Reader sinkstuart spotted this NY-inspired burrito at Taqueria Vallarta. The “Manhattan” features carrots, red pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, and zucchini. Zing! This is clearly a subtle jab at New York. Well played, Vallarta.
If this menu is a bit too experimental for you don’t worry, head over to their taco corner for tripas, lengua, and cabeza stewing in their juices. Best damn tacos in town, even if they are $1.75 now.
Everyone thinks that the secret to our excellent burritos is the ingredients. New theories indicate that it’s all in the upper body strength of the maker.
The recently NYC transplanted sexpigeon has more to say on the matter.
P.S. Pret-ty sure that’s Dos Toros. A place I visited last summer and of which I posted a very similar evaluation concerning proper rolling technique:
…the pierced and tatt’ed young lady who wrapped my burrito really didn’t know what she was doing. Her end folds were way too big pushing all the contents to the middle. She tried to cover things up with an exaggerated triangle fold to bring the edges in, but this just resulted in burrito contents shooting out of the tip at a higher velocity after the second roll. The whole structural integrity of the burrito was therefore compromised, as you can see from the cracking of the overloaded bottom half…
[via sexpigeon]
While visiting the fair city of NYC, MM reader Zarah spotted an article in the Metro paper that purports to show one “how to do San Fran like a local.” What are some of the things she learned?
San Francisco is one of the coolest places on earth–period.
The Mission District is the place for lunch, in particular, Taqueria Cancun & Ti Couz–altho, they also recommend the Marina for dinner, so meh.
I should spend the afternoon in “Delores Park” to watch the “enjoyable sideshow of hip (or weird) locals.”
Coming down from a burrito high is the worst. If you find yourself in NYC needing quick fix, there are apparently options.
When a bartender heard that we were from San Francisco, he raved about Dos Toros in Union Square.
Another staff member who claimed to be from Berkeley (and later proved this by knowing intricate details of student co-op living) confirmed that it’s pretty awesome, so I checked it out. This is a taqueria modeled directly after the bay’s own Gordo Taqueria by two fellows from Berkeley who wanted to bring bay area burritos to NYC.
Here’s what their carnitas burrito looks like:
First of all, the pierced and tatt’ed young lady who wrapped my burrito really didn’t know what she was doing. Her end folds were way too big pushing all the contents to the middle. She tried to cover things up with an exaggerated triangle fold to bring the edges in, but this just resulted in burrito contents shooting out of the tip at a higher velocity after the second roll. The whole structural integrity of the burrito was therefore compromised, as you can see from the cracking of the overloaded bottom half:
This was a far cry from the burrito wrapping mastery one would see at any taqueria here, but I was in a forgiving mood. Maybe she was new here.
Anyway, when I could keep the burrito from spilling everywhere I thought it tasted really good. The carnitas meat was moist and flavorful. If I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the humidity and tourist swarms outsides I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about this being a bay area burrito. It’s really hard to be objective on the matter, of course the Mission in me wanted to hate it, but honestly I didn’t.
One of the guys working there must have picked up on my SF-ness because he asked, “did we pass the test?” Yeah, I think so. In any case, you’re definitely better off there than the Chipotle Mexican Grills that seemed to be everywhere.
One takeaway from this experience is that NYC is clamoring for a good burrito. Just about every NYC resident I talked to had heard of or eaten at Dos Toros. Other SF businesses are opening franchises in the area, so it doesn’t seem out of the question for taquerias to follow. Here’s to El Farolito East in 2011.
Hey guys, Mission coffee really is that good.
Spotted this Four Barrel love at Maialino, a fancy schmancy pasta place in NYC’s Gramercy/Flatiron neighborhood. Also, Gramercy Tavern, a top rated restaurant around the corner proudly serves Blue Bottle.
Turns out my coffee backup plan of bringing everyone beans from SF was completely unnecessary.
Look! A delightful little parklet in NYC!
I spotted on 7th Ave & 28th. Once again, the Mission is the trendsetter.
Previously:
40 going on 28 made it out to the Mission Dolores Bar in NYC, and his review: “actually a cool place,” though lacking in a certain vendor authenticity.
If you want to hear more about his trip to NYC read on, and be prepared for some painful truths like:
I hate it when people compare New York to SF, because it’s totally not fair and NYC has 13 million people and a lot more land mass and Donald Trump and all we have is 49 square miles and Dolores Park and Frank Chu, but I can’t help it. New York is fucking awesome.
No big deal, just a picture of someone enjoying an El Farolito quesadilla, right?
Psych! It’s a picture of someone enjoying an El Farolito quesadilla in the East Village, NYC!
You can do it too: On the way to SFO, hop out at 24th St. station. Run into El Farolito and order that quesadilla to go. It’s probably a good idea to avoid the sour cream. Immediately double-ziplock bag it and toss it in your luggage. When you land in NYC 6 hours later, call up your friend and tell her that you’ll be bringing lunch. Don’t worry, as a previous mission resident, the concern of a salmonella infection will be dwarfed by her longing for decent Mexican food*.
Your clothes will smell like carne asada for a week, but the look on her face will be worth it. She’ll give you a big hug and tell you that this was a way better gift than the “Alcatraz Swim Team” T-Shirt you brought last time.
The question is, what can your NYC friend do for you? Imported pizza? Nah, contrary to what they think, we have plenty of good pizza here.
*The “Mexican” food in NYC borders on the terrible. Trust me when I say I wish it were otherwise.
Allan Hough (7858)
Brittany Janis & Katie Cruz (104)
