24.5.10

monday




My worst/best quality (ha!) is my feverish love for Mexican food. Give me the hottest salsa, piles and piles of cilantro, and a whole lotta succulent shredded beef and I'll be satisfied until seconds. I've been trying to convince my Gram to open up a restaurant for years. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've tasted her buttery homemade tortillas and stuffed yourself with thirteen of her juiciest tacos (just ask my dad). And growing up in California with the occasional trip to Mexico as a kid has led to an awful, though [I feel] justified snobbery. Mexican food in New York has given me so many appalling experiences that I've nearly washed my hands of it altogether (outside of my own kitchen). The taco trucks? No good. The restaurants? Wildly overpriced and wildly disappointing; hardly a taquito in sight. Friends throwing taco nights with store-bought taco shells? Kills my soul more than a little. I realize this sounds silly and strange, but I'm afraid this is simply the plight of displaced Californians. Despite my stubborn qualms, I'd be happy to give any suggestions you might have a chance.



15 comments:

  1. oh yum! nothing compares to the real deal!

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  2. marcine, you get me.

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  3. i love mexican food too and i agree about nyc not really having good mexican food. i grew up in chicago, which means i'm all about the paletas and the elotes. i haven't seen a cart like that around nyc/nj at all.

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  4. i've just started eating mexican food - loving it ;)

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  5. LOVE Mexican food. As a Texan, I'm a bit of a snob, too!

    Beautiful pictures, as always.

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  6. Anonymous25 May, 2010

    wow! it really looks delicious!

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  7. ahh love mexican food too. there's a really good place in park slope area if you want to go, but i can just imagine you spitting the food right out of your mouth and at the waiter. you're going to have to show me the true ways of mexican food, i guess!

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  8. Anonymous25 May, 2010

    Alma in Red Hook is rather good, a bit overpriced but if you eat on the roof looking toward Manhattan, totally worth it.

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  9. Anonymous26 May, 2010

    mexican food is delicious :]

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  10. Ohh, that made me hungry. Especially for tacos.
    I live in Arizona so we have our fair share of knock-off Mexican food AND authentic, delicious Mexican food. Just gotta know where to go.

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  11. I have the opposite experience/problem having moved from nyc to SF. I wonder if I will feel the way you do when I move back after spending 4 years eating mission burritos. In my memory el loco in Williamsburg was delicious. (bedford ave or Graham ave in wburg) but even with my obvious Mexican handicap I can recognize/remember that it's not like out here.

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  12. As a lifelong East Coaster, I don't have much Mexican food cred, but I will say that Sunset Park is a goldmine of deliciousness. And there's that tortilleria off the Jefferson stop that has the best tostados I've ever had!

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  13. It's true! Whenever I've traveled, I've always returned home wanting to rush straight to the nearest burrito, we are so spoiled here.

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  14. I could not agree more with you, I'm Mexican, so it's usually disappointing eating mexican outside the country. They recently opened a few Taco Bell restaurants here, needless to say, they closed down after a year or so...
    Keep posting pics of delicious food! :)

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