Mexican Food In New York
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
Like a lot of people, I often complain about not being able to find good Mexican food in New York. So I was really glad to find out about this new book, Nueva York, by Carolina Gonzalez and Seth Kugel. In an interview by Dan Avery in Time Out New York, Gonzalez talks about her new book and adresses the issue of why people complain about not being able to find good Mexican food in NYC: “Because they’re expecting Tex-Mex. But New York’s Mexican immigrants come from Puebla, which has its own cuisine and culture. They make cemitas, which are eggy, sesame-seed rolls filled with beef, avocados, chipotles — everything you want in a sandwich. Yes, it’s true you can’t find a good burrito here. So stop looking for the damn burrito and start eating all these other great things you can find.” Enough said, point taken, and I am now on the hunt for cemitas!
Yo quiero Cemitas.
I’d like to add that my hood, Woodside Queens, in addition to being Little Ireland is also Mexico Pequeno, with outstanding Mexican, (not Tex-Mex) food. There is a taco truck (that only appears between 11pm and 4am) at the 52nd St 7 train stop, that at $2 a taco, is a fiesta en la boca for any post-pub stumblebum. Superb quality, hearty servings, slammin. Also, LaFlor - a restaurant at that same stop, is so good I have it programmed on my cell, and call at least 2x a week while transferring trains so my unique non-texmex quesadilla will be waiting for me, with a thin layer of mashed potatoes between each tortilla, mexican soft cheese combined with other cheeses, and mmmmm. Chef Viko is also a master baker who puts together a unique mexican pizza, with a superb crust, carnitas, spicy salsa, and fresh avocado… shouldn’t have read Jeff’s post when hungry.
You can also get great authentic Mexican food at Zarela (www.zarela.com/restaurant.html) and at El Parador (www.elparadorcafe.com/), which serves the closest thing to Mexican haute cuisine I’ve ever had.
I’ve also heard about an authentic taco place on 14th and A - I’m forgetting the name, but this subject comes up on Chowhound frequently, and it seems to be the consensus that if you want a decent taco, you should go there, or some place in what I seem to remember was Midtown West. I’ll check it out and report back.
We need a site like this — The Great Taco Hunt — for New York.