Eating in New York: Los Tacos No. 1

In my advance research for good eats to try during my trip to New York City, I decided to favour authenticity and value over fancy and bougie. And when Los Tacos No. 1 came up in both my googling and a friend recommendation, who also reminded me of this Bon Appetit video I enjoyed before they were cancelled, I knew I had to give it a try.

They have five locations in NYC, and luckily one location was right near my boss' hotel near Times Square. So during a lunch hour break between meetings I dashed across the street and joined the line that stretched out the door -- nearly always a sign of good food.

Luckily, the line moved steadily and they had a guy managing it and ensuring the traffic flowed smoothly. 

They have a number of different Mexican specialties that all look delicious, but it's Los Tacos No. 1 so I had to have tacos for my first visit. I decided to get three, all on corn tortillas (you can also choose flour or corn); carne asada, pollo asado and adoba -- aka grilled steak, grilled chicken and marinated pork. They also have nopal, or grilled cactus, I guess as a vegetarian option. But three was enough for me.

They also have a wide variety of beverages on offer. I was tempted by the agua fresca, but they also have Mexican soft drinks (ie real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup) and I couldn't resist an orange Fanta -- ironically, I drank them a lot when in Germany so it was mixing memories of Germany for me with the food of Mexico. The grape was also tempting.

I placed my order and was given a ticket -- signs all over warn you no ticket, no tacos. You are then ushered to one of the taco prep stations where your tacos are made fresh to order right in front of you -- it's like a Mexican Subway but with taco artists. Behind them, meat turns on a spit and is also grilled on open flame. I asked for mine con todo, which means onions, cilantro, salsa and guacamole. There was also a self-serve bar to the side with salsas of various spice levels.

In no time at all I had my three tacos and, adding on some fresh salsa I found a spot to stand and eat at one of the stand-up bars and stocked up on napkins, as I knew this would be delicious but messy.

Common to all three tacos was the fresh and pliable corn tortilla which added a sweet corn note and the fresh onion, salsa, cilantro and guac. Everything tasted delicious and fresh, and recently so. 

I began on the right with the pork. I'm not always a pulled pork guy but this was tasty and juicy and very flavourful. Second favourite.

In the middle was the chicken, and this was my favourite. Juicy, fresh, nice char really adding depth to the flavour. I could eat three of the pollo.

On the right was the steak. It was good, but was my least favourite of the three. The steak was a little dry, and didn't have the flavour notes of the chicken and the pork. 

Probably as authentic a taco experience as you're going to get out of Mexico, it definitely earns a spot on my must-visits for future trips to New York City. Definitely check it out when you're there. The line was even longer on the street when I left but if they'd asked, I would say it's well worth the wait.

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Eating off the Hill: Mexican/Korean fusion at Barrio Coreano

After many campaign meals or biryani and chicken karahi, I was ready for a cuisine change when I met my sister for dinner after the election before heading back to Ottawa. At her recommendation, we went for Mexican/Korean Fusion at Barrio Coreano on Bloor, between Christie and Bathurst.

A quick perusal of the menu did leave the view that it skewed more to the Mexican side of the equation, which I was perfectly fine with. The Korean element seemed to largely be adding kimchi to some of the dishes. As I'm not much of a kimchi fan, I passed on those dishes.

They offer tacos priced individually or for three, and as a fiscal conservative I was initially attracted to the bulk discount. Trying to behave myself post-campaign though, and wanting to keep desert as an option, I decided to stick with two.

For an appy, we shared an order of guacamole and chips. I'm not one of those folks that go crazy for avocados; but it was tasty and I had to work to not just go all-in on the chips and spoil my dinner.

I choose two tacos, one crispy and one soft. The first to come was the crispy Braised Short Rib, which the menu described as braised beef in ancho-guajillo with mole rojo. It was tasty, though the beef was unevenly distributed. I thought at first that it was light on the beef but in a good way, but then found a lot of beef bunched up at the end, messing up the ratio. It was tasty and well-seasoned beef though, and the veggies fresh and crisp.

The beef was my favourite of the two. Next was the soft Fried Chihuahua Cheese, which the menu describes as battered chihuahua cheese and tofu salsita with habanero. I was excited for this one, but it underwhelmed. The cheese wasn't hot and gooey and lacked in flavour. It was just a taco of meh.

My sister and I shared desert -- churros poutine. (I did most of the heavy lifting). Several soft/crispy cinnamon churros in a caramel sauce. It was just ok -- I felt like it should have been something more flavourful given the doubtless substantial investment of calories I was making.

Anyway, worth visiting again to try other tacos. The beef I would repeat, but my other selections would be new.

