I'm a freelance food journalist, editor, and cook. I am the recipe editor for Diner Journal, an independently published quarterly food/arts magazine. I will be leaving the kitchen in the fall, to pursue a Ph.D.
It's my opinion that those claiming that Mexican food, an incredible expanse of a cuisine spanning different regions, geographies, the influence of other cultures, etc., in NYC sucks are short-sighted.
We may not have the scale (Texas boasts 4 million Mexican people. New York, less than 600,000), the diversity of estados (New Mexico), or the direct proximity to the motherland (Los Angeles), but the Mexican food that is represented here is NYC is a unique and valuable one.
I have lived in Mexico. I recently moved to NYC from LA. I speak Spanish. Gracias por verificando mis calificaciones, pero no me mames.
Scarlett Lindeman hasn't written a post yet.
You can drink well at Angelo Sosa's new noisy cantina in Hell's Kitchen, Anejo Tequileria. There's Modelo Especial on tap, great cocktails, and flights of mezcal that show off the distinctive flavors of the smoky spirit. Maddeningly, the kitchen's crutch is sugar, serving braised shortrib tamales sweeter than any margarita. More
As local Mexican businesses go, the Zafra and Carrera families are moguls. This year, they opened a taqueria, Carrera's, in Bushwick, a natural extension of their businesses, selling Mexican products to local bodegas and high end restaurants. It's a cozy respite on a gritty stretch of Flushing Avenue where trucks blast down the thoroughfare. More
Downtown Bakery has been serving Mexican food in the East Village for almost twenty years. If you haven't eaten their burritos, swollen with refried black beans and crumbly orange rice, or indulged in the hangover obliterating powers of their huevos rancheros, then you've at least walked under the blue and white awning that shoots over the sidewalk. Downtown Bakery began as an Italian establishment, but over the years it's become a staple taqueria in the East Village. More
The tamales from La Güera, a modest taqueria in Sunset Park, are fantastic renditions of a perfect, portable food. Tamales ($1.50) sit at the front in an Igloo cooler, all the easier peddle to pedestrians and still warm at midday. There are smoky mole tamales with dark black centers, cheese and green chili versions, and sweet pineapple-infused tamales that sometimes hold dried plums. But the phenomenal banana leaf-wrapped oaxaqueño tamales that are cause for celebration. More
Like a grand marquee announcing the latest blockbuster, the multicolored sign "TORTAS" of Puebla Mini Market can be read two blocks away. Puebla Mini Market is an orderly shop in Sunset Park: part bodega, part torta cart, but first and foremost a juice stand. Most customers shoot past the juice stand and beeline for the back, where the famous double-sided plancha (basically a panini press) squashes overloaded sandwiches into tight, well-toasted packages. This unique sandwich shop was created by Don Pepe, the creator of thirty-three (and counting) styles of torta, which you can peruse from a well-lit photographed line-up overhead. More
Oh my god. I must eat this.