[Pigging by Wilfrid: October 30, 2014]
For many years, it was a half-price sushi place. Indeed, it was always half-price, which meant it wasn't half-price, that was just the price. And it was bright yellow. But now it's a Mexican Taverna, courtesy of Alex Stupak.
Yes, the restless Alex Stupak, master dessert chef turned taco-master, turned superbly creating Mexican chef, turned taco-master again (get these entrées outta here). He seems to have an urge to simplify.
And whereas Empellón Taqueria added stylish large plates to its menu, and Empellón Cocina, as originally conceived, offered a stellar modern interpretation of traditional Mexican cuisine, with Empellón Al Pastor, he finally has his basic taco joint, on a busy corner of Avenue A opposite the park.
The fittings are lovely--rich wood, tchochkes Mexicanas, and a gay day-of-the-dead mural on the ceiling--but this really is a bar rather than a restaurant. You need to know that. If you order everything on the menu, you may be able to eat for half an hour or so, but that menu (right now, anyway) is a short list of small stacks to accompany the wide variety of tequilas, mezcals, agaves, micheladas, and margaritas the bar will whip up.
Some alternative tacos are available--no more than two or three: potato and chorizo, for example--but it's all about the al pastor. Tasty roast pork, fresh herbs, plenty of chopped onion, some salsa, a couple of pieces of fresh pineapple. In a notably well-made tortilla.
This is something of a taco strip, with La Lucha and Tacos Morelos within a couple of blocks. La Lucha, with its Mexican wrestling theme, attracts diners (not me) with its tiny, bite-sized tacos ($12 for three). I've felt no need to visit Tacos Morelos after too many dry, uninteresting samples from their trucks.
The taco al pastor is very, very good. An explosion of pork fat and sweet juice. They're not silver dollar-sized, but don't order just one. $4 each, and there are a few sides too. Just don't think you're going to linger an hour over a meal here. Over a bottle of hooch, sure, go ahead.
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