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Eating OFF the Hill: Pricy tacos at El Camino

I've been hearing I must try the tacos at El Camino for a few years now, and despite their Elgin Street locaiton being just down the street from me, I had never gotten around to making the trip. That changed this weekend, when I decided on a late taco dinner.

Perhaps my delayed visit was due to subconcious disapointment that they had taken over the space that once housed Maroush, the acknowledged by those of fine taste best shawarma in Ottawa for many years. Or maybe it was that they weren't open for lunch on weekends. More the latter, I think.

I'd read online of service issues, but I went late evening and was seated right away on a high top chair that was inelegent to get myself into. The lighting was rather dark, making it difficult to read my newspaper -- my solo dining companion.

I ordered three tacos -- a beef, a chicken and a crispy chorizo. Rather that come out all at once, the chorizo came out first maybe 10 minutes after ordering, then a 10 minute pause, and then came the chicken and beef. Would have prefered them all at once, and don't see why they wouldn't be served together.

I'll start with the two soft tacos, which came last. The chicken was standard pulled chicken tika, seasoned nicely, with an assortment of fresh veggies on a fresh soft small tortia. Was pleasently surprised to find that the beef was not ground but was actually steak, making it probably the best value of the three tacos I had. It also came with a slice of avocado.

I was surprised to find the chorizo taco came in a hard shell. Sure, it said crispy on the menu, so yeah, but I guess I was thinking maybe the chorizo was crispy, which in hindsight I realize doesn't really make any sense. The sausage was prety finely sliced to the point of losing its character, I felt, and not standing out as I would expect it to.

There were squeeze bottles of two different sauces provided, a milder green sauce and a hotter red sauce. The red sauce tasted pretty hot when tested on my finger, but actually blended quite nicely with the taco toppings when applied to be complementary, and not overpowering.

I enjoyed the three tacos which were well-prepared with lots of fresh ingredients that went together well. However, at $6.75 a piece they were definitely on the pricy side. I passed on the interesting tequila-focused cocktail list, as $14 for a cocktail is well over my comfort level.

Instead, I ordered the churros with salted caramel for desert. Delicious, fresh, crispy, cinamony, and an excess of salted caramel sauce for dipping. Sinfully good.

A very tasty meal in a dark and noisy reasturant. Food over ambience. But at $35 with tax and tip for a meal that didn't include a drink (they were out of Mexican coke, sadly) I likely won't be back often.

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Eating up the Hill: Chimichanga at Pancho Villa

Since we're in the summer, I'll venture a little outside a few-block radius of Parliament Hill for my food blogging. Today's entry took me to Elgin and Frank for a holiday visit to Pancho Villa for some Mexican food.

It being a pleasant day, I decided to sit on the patio and was invited to seat myself, and was brought a menu. They have a good variety of Tex-Mex options but I quickly decided to go with my favourite Mexican go-to: a Chimichanga. During my last tour in Ottawa, I used to love the Chimichangas at Mexicala Rosa's, who are sadly no longer with us. And as I don't care for beans, it's a good beanless option.

Diners have a choice of chicken, beef or vegetarian filling, and the Chimichanga is served with Mexican rice and salad and topped with their Chimichanga red sauce, for $14.95. I usually go for the chicken, but decided to break with pattern and get the beef this time.

I'll start with the sides. The salad was fine. Just fine. Lettuce, tomato, shaved carrot, dressing. Nothing fancy. The rice, also, was just fine. Could have used more seasoning, as it was seasoned, but barely noticeably so. And it was just rice. They could have tossed something in.

The Chimichanga itself was reasonably good. I was impressed that it was real pulled beef, so points for that. However, while the beef was plentiful, it was dry and could have been hotter. The sauce was very necessary. There also wasn't much else in there besides the beef.

It was the service though that left me with the most negative impression. I ordered a glass of water and a Coke, which came relatively promptly. Not huge glasses, but that's fine if they're prompt with the refills. But they weren't. Half way through the meal, I'm out of beverages and getting parched. They weren't that busy, but no checks if I needed anything. I moved the empty cups to the edge of the table, still nothing. People around me drinking beer got prompt asks for re-orders however.

Finally, after clearly being done my meal for five minutes, they came to get my empty plate. I asked for the cheque, and refills. At this point, they indicated they don't offer free refills on pop. Which is just ridiculous. They charge $2.25 for a small cup of fountain pop and don't offer refills? Completely out of line with market norms.

The food was reasonably priced but not well-executed and the service was a miss -- anyone can have a bad day though, and they may do better on a future visit. But charging for refills on fountain pop is just stupid.

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