in my opinion). Well, it was time to try their tacos as it’s been a while since I had them. I ordered 1 shrimp ($3), 1 pork ($2.25), and 1 chicken ($2.25)
We finally got to try out Calexico Carne Asada in Red Hook. It’s kinda off the beaten path so we rode our bikes over there. Our tacos came very fast and very fresh (unlike our experience at Fast and Fresh). We ordered carne asada $4, chicken $3(above), and pulled pork $3 tacos.
We stumbled across the street fair on Smith Street last week so I decided to try a taco at El Pitayo . We’ve eaten there before with little success (I can’t remember what I ate) but $3 is worth trying something twice. First off, this thing is huge! The tortilla is almost the size of the plate. It was the end of the day so maybe they were trying to get rid of food; I don’t know. For $3, it’s a pretty frugal purchase. The tortilla is flour (as expected at a Tex-Mex place) but I liked it. The chicken was not hot – blame that on the street-based kitchen. It was also wet and dripping, which I always find obnoxious in tacos or burritos. It was also stewed which can usually yield a pretty flavorful chicken, yet flavorful this was not. The salt was there but other basic seasonings were lacking. Overall, I wouldn’t eat it again but I appreciate the value so I’m giving it 2 sombreros
After a long night of drinking with our friend America, Marisa and I decided to remedy ourselves with tacos from the previously mentioned Oaxaca at 251 Smith St. Oaxaca had its soft opening last Saturday and is having its grand-opening at the end of this week. The owner, Moe, is a Cobble Hill original and grew up right on Baltic St. He’s been working in the food service industry since he was 13 years old and now he’s opened this great taco joint at the ripe old age of 21! Continue reading →
